SJMA to Offer “DIY Art: Portraits of the Figure” 
January 29

Release date
  •  

    SAN JOSE, California (January 10, 2011)—The San Jose Museum of Art’s popular “DIY Art” series will continue on Saturday, January 29, from 1 to 3 p.m. with “DIY Art: Portraits of the Figure.”  Inspired by the Museum’s exhibition Robert Mapplethorpe: Portraits, which opens to the public January 29, guests will draw from a live clothed model. Instructor for the program is professional artist Felicia Forte of Belmont, CA. Beginners are welcome, and art materials are provided.  The program is free with Museum admission of $8 ($5 seniors, students, and youth 7-18; free to members and children under 6). 

    Felicia Forte teaches many classes and workshops from her Belmont studio. Her work has been featured in group shows at many Bay Area galleries, including Arc Gallery in San Francisco, 1870 Art Center Gallery in Belmont, and Gallery 25 in San Mateo. She currently has a solo show at the 1870 Arc Gallery.  Forte recently won “Best in Show 2D” at the Coastal Art League and Museum Annual Juried Show in Half Moon Bay. 

    Robert Mapplethorpe: Portraits features some 100 black-and-white portraits by the acclaimed American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989). The subjects of his classically inspired portraits include Truman Capote, Keith Haring, Louise Nevelson, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Isabella Rossellini, Susan Sarandon, Andy Warhol, and other leading cultural figures. Robert Mapplethorpe: Portraits will be on view January 29 through June 5, 2011. 

    SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART

    The San Jose Museum of Art is a distinguished museum of modern and contemporary art and a lively center of arts activity in Silicon Valley. The San Jose Museum of Art is located at 110 South Market Street in downtown San Jose, California. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 408-271-2787 or visit www.SanJoseMuseumofArt.org.

    Robert Mapplethorpe: Portraits is organized by the Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA, with the assistance of guest curator Gordon Baldwin. The exhibition is sponsored in part by the Helene and Lou Galen Exhibition Fund and the Faye and Herman Sarkowsky Exhibition Fund. The exhibition’s presentation in San Jose is sponsored by the SJMA Store Guild. 

    Programs at the San Jose Museum of Art are generously supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, by operating support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation; the James Irvine Foundation; the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; the Adobe Foundation; and the Koret Foundation; the MetLife Foundation; and a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San Jose.

     

    # # #