An American Mosaic
An exhibit dedicated to showcasing a diversity of cultural perspectives to create a mosaic of America that is as complex and varied as the people of the San Jose and Silicon Valley communities. Presented by Mosaic America, Works/San José, and the School of Arts and Culture. Curated by Joe Miller with artists from Works/San José and Chopsticks Alley Art. Experience artwork that reflects the culture, heritage and traditions of the people who belong to Silicon Valley.
Exhibit Hours
September 10-12 (Friday through Sunday): 12-4pm
September 17-18 (Friday & Saturday): 12-4pm
October 1-3 (Friday, all day Saturday & Sunday): 12-4pm
(Located at the Gallery of the School of Arts & Culture)
Check out our artists here:
Johanne Marion
Johanne Marion is White, American, French and born to parents raised in Senegal. They raised her in the Baha’i faith, a young religion out of Iran. She grew up in Cupertino, CA, with the rich smells of Indian cooking filling her best friend’s house as they played. These are a few of the building blocks of her cultural confusion which fuels her curiosity about human nature. Johanne uses her work to create connections and explore the complex makeup of individuals, herself included.
Tulio Flores
Tulio Flores is an all-around talented Mexican artist. He works with a variety of materials to create paints, sculptures, murals, book illustrations, and much more. His contemporary modern art is influenced by his culture and has reached galleries, shows, magazines, newspapers, and solo exhibitions, all accomplished on his own without any formal art schooling, relying solely on his talent and inspiration.
Tulio Flores
Tulio Flores is an all-around talented Mexican artist. He works with a variety of materials to create paints, sculptures, murals, book illustrations, and much more. His contemporary modern art is influenced by his culture and has reached galleries, shows, magazines, newspapers, and solo exhibitions, all accomplished on his own without any formal art schooling, relying solely on his talent and inspiration.
Force129
Fernando Amaro Jr (“Force129”) is an artist & designer living & working in San Jose, California.
Natasha Kramskaya
After decades of experimenting with innumerable medias, light, color, and the physical world, Natasha Kramskaya developed a palette where her art is not about a singular set of techniques or medium, but about the nature of materials — their fluidity, their depth, their texture — and the very meaning of the materials themselves. She pulls media like most select a brush, and applies techniques like one would use a color. She works with nature, allowing the force of gravity, the refraction of light, or the swing of her arm, to help her tell her stories in a way no one else can — conveying the movement of nature, the depth of our spirit, and the fragility of life.
Natasha Kramskaya
After decades of experimenting with innumerable medias, light, color, and the physical world, Natasha Kramskaya developed a palette where her art is not about a singular set of techniques or medium, but about the nature of materials — their fluidity, their depth, their texture — and the very meaning of the materials themselves. She pulls media like most select a brush, and applies techniques like one would use a color. She works with nature, allowing the force of gravity, the refraction of light, or the swing of her arm, to help her tell her stories in a way no one else can — conveying the movement of nature, the depth of our spirit, and the fragility of life.
Betty Proper
Valentina Carrillo (“Betty Proper”) is an artist, mother, maker from San Jose, California.
Fco1980
Francisco Ramirez (“Fco1980”) was born in Mexico City, Mexico, but his art developed in San Jose, California, where he currently lives. As a self-taught artist he has worked with watercolor, oils paints, sculpting, photography, murals and other mixed media but his choice of medium is acrylic.
Fco1980
Francisco Ramirez (“Fco1980”) was born in Mexico City, Mexico, but his art developed in San Jose, California, where he currently lives. As a self-taught artist he has worked with watercolor, oils paints, sculpting, photography, murals and other mixed media but his choice of medium is acrylic.
Roan Victor
Roan Victor is a visual artist – painter, muralist, youth arts educator and owner of an art shop/studio located in San Jose, CA. Lush foliage, textile patterns and figures in passive poses are common subject matters in Roan’s paintings. Her recent works, in watercolor and gouache, explore the dichotomy of strength and vulnerability presented in a delicate balance. Visually, her paintings are rendered in detail, with thoughtful intricacies mixed with bold and decisive strokes and use of color. These also reflect in her murals and oversized paintings, the same elements painted larger than life.
Dan Fenstermacher
Dan Fenstermacher merges documentary storytelling, and street photography with both humor and activism. Fenstermacher was recently selected as the winner of the 2020 Miami Street Photography Festival International Series Contest and the 15th Annual Smithsonian Photo Contest for the American Experience category.
Dan Fenstermacher
Dan Fenstermacher merges documentary storytelling, and street photography with both humor and activism. Fenstermacher was recently selected as the winner of the 2020 Miami Street Photography Festival International Series Contest and the 15th Annual Smithsonian Photo Contest for the American Experience category.
Richard Hoffman
Richard Hoffman’s work examines the collective unconscious mind and the ways in which all people can be connected through art.
Ally Spray
Ally is an 18-year-old visual artist, inspired by nature – plants, flowers, underwater life, rainbows, animals – and anything beautiful she sees or experiences in her home and community. She creates much of her abstract works of art on paper using Sharpie markers and pens, and most of her creations are very vibrant and colorful with detailed patterns, shapes and lines.
Ally Spray
Ally is an 18-year-old visual artist, inspired by nature – plants, flowers, underwater life, rainbows, animals – and anything beautiful she sees or experiences in her home and community. She creates much of her abstract works of art on paper using Sharpie markers and pens, and most of her creations are very vibrant and colorful with detailed patterns, shapes and lines.
Kenneth Tan
Kenneth and his Lola (“grandmother” in Filipino) Crescenciana, co-create distinctive and bold works together. She began in watercolor and he completes the work with drawings based on her memories and stories.
Jennifer Lay
Jennifer’s artwork strives to examine social and cultural issues through the lens of someone who is both included and excluded. Cultural identity as a Chinese American woman and the global Chinese diaspora play a large role in her sculptural works.
Jennifer Lay
Jennifer’s artwork strives to examine social and cultural issues through the lens of someone who is both included and excluded. Cultural identity as a Chinese American woman and the global Chinese diaspora play a large role in her sculptural works.
Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo
Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo is a visual artist, poet, and teacher based in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Her visual artwork has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States and her poetry is published widely. She earned a BFA in Pictorial Art from San José State University. Elizabeth is a member of the Board of Directors of Poetry Center San José, Co-Editor of Culture Counts Magazine, and 2021 Creative Ambassador of the San José Office of Cultural Affairs. She was awarded a Culture Power Mini-Grant from MACLA in 2021.
Yxaya
Paty Tapia-Colon (“Yxaya”) is a Mexican artist and Aztec dancer. Through her brush strokes, she tries to capture the heritage of her roots. Using the versatility of acrylics, she explores her rich ancestral culture, its symbolism and the correlation between human beings and Nature. She studied at the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. She has been an art instructor at the School of Arts & Culture and has also conducted art therapy workshops for immigrant women in the Bay Area.
Yxaya
Paty Tapia-Colon (“Yxaya”) is a Mexican artist and Aztec dancer. Through her brush strokes, she tries to capture the heritage of her roots. Using the versatility of acrylics, she explores her rich ancestral culture, its symbolism and the correlation between human beings and Nature. She studied at the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. She has been an art instructor at the School of Arts & Culture and has also conducted art therapy workshops for immigrant women in the Bay Area.
