Eyes, Eyes, Eyes! mural on East San Carlos Street by Frankie McFly (https://www.frankiemcfly.com/).
Cities of Santa Clara County Murals
At the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, there is a building with murals for its cities and towns.
San Jose by Mario Dimas (https://www.instagram.com/mariodimasart/).
Santa Clara by Kelly Detweiler (https://www.instagram.com/kdetweilerart/).
Gilroy by Sheryl Cathers (https://www.instagram.com/sheryl_cathers/).
Los Gatos by Bhavana Misra (https://bhavnamisra.com/).
Palo Alto by Megan Sara Stevens (https://www.artistmegansara.com/).
Mountain View by Scape Martinez (https://www.sm-artgroup.com/).
Sunnyvale by a collaboration of artists; Ketaki Adi, La Vonne Carrick, Angelo Lopez, Deepti Nanawati, Penny Nolan, Kanchan Paranjpe, Jayashree Sadasivan, Neela Shukla, Ishwarryah SR, Jenny Tang.
Los Altos by Morgan Bricca (https://morganmurals.com/).
Campbell by Pam Mossing (https://www.facebook.com/pammossingmurals/photos_by).
Milpitas by Francisco Ramirez (https://www.instagram.com/fco1980/).
Cupertino by Joseph Demaree (https://idiomism.wixsite.com/josephdemaree).
Saratoga by Greg Cheung.
Los Altos Hills by Tanya Fisher (https://www.tanyafisher.art/).
Morgan Hill by Paul J. Gonzalez (https://pauljgonzalezartstudios.com/).
Monte Sereno is at the end of the building and is five murals around a doorway that focus on painter Thomas Kinkade who had lived there. These murals above were by Kachan Paranjpe Khadikar and Ketaki Adi. The following ones were, in the order shown, by Joseph Demaree, Francisco Ramirez, and Lila Gemellos.
Mālama Āina Mural
“Mālama Āina”
“To care for the land”
Mural on West St. John and Marker Street by Taylor Reinhold (https://www.taylorreinhold.com/).
Cabbage at the Library
From the street of San Tomas Aquino Rd. I assumed I was looking at a simple, though attractive, vegetable sculpture. Then I got closer and saw there was more to it. Notice the roof of this library has a rain spout directed to the top of the sculpture. Then, looking closer I saw that the sculpture has curves that channel water and a drain near its base. It is a part of the rain water drain path! That is just neat. I found that the artist Elizabeth Conner (https://elizabethconner.com/section/348652-Public-Art.html) calls this work “Cabbage”.
From the top you can see how the water is channeled all around the grooves of the sculpture’s leaves as it flows down towards the drain.
Waterways work their away around it all and it has integrated lights to backlight the leaves at night.
I like looking at this and hope to be near it when it is raining some day.
First Friday
First Street on First Fridays of the month is a great time to see the art galleries, museums, and artists selling their works on the streets.
Koalas on E. San Carlos Street
I stopped because I thought someone had given these koalas a scarf or something. It looks like it may actually be balloons or something that got caught up in the sculpture. According to SanJose.com (https://www.sanjose.com/2011/06/01/branching_out/) these numerous koala sculptures you see in the trees on E. San Carlos Street were put up by the San Jose Downtown Association in 2011.
Alley off of Stevens Creek and Bascom
When I saw this one I instantly liked it and assumed it was completed for the most part. These photos of the Alley behind the corner of Stevens Creek and Bascom were taken a couple of weeks apart and show some changes. For this mural, it was dramatic and still excellent even though very different to me after the artist added the lines you will see next.
I like it both ways so much I can not quite make up my mind which way I would prefer it. Each way feels different to me like separate and excellent works. I ran into the artist, Augie WK (https://www.thejamsbrand.com/augiewk), selling some of his artwork at a SoFA First Friday event and told him how I liked this mural off of Stevens Creek and how I liked it both ways so much. He told me that he’s heard similar thoughts often from people with his art. He sometimes uses the lines and sometimes does not when he employs this style in his work. I’m glad that I was able to stop and appreciate this mural in both phases.
Here are some more works in the alley from various artists. New pieces pop up every once in a while so this alley already has more works than is captured in these photos.
Mural at Billy De Frank LGBTQ+ Community Center
Mural by Serge Gay Jr. (https://www.facebook.com/sergegayjrart).
Mural on The Alameda
Mural by Matty Heimgartner (https://www.facebook.com/fabulousmatty).
Out in the Hills
Found on the trails in south San Jose.