WORKS/San José is a nonprofit, member-run community art space, located in the
Downtown_Historic_District_(San_Jose,_California)
The Downtown Historic District of San Jose, California is a designated Historic district (United States), U.S. Historic District area of the city roughly the size of one square city block, block. It is bounded by S. First Street to the west, E ...
. It was founded in 1977 by community members.
History
WORKS/San José began in October 1977, by a group of artists and
San Jose State University
San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...
faculty and students in downtown San Jose.
Early members of WORKS/San José include: Tony May, Erin Goodwin Guerrero,
Ruth Tunstall Grant,
Jan Rindfleisch, George Rivera, Rebecca Schapp, Anna Koster, Fred Shepard, Albert Dixon.
WORKS/San José was originally an offshoot of the short lived MERZ gallery and Wordworks, started by Jessica Jacobs, the then San Jose State University gallery director.
Jacobs was instrumental in the establishment of the nonprofit status and acquisition of the initial space.
When Jacobs left WORKS/San José, the organization structure changed towards a more democratic approach.
Gallery operations are run by member volunteers.
San Jose State University art professor Tony May became the first president of the board of directors.
WORKS has occupied many locations in downtown San Jose including at Vine and Auzerais Streets (from 1977 to 1985);
the Leticia Building at 66 South First Street (from 1985 to 1990); a warehouse space at 260 Jackson Street in Japantown (from 1990 to 1996); the Sperry Flour Building at 30 North Third Street (from 1997 to 2007);
451 South First Street (from 2007 to 2011); 365 South Market Street (from 2011 to 2022).
The gallery was moved to the historic 38 South Second Street location in 2022.
Exhibitions and work
Notable artists showing at WORKS/San José, many early in their career, include
Laurie Anderson
Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker whose work encompasses performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting,Amirkhanian, Cha ...
,
,
,
Annie Sprinkle
Annie M. Sprinkle (born Ellen F. Steinberg on July 23, 1954) is an American certified sexologist, performance artist, former sex worker, and advocate for sex work and health care. Citing:
Sprinkle has worked as a prostitute, sex educator, fe ...
,
,
Lynn Hershman Leeson
Lynn Hershman Leeson (née Lynn Lester Hershman; born June 17, 1941) is an American multimedia artist and filmmaker. Her work with technology and in media-based practices is credited with helping to legitimize digital art forms. Her interests inc ...
,
Holly Lane,
Mark Pauline
Mark Pauline (born December 14, 1953) is an American performance artist, new media artist, and machine inventor. He is known as founder and director of Survival Research Laboratories.
Early life and education
After high school he had a job a ...
of
Survival Research Laboratories
Survival Research Laboratories (SRL) is an American performance art group which pioneered the genre of large-scale machine performance. Founded in 1978 by Mark Pauline in San Francisco the group is known in particular for performances where custo ...
,
,
,
,
and
Linda Montano
Linda Mary Montano (born January 18, 1942) is an American performance artist.
Early life
Born in Saugerties, New York, Montano was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic household, partly Irish and partly Italian, surrounded by artistic activity. ...
.
Throughout its history, WORKS/San José has presented performance art, music, film, theater, spoken word, visual and conceptual art, workshops, panels, and lectures.
Most exhibitions are produced by guest curators from the community.
References
Further reading
*
Rindfleisch, Jan (2017)
Roots and Offshoots: Silicon Valley’s Arts Community Santa Clara, CA: Ginger Press.
by Ann Elliot Sherman, 2000-01-01. ''www.metroactive.com''. Retrieved 2021-05-24.
*Puckitt, Sarah, et al. (2003). The First Quarter Century: WORKS 25th Anniversary Catalog. San Jose, CA: WORKS/SJ.
External links
*
{{Bay Area Arts Organizations
Art museums and galleries in California
1977 establishments in California
Downtown San Jose
Art in the San Francisco Bay Area
Non-profit organizations based in California
Arts organizations based in the San Francisco Bay Area