The Japantown Mural Project is a celebration of the vibrancy of San Jose's historic Japantown neighborhood through artworks by 50 local artists.
The environment is a barren, undeveloped plot of land that once served as the City of San Jose's Maintenance Yard. Chain-link fencing is now covered with more than 60 large mesh panels of color.
It stretches a quarter of a city block along 6th and Jackson Streets in the heart of Japantown.
The subject matter is highly interpretive, including personal and commissioned works, and encompasses a wide variety of mediums and aesthetics. It also includes references to the site's former life; 100 years ago,
it was one of San Jose's very first Chinatown settlements known as 'Heinlenville.' A majority of the artists maintain art studios in Japantown, have displayed their artwork in neighborhood galleries, or consider this wonderful place their home.
The Japantown Mural Project is truly representative of its own unique community and will be enjoyed and appreciated for years to come.
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The Artwork
The art work is from a body of artworks entitled, 'Rediscover Redirection.' It is done in acrylics on canvas which is 6ft x 8ft. It was designed to be an urban billboard to remind communities to try to be healthy and break the chains of abuses. It was part of a solo exhibition at The Triton Museum in Santa Clara, California.
Biography
Ruth Tunstall-Grant is a Bay Area artist whose work has been featured in many invitational group exhibitions as well as solo shows at national and international venues such as:
Rath Museum, Geneva, Switzerland
Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California
Siepp Gallery, Palo Alto
Los Gatos Museum of Art, Los Gatos, California
Davis University Memorial Gallery, Davis California
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York
She received a Women of Achievement Award in the Arts in 1987 and the 1999 Dr. Alain Locke Award for “Excellence in the Arts.” In 2003 she was appointed to the San Jose Art Commission. She served as Chair of Public Art for 4 years. Now, she chairs the San Jose City Hall Exhibits Committee.
Ruth just retired as founder and Director of the Art Education Program at The Children’s Shelter of Santa Clara County, a program that provided fine art instruction for abused and abandoned children. The art program was awarded an NEA Taller Award as one the best art educational programs for abused children in California. Her artworks has appeared in several publications: Art International Magazine, The Bay City Times, The New York Times, The Sacramento Bee, New York Amsterdam News, The San Jose Mercury News, Metro, and Afro-American Artist.
She lives in San Jose, California has a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Dallas.
Japantown Community Congress of San Jose · Office of the Consulate General of Japan · Wesley United Methodist Church
Jack's Bar & Lounge · Dr. Stephani Nguyen of Japantown Dental · Kay's Shiseido · Dr. Jerrold Hiura & Lucia Cha
Contemporary Asian Theater Scene · Japantown Neighborhood Association · Union Bank of California · Chris & Minako Tsuji
Japanese American Museum of San Jose · Yu Ai Kai Senior Center · Banana Crepe · Halcrow Partners · Pan Pacific Bank · Alex Alsorady & Darcie Kiyan
Sophie Horiuchi Forrester · Helen Hayashi · Roy & PJ Hirabayashi · Aggie Idemoto · Reiko Iwanaga · Jeanne Katsuro · Tamon Norimoto · Kristin Okimoto
Jeffrey Oldham · John Ristow · Rev. Gerald & Kathy Sakamoto · Victoria Taketa · Leah Toeniskoetter · Joe Yasutake
Japantown Community Congress of San Jose · The City of San Jose Arts Commission · Dr. Jerrold Hiura · The Rast Family
Corinne Okada Takara · Ruth Tunstall-Grant · Cherri Lakey · DJ Ashford
Empire Seven Studios · The Arsenal · Sign-a-Rama of Downtown San Jose
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