365 S. MARKET STREET, SAN JOSÉ, CA (near intersection of S. Market & E. San Salvador)
sponsored by Works/San José
I got the opportunity to leave my mark at the current location of Works/San José. This organization, and in particular this location of it, is special to me as it’s the first place I showed art in a public venue starting in 2014.
Works/San José is a nonprofit, all-volunteer, community art and performance center. This summer, it will relocate to 2nd Street alongside CreateTV. Before that happens, it’s leaving behind art to help spruce up this corridor between the park & SJ Convention Center’s South Hall. In the meantime, eighteen local artists are painting the surfaces of six planters spaced along the front of the building (neighboring the stunning plant mural (Limonium, part of the Weeds series) by SF muralist Mona Caron).
Design details
I folded in a couple of references to Works/SJ into this design.
First and foremost, the gesture shown here is ASL for “work”. I like to paint hands, especially hand gestures, and I reference sign language words and phrases where it makes sense. To demonstrate the gesture for “work”, I created this to echo that motion of holding a hammer in one fist and striking a surface (the back of your other hand).
Secondly, I use the “w” from the Works/SJ logo repeated it in the background. Since many of the announcements and shows about Works/SJ (created by Joe Miller) have this logo peeking out from an edge, I felt it belonged here too. Below, I captured a shot of the current Works/SJ signage in view with this mural. I’m honored to have been able to leave my mark here.
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