Phantom Galleries is partnering with the Cinequest Film Festival 20 to bring you the Maverick Spirit Art Contest - a live painting event that takes place in the windows of the Camera 12 Cinemas during one of San Jose's most notorious and beloved events of the year.

Featured artists Dax Tran Caffee, Michael Foley, Kate Stewart and Wädl began their canvases last week and will continue through this Friday, March 5th. Feel free to stop by Camera 12 between 11am-11pm to view the works in progress and cheer the artists on.

All the artists will present their finished paintings at the Closing Gala Event on Saturday, March 6th at 7pm at the California Theatre on South First Street.

You can participate in the event by texting your vote for your favorite MAVERICK artist to Cinequest as listed below beneath each artists' image. (Text service provided by Mozes with no surcharges imposed.)

You can click on each image to get a larger view.

Dax Tran Caffee- text "CAFFEE" to 66937

Wädl- text "WADL1" to 66937

Michael Foley- text "FOLEY" to 66937

Kate Stewart- text "STEWART" to 66937

As you can see, all the work is amazing so the choice will be difficult, but your vote is important to the success of the event, so please take a moment to vote for your favorite MAVERICK ARTIST!

Please note that all paintings pictured here are works in progress. Follow us on Twitter - @PhantomTweets for live updates.

We will post images of the finished work after the winner is announced at the Cinequest Closing Gala.

KALEID Gallery's Lacey Bryant has gathered a great group of artists to exhibit their personal sketch books along with their drawings, paintings and sculpture. Each artist has also provided a creative chair in which you can sit to view their sketchbooks.

The participating artists are: Murphy Adams, Ivy Atoms, Shirine Azimianaraki, Christine Benjamin, Laura Callin Bennett, Julie Bilyeu, Michael Borja, Lacey Bryant, Chemix, Drew Clark, Mark Damrel, Emonic, Michael Foley, Ivan Gonzales, Miguel Machuca, David Mejia, Trina Merry, Gianfranco Paolozzi, Pellet, Annabella Pinon, T.h. Pug, Kate Saturday, Matt Seigel, Yarick Semich, Lara Sophia, Ben Shuts, Jasper Thomas, Dax Tran-Caffee & Michelle Waters

Join us! Step into their brain space and enjoy music by DJ Coco, catering by Fundamental Gourmet, coffee by Red Berry Coffee Bar and conversation with the sketchers themselves!

Artists' Reception: First Friday March 5th, 7-9pm
(part of the South FIRST FRIDAYS art walk)

KALEID Gallery
88 South Fourth Street
Dowtown San Jose, CA
www.KALEIDGallery.com

In addition to being a featured artist in the Female Found group exhibit at WORKS which opens Friday, March 5th (part of the South FIRST FRIDAYS art walk), Nadia will also have a solo exhibition of portrait works on view.

WORKS San Jose
451 South First Street
San Jose, CA

The South FIRST FRIDAYS art walk takes place every first Friday of the month (except January and July) featuring 15 art venues and art friendly businesses in the SoFA District and beyond.

The art walk is 8pm 'til LATE and is free and open to the public.

art by Lacey Bryant

KALEID Gallery - 88 South Fourth Street (at San Fernando)

7pm–9pm Opening reception: The Sketch Book Show

Take a rare peak into the twisted minds of 29 artists! Peer into the depths of their sketchbooks and see what makes them tick. Step into their brain space and enjoy by DJ Coco, catering by Fundamental Gourmet, coffee by Red Berry Coffee Bar and conversation with the sketchers themselves!

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Phantom Galleries - art exhibits in vacant storefronts

Guy Brookshire

386 South First Street: Illustrations from the Book of Dreams are book art collages, created with precision blades and glue by destroying reference, art, history, and science publications. They illustrate uncanny narratives of which no knowledge is required. The universe they describe is the work of Guy Benjamin Brookshire.

Andy Gouveia

388 South First Street: Fault-lines an installation by Bay Area artist Andy Gouveia.

A spray can and house paint mural painted live in Golden Gate park as part of the Indy Arts Fest 2009. This exhibition also hosts an array of his smaller paintings dealing with the myth and mystery of the ancient world.

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Anno Domini // the second coming of Art & Design - 366 South First Street

Artist's Reception: Indoctrination debut solo exhibition of Dante Horoiwa

Under the skin of his everyday life in Brazil lies Horoiwa’s Japanese heritage. His paintings portray the spiritually lost and lonely. Through his work, from life-size paintings in São Paulo to the side of a 4 story building in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Horoiwa is able to cope with his want to hide from the world and his need to be a part of it.

Also on view in galleryONE: Art of Zines 2010
featuring hundreds of zines from basements, bedrooms and midnight copy shops throughout the US and abroad.

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Art Glass Center of San Jose - 465 South First Street

The SJGAA invites you to get a special sneak peek at their new fine art gallery extension as they expand the Art Glass Center of San Jose. Lionel Chapital and Lori Peterson will be on the torches creating precious little works of art just in time for Easter.

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Mariana Garibay, Tangle Weed, monotype, collage, acrylic and string mounted on wood, 2009.

MACLA - 510 South First Street

Currently on view Conceptual Landscapes: recent work by Castillo and Mariana Garibay. Ancestry, nature and form are reflected in this two person show featuring site specific installation and works on paper.

Join us for the Artist Talk on Friday, March 5 at 7:30pm for a gallery walk through and an engaging conversation about their work.

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The Angel Equation by Joan Schulze

San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles - 520 South First Street

In the Main Galleries: Poetic License: The Art of Joan Schulze is a retrospective of the prolific 40-year career of innovative Bay Area collage artist Joan Schulze.

Also on view: Navajo Weaving in the Present Tense: The Art of Lucy and Ellen Begay, a rare collection of a remarkable body of work by two contemporary Navajo weavers, a mother and daughter, whose work is deeply rooted in the traditional lifestyle they still lead.

Special event 8-9pm: Reading of original poetry by Joan Schulze.

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SLG Art Boutiki & Gallery - 577 South Market Street

Web comics are all the rage these days and SLG presents artwork from one of the most popular webcomics on the internet as artist Ethan Nicolle shows of his work from AXE COP. For the uninitiated Axe Cop is the web comic created by Ethan and his five-year-old brother. Have you ever read something and said to yourself "Was this written by a five year old?" Well, Axe Cop IS written by a five year old and it's one of the funniest thing on the web. Entertainment Weekly and NPR agree and we are sure you will too.

Also, the Andy Ristaino Escape from Dullsville show continues. Live music by Jazz Trio Quasimodal.

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Blue Canyons by Terenia Offenbacker

Works San José - 451 South First Street

Opening reception: Female Found Mixed Media Contemporary Art, curated by Terenia Offenbacker, presents the work of eight women that create art together through weekly sessions for the past seven years. The materials used are common: paper, sand, metals, textiles, etc., but each artist works in a different creative way. Featured artists: Rosine Ferber, Ann Gordon, Camille Ball, Ricky Gumbrecht, Shuang Zhang, Sheryl Tealdi, Annette Legallet and Terenia Offenbacker.

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Caffé Trieste - 315 South First Street

Opening Reception: Venezia Revisited is a collection of paintings made by San Jose artist Eillen Graham after a 2007 trip to Italy.

Live music by Opera San José, featuring your favorite arias and duets starting at 8:30pm.

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Downtown Yoga Shala - 450 South First Street

Opening Reception: Yoga Inpired Art by Angeles Moreno

Simplicity, harmony, color, and strong outlines define her art, influenced by her life’s work as a graphic designer. Yoga came to her at its own time. It was in discovering consistent yoga practice that revealed a more profound significance and a fresh inspiration for her artwork.

Seeking a deeper understanding of the disciplines at the core yogic principles, Angeles completed the Ashtanga Teacher Training at Mount Madonna, founded 35 years ago by the silent Guru, Baba Hari Dass.

To capture and (re)express the many universal, positive messages from this ancient philosophy, the canvases began to fill with the Spirit of Yoga, compassion - balance - harmony.

Angeles Moreno is a yoga teacher at Downtown Yoga Shala. To see more of Angeles' work, please join us after Candlelight Yoga (6:15-8pm) as we open our doors to the art patrons and the downtown community for an Artist Reception beginning at 8pm.

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art by Wendy Neff

Good Karma Vegan Café - 37 South First Street

Opening Reception Group exhibit by Good Karma Staff
A mixed media, mixed artist show to celebrate the creative bunch that work at Good Karma. Featuring: Tony Buccino, Julia Lang, Otessa Crandell, Sarah Cade, and Wendy Neff.

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METRO Photo Exhibit- 550 South First Street

Opening Reception: I'm With the Band? photos by the First St. Photo Collective

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South First Billiards Club & Lounge - 420 South First Street

Opening Reception: Group Show by Illuskrate

Illuskrate is an art blog started and contributed to by Dion Bello and Anabella Pinon. The blog is an exhibit symbolizing work created after the day job some artists have to maintain to be able create the pieces displayed in these galleries.

The show is a collection of very talented South Bay artists that include; Anabella Pinon, Dee Jae Pa’este, Noel Huh, Nicole Terzic, Mike Borja, Daniel Valadez, Kristine Taormino, Kim Christman and Dion Bello.

Live musical performances by Fake Public and Can’t Find a Villain.

South First Billiards is now an ALL AGES venue.

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Art Ark - 1035 South Sixth Street

6-9pm Opening Reception: The Art of Truth, Compassion, Tolerance curated by David Zhang

This traveling exhibition has been shown in more than 40 countries and over 200 cities worldwide. Last year a preview was held at the San Jose City Hall Rotunda. The show features oil paintings by 12 artists including: Kunlun Zhang, Xiaoping Chen, Yuan Li, Kathleen Gillis, and Xiqiang Dong whose art portrays the experiences, visions, and hope of Falun Dafa followers as they attempt to safeguard justice and peace while upholding their values in truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

Free shuttle service from South First Street to the Art Ark Gallery every 15 minutes between 5:45 - 9:15pm. Meet in front of the Miami Beach Club

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For more information: please visit www.SouthFirstFridays.com or call 408-271-5155

Enjoy FREE PEDICAB RIDES between art venues courtesy of South First Fridays and Eco City Cycles!

This event is produced by Two Fish Design with additional support provided by 1st ACT, the San Jose Downtown Association and the San Jose Redevelopment Agency.

Media Sponsor: Metro Newspapers

The Pacific Region Women’s Caucus for Art is sponsoring Blue Planet a fine arts exhibition accompanying “Elements: An Eco-Art Conference”.

Eco-art often carries a layered meaning that aids in the understanding and appreciation of the environment, addresses community values, and/or inspires activism on behalf of the ecological systems of which humans and their cultures are a part.

For the Blue Planet Exhibition, we seek work that examines and explores the social, political and economic issues related to water. All media including installation, video and collaborative projects that fit within the gallery space may be submitted. This show is open to all artists living in California and all national WCA members.

This show will be at SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco from June 19 to June 26th and is juried by Eco-Artist Kim Abeles. The deadline for entries is April 24th, 2010.

Please download the prospectus at www.sbawca.org



Floral Fantasy paintings exhibit by Lucy Liew at Soula Power Yoga

Floral Fantasy: a series of floral images inspired by everyday magic.
Painting for me is a visual diary that celebrates the everyday wonders of life. The mood of the composition may be introverted and reflective…or extroverted and celebratory, depending on how it is interpreted by my physical, mental and spiritual “lens”. It is an ongoing challenge to create a piece of art that elicits hope and inspiration in the midst of life’s challenges. I challenge the viewer to look more closely at the beauty of our natural world and draw parallels with the beauty of life. In this series of paintings, you are invited into a lush garden of floral fantasies that are a fusion of the real and the fantastic. The flowers, foliage and insects are rendered using fine illustrative details to suggest reality while the rich colors, rendered in multiple layers, and the playful juxtaposition of organic curvilinear elements and representational images invoke a magical dreamlike realm.

The beautifully decorated Chinese vases collected by my mother were the inspiration for one series in Floral Fantasy which use floral motifs as representational images of family “trees”. Each of the flowers used in these compositions have special significance in Chinese tradition: the tree peony symbolizes honor, love and affection, while the magnolia bloom exemplifies nobility, dignity and perseverance.

The lotus blossom is the central theme of another series in Floral Fantasy. This flower is widely regarded as a symbol of purity and perfection, often in conjunction with a spiritual awakening or rebirth. This collection also features butterflies and dragonflies to reinforce the themes of joy, transformation and new life.

Floral Fantasy is a visual celebration of life and the human experience. It is through the visual media of painting and drawing that I am able to transcend the barrier of language to share my thoughts and inspirations with viewers around the world. While I often draw inspiration from my own cultural heritage, I believe that the underlying oneness in all cultures, East or West, allows these stories to connect universally with viewers through the shared experience of life.

Meet Lucy at the artist's reception on March 5th, 7pm- 9pm

Born in Malaysia, of Chinese-Melanau descent, Liew is a graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore and a Commonwealth Foundation Fellowship winner from England. Liew has been active in the S. F. Bay Area since 1997 and was awarded a San Jose City Branch Library Project in 2004. Her work has been featured internationally in numerous solo and group exhibitions, as well as in various private and corporate collections around the world. Liew’s work is also in the permanent collection of the National Art Gallery in Malaysia. Liew currently resides and works in San Jose, California.

Soula Power Yoga
200 S. First Street, Suite 70 (on the Paseo between 1st & 2nd)
San Jose CA 95113
408-993-9642
www.soulapoweryoga.com

Hours: Mon & Wed, 9am-1, 4:30- 9pm
Tues & Thur, 9am-11, 4:30- 6:30pm
Fri, Sat & Sun, 9am- 1pm

Phantom Galleries just installed Fault-lines an installation by Bay Area artist Andy Gouveia at 388 South First Street.

The 8' x 8' image is a spray can and house paint mural painted live in Golden Gate park as part of the Indy Arts Fest 2009. This exhibition also hosts an array of his smaller paintings dealing with the myth and mystery of the ancient world.

Exhibit on view 24/7 from the sidewalk now through April 17th.

To see more of Andy's work, please visit his website at www.andygouveia.com.

This is the last week to check out February's feature exhibits by Sandi Billingsley and Mark Damrel (on view thru this Friday, February 26th.)

Transfiguration is a collection of three dimensional art is an expression of Sandi Billingsley's faith that "we humans can live in luxury while being environmentally responsible." Transfiguration is essentially the art of changing the properties of an object. In this case it refers to the changing of garbage into art.

Relative Matter is a series of paintings by Mark Damrel inspired by the hardships he encountered on his journey into fatherhood.

And then join us First Friday March 5th for the opening of the Sketch Book Show curated by KALEID artist Lacey Bryant.

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday - Friday, Noon - 7pm
Saturday, Noon - 5pm

KALEID Gallery
88 South Fourth Street
Downtown San Jose
http://www.KALEIDgallery.com
408-947-1785

On The Corner Music's 3rd annnual "WE LOVE MUSIC!" gallery this Friday Feb. 26th, 8pm - Midnight.

25 artists exhibit their own interpretation of what music means to them on a 12x12 record sleeve, plus DJs and no tax on all LPs & CDs. This event is free and open to all ages.

On the Corner Music
530 E Campbell Ave
Campbell, CA 95008
(408) 871-0305

The Art of Truth, Compassion, Tolerance
curated by David Zhang

This traveling exhibition has been shown in more than 40 countries and over 200 cities worldwide. Last year a preview was held at the San Jose City Hall Rotunda. The show features oil paintings by 12 artists including: Kunlun Zhang, Xiaoping Chen, Yuan Li, Kathleen Gillis, and Xiqiang Dong whose art portrays the experiences, visions, and hope of Falun Dafa followers as they attempt to safeguard justice and peace while upholding their values in truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. An inspiring exhibition not to be missed!

For more information please visit the web site at: www.FalunArt.org

Opening reception: Friday, March 5th 6 -9pm
Part of the South FIRST FRIDAYS monthly art walk. Free shuttle service to the Art Ark Gallery every 15 minutes between
5:45 - 9:15pm in front of the Miami Beach Club

Exhibition dates: March 5th - March 28th
Gallery Hours: Friday - Sunday 10am - 9pm

Art Ark Gallery
1035 S. 6th St
San Jose, CA 95112
www.ArtArkGallery.net