Recent events......

These last couple weeks have been a whirlwind! We had the opening of "In Retrospect. The Lines From Then Til Now" with works by Emonic and Tamiko Rast. On the same night, in our project space we had the opening of "New Attitudes" A Pellet Factory Presentation! What a great collective under one roof on opening night!

Last Wednesday we hosted the Filipino American National Historical Society's "1946 and 2016" A dialogue and member event. Delicious home made food at this event full of positive vibes and community support.

Finally, last Friday we hosted "A Night of Acoustic Artists featuring Love District, Socorra, Heavy Mello and Pat Parra" We were with a full packed house as people were able to enjoy some delightful music by local talented musicians!

We plan to continue doing as many fun filled events until our doors temporarily close due to us losing our building. Please continue to come support in the next couple months as we will have new shows (opening second Fridays!)

Also, a friendly reminder to please help spread the word about our campaign www.gofundme.com/save-empire-seven

Save the date....two openings, one night!

Save Empire Seven Studios!

The last couple weeks have been pretty crazy...... we just finished Art Party and amidst it all, we recently launched a Go Fund Me project to help us build a new home for E7S. As many of you know, we will be losing our current space at the end of this year. Our goal is to build and own a place so we won't have to recreate the wheel all over again.

For more info, please watch: https://www.gofundme.com/save-empire-seven

Art Party SJ a success with great vibes!

We are thankful for Anne and Mark providing us with 10K square feet of space during their annual Art Party at the Santa Clara Fairgrounds! They had every bit if confidence that we would put together a fun program full of art, live painting, installations, live music and performances!

We had the honor to collaborate with Athen B. Gallery, local art gallery out of Oakland. They brought out their family of artists and we seamlessly put on a phenomenal show.

Saturday night was the Opening Gala from 7pm-12am. Music by Sonido Clashwith special guests Salvaje & Mark PLSTK . Sunday's hours were from 11am-5pm, you were still able to check out the exhibited art! Music by Chulita Vinyl Club and Q&A.

E7S showed works by:

Carlos Agrillo, Nancy Ahn, Ben Alexy, Jason Arnold, John Barrick, Jill “Horiyuki” Bonny, Sean Boyles, Cristove, Ken Davis, Aaron De La Cruz, Benny Diar, Tim Diet, Jessica Eastburn, Jayde Fish, Force 129, Colin Frangicetto, Erlin Geffrard, Girafa, Chris Gonzales, Abel Gonzalez, Andres Guerrero, Chad Hasegawa, Ben Henderson, Tyson Johnston, Frances Marin, Lauren Napolitano, Daisy Ortiz, Pacolli & Mildred, Chris Patton, Pellet, Anabella Pinon, Gwen Mercado Reyes, Renos, Sam Rodriguez, Matteo Serna, Kori Thompson, Joe To, Roan Victor.

#artpartysj #E7S #athenbgallery #sonidoclash #chulitavinylclub

Viva Calle!

This Sunday, September 18, from 10am to 3pm - six miles of San Jose streets will be temporarily closed to motorized traffic - it is called, Viva CalleSJ.  The selected route runs from Japantown through Downtown, connecting us to Willow Glen and West San Carlos/Burbank.  It is meant to bring communities together to walk, bike, scooter, run, and explore the city and its historic neighborhoods like never before.  All along the route, there will be music and activities, essentially making it a 6-mile block party! (Vivacallesj.org)

In Japantown, the historic "Koinobori" (carp wind socks), a gift from San Jose's sister city of Okayama to the Nikkei Matsuri festival, will be flying.  There will be music, live art, face painting, Cosplay, pop-ups, sidewalk sales, healthy and wellness resources, and of course, snow cones!  SushiShark and Totoro will be on hand to welcome everyone.

Near Japantown's Farmer's Market, which will be open all day - a Viva Calle stage will feature yoga and martial arts demonstrations, and music and dance.  Everything from island reggae to hip-hop, ballet to break-dancing will be featured, with more musical performances on the customized San Jose Jazz BoomBox stage.  San Jose Taiko will also have a particularly "moving" performance, riding pedicabs from their downtown studio to Japantown! 

Japantown will have vintage and custom bicycles on display, including a demonstration of the restoration of a 1960's Schwinn Stingray.  There will be two bicycle decorating stations for folks to gussy up their rides.  While others can learn to origami "Kabuto" (Samurai helmets) out of newspaper to wear as they stroll the streets of San Jose!

Viva CalleSJ is not a race - and there is no beginning or end.  The flow of traffic goes both ways.  You don't need a bike or drivers license to participate - you can walk it.  And it's free!  We feel fortunate to be a part of this, and hope you enjoy it, too.

SAVE the DATE!

Artist visit with Girafa

Visited Girafa over the weekend to discuss upcoming projects we will be working with him on. We saw some of the garage walls he painted at the artist studios of Art Ark and visited his studio space to see some new work.

If you like his work and would like to see him paint live, come to Anne and Mark's Art Party that will be happening September 24 and 25th. For more info, visit: https://artpartysj.com/

SF Museum visit and Sacramento Mural Festival

Last Saturday we took a trip up to SF's DeYoung Museum to check out the Bruce Davidson photo exhibit and the new Ed Ruscha exhibit....also got a special treat to see a Margaret Kilgallen piece in the permanent collection!

Then kept driving up north to Sacramento to check out their mural festival. It's great to see Sacramento and it's residents embrace the public art culture!

For more info visit:
DeYoung Museum - http://deyoung.famsf.org
Sacramento Mural Festival - http://www.sacramentomuralfestival.com

Live painting for the SJ Jazz Festival

A special "thank you" to San Jose Jazz for commissioning Jimmy Fonseca to come out during the annual Jazz Festival to do live painting with the community of all ages.

Also a huge "thank you" to Jimmy and Manik, for coming out with your creative ideas to make this a super fun event!

Art, burgers and more in SF

This past Saturday, we drove up to SF to show support of many artist friends who were in a show or who had a opening in their space.

Started off with stopping by the Sunset to see Jason Arnold's work on it's last day at The Great Highway Gallery. Met the owner, John....as super nice guy who is an artist himself! Just next door there was a Kronnerburger popup so we grabbed dinner and had the most amazing burgers!

Next stop was at visiting the duo t.w.five who had their opening at State Space Gallery in the mission. They are also currently part of our "Pairs" show at our gallery so don't forget to stop by to see their work while you're in Japantown.

Third stop was at SF's Flax art supply store. They are planning to close down so a group of artists/curators put together a large group show. It was great to see so many people we've worked with.....Bigfoot, Chad Hasegawa, Erlin Geffrard, Pacolli, Tim Diet.....

Lastly, we stopped by Space 236 to support our friend's space. They had "Black Mail" as the opening and so many people came to support!

What a great evening!

Visit at The Alameda Artworks

We stopped by The Alameda ArtWorks yesterday for their Artstop event. Checked out the studios of Tricia Stackle/Ron Hemphill, Jumbo Jibbles and many other artists within this great spot. Great to see artists in their element!

SAVE THE DATE: Friday, August 12 for "PAIRS" at E7S

This Friday in Santa Cruz - An Art Show Celebrating Thirty Years of the Screaming Hand. A tribute to the artist Jim Phillips and a skateboarding icon

Back in January of this year, E7S had the honor to host the 30th Year Screaming Hand show as a part of the traveling tour. This exhibit which started it's tour in 2015, has traveled the world internationally and domestically. Now at the end of its tour, the finale will be happening back home in Santa Cruz. This exhibit will feature a small group from each location it has exhibited at. 

Friday, August 5th - Sunday, March 26th

Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History
707 Front Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95062
santacruzmah.org

This Thursday in Chico, CA - new works by Jessica Eastburn

If you happen to be in the Chico area, visit 1078 Gallery for new works by Jessica Eastburn.

For more info, visit: http://www.1078gallery.org/jessica-eastburn.html

Opening this weekend in Los Angeles at the Japanese American National Museum !

THIS SUNDAY: Firestone Walker Brewery at E7S for Silicon Valley Beerweek

For more information, visit http://www.svbeerweek.com/

This Friday - Jtown Art Walk

This Friday, July 8 from 7-10pm "Spirit of Shokunin" @ E7S

In tribute to our 8 years of art within the Japantown neighborhood and to the craftmanship of each artist, we present to you "Spirit of Shokunin"

“The Japanese word shokunin is defined by both Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries as ‘craftsman’ or ‘artisan,’ but such a literal description does not fully express the deeper meaning.  The Japanese apprentice is taught that shokunin means not only having technical skills, but also implies an attitude and social consciousness. … The shokunin has a social obligation to work his/her best for the general welfare of the people.  This obligation is both spiritual and material, in that no matter what it is, the shokunin’s responsibility is to fulfill the requirement.” – Tasio Orate.

If you missed the opening last month, come out this Friday during the Jtown Art walk to see works from over 70 different artists!
 

Guerrero Gallery's new space in SF

We visited the new Guerrero Gallery space in San Francisco's dog patch neighborhood. It was great seeing the new space with beautiful works from Hilary Pecis.

Congrats to Guerrero Gallery and we look forward to many more shows!

E7S in Mexico City, Oaxaca and Havana, Cuba....

Here is a shortened version of our recent trip to Mexico City, Oaxaca and Havana, Cuba. It was an AMAZING trip where we were able to do SO much within the time we had. We got to see so much history, culture, arts, ate lots of delicious foods and met new friends.

Mexico City is like the New York to Mexico. There are so many districts that offer so much to do. We stayed in the downtown Central Area and either walked or used Uber to get around (so cheap!)

Carlos in front of a Diego Rivera mural within the Chapultepec Castle. …formerly an imperial palace and presidential residence. Today, the Castle houses the country’s National History Museum. There are a ton of original paintings, artifacts on view throughout the Castle.

Stained glass in Chapultepec Castle.

A view of the National Museum of Anthropology. So much history and artifacts!

Mural by Jorge Gonzalez Camarena inside Chapultepec Castle.

A view from the balcony of our hotel.

Palacio de Bellas Artes hosts exhibitions and theatrical performances and is the main venue of the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico.

Interior of the Palacio de Bellas Artes. There are epic murals on interior walls on the first and second floors by some of Mexico's greatest artists, including Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Rufino Tamayo

Teotihuacan, preserves the remains of one of the most important civilizations in Mesoamerica. We were amazed    by the beautiful constructions and by the mystery kept within the wall of the Pyramid of the Sun, the Temple of Quetzalpapalotl, the Avenue of the Dead.

Here, we are on top of the Moon Temple….in the distance is the Pyramid of the Sun

Loved seeing the cute dogs hanging out enjoying the weather

Here we are at the top of the Pyramid of the Sun looking over to the Moon Temple

Ate at La Gruta, an amazing restaurant located within a cave (walking distance from Teotihuacan)

Alebrijes – from Oaxaca and made entirely by hand, sculptures made from copal wood and their ingenious shapes with amazing patterns and colors

I am a HUGE fan of Frida Kahlo. Arrived early at Casa Azul and was SO stoked to be the first one in line! For those of you who don’t know her…….you should look her up. Too much to explain in a sentence!

No words to explain how I felt being in the presence of her belongings. She is a huge inspiration in so many ways.

Frida’s pigments for her paintings and the mirror she used for her self-portraits.

After going to Casa Azul, went to the studio/house that Diego and Frida had designed by Juan O'Gorman.

Diego Rivera’s personal items in his studio and one of his pieces

So much amazing food in Mexico. Handmade tortilla tacos are the best!

Museo del Juguete is a dream for any toy collector!

Mexican-born Japanese collector Roberto Shimizu has amassed more than a million toys in his lifetime, and this museum showcases about 60,000 pieces, ranging from life-sized robots to tiny action figures. Shimizu himself designed many of the unique display cases from recycled objects.

Museo del Juguete’s rooftop is full of murals from a vast range of artists.

The very rooftop, which was inaccessible, was painted from a good friend of ours.

Rooftop views looking down and finding more art

We found our friend ROA’s mural located in the parking lot of the toy store.

Last night places to eat that were open 24 hours was amazing. This place, Tacos de Suadero, seriously had the best tacos!

Night walking in central Mexico City

Oaxaca is a state in southern Mexico known for its indigenous cultures. Its capital city of the same name is noted for colonial buildings often made of green volcanic stone. Not far from Mexico City as we took a one hour flight…

The Museo Texil de Oaxaca showcases Oaxaca's traditional textile crafts

We took a 2-3 hour roadtrip to visit some ruins and archeological sites….along the way, found a beautiful church (photo doesn’t do it justice), met some locals and saw TONS of cactus! If you don’t already know, I LOVE cactus and succulents!

Mitla is the 2nd most important archeological site in Oaxaca. Mitla was once an important Zapotec religious and ceremonial center. We saw a series of structures and patios adorned with ancient cut-stone mosaics, created by fitting together thousands of polished cut stones….which was believed to date back to the last two or three centuries before the arrival of the Spanish.

One of the distinguishing features at Mitla is the reoccurrence of 14 geometric designs that are represented in the stone carvings throughout the complex. You’ll be amazed at the intricacy and detail of the carvings, especially those found in the palace building.

"Hierve el Agua" translates to “the water boils”, and the natural mineral springs that are found here take their name from the bubbling of the warm water as it flows up from the earth through the springs and releases oxygen into the turquoise cliff-top pools.

What appears to be a massive waterfalls frozen to the side of the mountain are actually natural mineral formations that have built up over thousands of years as a result of the mineral-laden water spilling over the edge of the cliff and trickling down the rocky mountain side.

Photo on the left is from a higher peak looking down to what we hiked to (photo below)

In the photo below, you can see how large this formation is by looking at the small 2 people at the base (look hard…)

Another view of "Hierve el Agua"

Monte Alban, meaning “White Mountain,” is an ancient Zapotec capital and archaeological site with a spectacular mountain top location overlooking the valleys    of Oaxaca.

Visited some artists who do traditional wood blocking artwork.

The best way we ended our trip in Oaxaca was experiencing one of their parades. I’ve only seen these in movies so I was extremely excited to be in the midst of this! The music, dancing, vibrant colors and overall excitement was an experience to remember! Took lots of videos….

Templo de Santo Domingo De Guzman is a BEAUTIFUL church.

Interior of Templo de Santo Domingo De Guzman

I bought some amazing traditional blouses and dresses from Mexico City and Oaxaca. Some were machine stitched and some were hand stitched.  Absolutely LOVE Mexico’s textiles!

Going to Cuba has been something I wanted to do for over 15 years now. Many people think the passage is totally open for the US but reality is, it isn’t. You still have to book through a certified tour group.

We decided to bypass this and just go through Mexico. We like to take our own adventures and not have a tour company plan a tight schedule. Instead, we found a local tour guy who gave us a private view of Havana at our own leisure.

Across from the Plaza de la Revolucion.  Memorial for Jose Marti and Che Guevara

Plaza de Revolucion. This square is notable as being where many political rallies take place and Fidel Castro and other political figures address Cubans.

Fusterlandia, the studio, residence and wild kingdom of Jose Rodriguez Fuster. The neighborhood has changed a lot since Fuster came into town over 30 years ago. Inspired by his visit to Europe, had came back to Cuba with plenty of ideas. Roofs, walls, doorways and benches, stretching for blocks around his studio, are adorned with his brightly colored sculptures and mosaics. More than 80 neighbors have allowed Fuster to use their homes as his canvas.

Parque Almendares is also known as the “lungs of the city” for Havana. A beautiful forest in the middle of the city filled with trees draped with vines that look like walls.

Cuban music is romantic and spiritual. There was plenty of it during our stay and we love every moment of it!

Aside from being a tourist attraction, it was so exciting to see so many classic cars in Havana. I was able to embrace that part of my soul that came from a different era.

We rode these little Cuba taxis that were lot of fun. Basically a moped/scooter within one of those theme park rides. 

La Bodeguita de Medio…..Stopped by to visit the bar where Ernest Hemingway would buy his mojitos.

Plaza de la Catedral is one of the 5 main squares in Old Havana

Visited the house of Che Guevara

El Cristo de La Havana

Inside the Museo de la Revolucion….looking up into the dome.

Cuban pride is everywhere :)

When you walk the city, you get to meet and talk to beautiful locals such as Melba and her son Rafael.

Also while walking around, we found mural created by El Mac.

Timing was everything since the clouds were aligned.

More cars and old buildings of Havana.

There is so much character to these old buildings that live within the city. One of the main reasons we wanted to do this trip as soon as we could was because we wanted to SEE Cuba before it “changes”

Eventually the doors for Americans to travel to Cuba will be wide open….with that includes corporations.

How will this change Cuba? I’m sure the next time we visit, there will be a Starbucks or a McDonalds planted there.

The one thing about my trip to Cuba was that we really enjoyed being “off the radar” from internet, phones, texting, social media, tv, commercials…

As we walked the neighborhoods, you actually saw kids playing and people hanging out enjoying the scenery and talking with friends/family. Not connected to their phones or computers.

A nice man who runs a small bookstore in the neighborhood

Yellow on yellow

The Malecon is a broad roadway and seawall which stretches for 8 km along the coast in Havana. Here is a daytime view and below is while watching the sunset

Playa Santa Maria…. Super clear and warm waters of Cuba. This beach was heaven!