San Jose Museum of Art

8/13/2011

First time coming here not on a school field trip!
Came with friends, and if you enjoy looking at art and cool sculptures, its nice to see once in a while.

I'm not sure how often they add or change the artwork, but coming here once in a while isnt bad!

$5 student admission! There are 3 floors with different themes, but when I went, the lower floor was closed to renovation.

4/10/2009

For years I had this weird phobia of going back to places I'd worked, but fortunately I never felt that way about SJMA. I loved working there and learning about contemporary art on the job. But life being what it is, I hadn't been back to see an exhibit in a while. Well, my former coworker Lorran, who now works at another museum, invited me to join her for a visit back to our old stomping grounds--for the Warhol and Kahlo exhibits.

I'm embarrassed to say I'd forgotten what a great place this is! It's really sad that so many people don't even know about this museum, because it has a nice permanent collection with a focus on Bay Area artists, as well as excellent touring exhibitions. Sure it's smaller than SFMoMA, but if you prefer art without the attitude, come here. SJMA makes art accessible and provides great programs for kids.

And even though admission isn't free anymore (thanks to reduced government funding, no doubt--and you know who to thank for that), shouldn't art be worth the cost of a coffee or two? I personally think seeing the Chihuly chandeliers up close is more than worth the price of admission!

7/16/2011

For a small museum, SJMA has a great collection of contemporary art and hosts some fascinating exhibitions-- favorites include Il Lee's Ballpoint Abstractions and Leo Villareal.

If you're visiting downtown SJ, the museum is definitely worth a stop ($8 admission). Unless you're the type of person who likes to run through a museum to get to the gift shop post-haste, I'd give yourself about two hours to experience (yes, many are multi-sensory!) all the exhibits. Add an extra 30 minutes for visits to the cafe and museum store!

The museum does its best to be kid-friendly: drawing kits are available at no extra charge and the Koret Gallery (lowest level) offers interactive experiences with art.

8/8/2011

Small, limited selection, nothing really special. If you want better, you can visit Stanford Art Museum(free)

I guess it really depends on exhibit, but i have seen much much better ones

1/26/2009

Too lazy to drive up to the City to see visit the Asian Art Museum, the bf and I decided to check out the San Jose Museum of Art this past Sunday afternoon. Specifically, we wanted to check out the exhibition, "Frida Kahlo: Portraits of an Icon" since we missed the Kahlo exhibition in SF this past fall.

We paid the $8 admission fee and began our own self tour. It's been a few years since I last visited this museum and I somehow forgot how small it really was (although we did almost spend 1.5 hours there in total).

As for the Khalo exhibit, we should have read the description a bit closer. We had expected to see some of her painted works but instead the exhibit featured photographs of the artist herself. Still, quite interesting as she has a fascinating story but not exactly what we were expecting.

The surprise of the day was the exhibit "This End Up: The Art of Cardboard". How extremely impressive! Sculptures, chairs, etc. all built from cardboard. Hmmm....makes me wonder what we can start creating at home with our leftover cardboard boxes, etc. :)

Before leaving for the day, we stopped by the Gift Shop and perused their endless trinkets and books (a bit pricey but still fun to look at) and we enjoyed some espresso at the Museum Cafe.

All in all, not the best museum I've ever been to but it is a good way to spend an afternoon if you're looking to do something different in Downtown San Jose.

3/9/2011

I love museums.  Not just because you get to say you're "cultured", but because it's nice stepping into someone else's brain and see what they're thinking and how they express themselves.  So being relatively new residents of SJ, my hubs and I decided to check our local Museum of Art.  And the verdict is....eh, it's alright.  Nothing earth shattering or mind-blowing, and the size is relatively small.  We really enjoyed the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit, but that was about it.  They had an exhibit upstairs that just sort of creeped me out but that is sort of par for the course with modern art, right?  Anyway, I'm curious to see what kind of future exhibits they'll have.  On the plus side, the outside grounds were pretty and it's neat to have a museum in the heart of downtown.

10/22/2008

The exhibits get 5 stars, but the museum itself is kind of small and lacks signage. We came here to see the Robot and Frida exhibit. Photography is not allowed, but of course, there was no sign telling me that, so I managed to get a picture of the awesome Styrobot (22ft tall styrofoam robot by Michael Salter vimeo.com/890195).

I kind of wanted to steal one of the giant Styrobot's little friends. He was surrounded by little robot buddies.. Cute! A couple of the displays were out of order at the moment. Kind of disappointing since we came all the way down there to check it out. N was also a little disappointed that they didn't emphasize "movement". I suggested he go on display.  

           _______
          [   _      _   ]
           \      _       /
__   ___________    __
[     ]=|                        |=[     ]
|   |   |                         |   |   |
|   |   |                         |   |   |
|   |   |                         |   |   |
|   |   |                         |   |   |
|   |   |                         |   |   |
[__]  |_                    _|   [__]
|   |      \________/       |   |
|   |       |     |     |     |        |   |
|   |       |     |     |     |        |   |
|   |       |     |     |     |        |   |
|   _\ _  |     |    |     |    _ /_  |
\____] |     |     |     |   [___ |
            |     |     |     |                          i want one!
            |     |     |     |                  0       /
            |     |     |     |                 /|\    \0  
           /___\   /___\                 |      |\
          /____\ /____\               /\     /\

The museum cafe was surprisingly inexpensive, unlike most museums.

$5 students/ $8 regular adult entry, which is ok I guess. The museum is still kinda dinky compared to others..

12/18/2010

Art is truly life's greatest gifts and talent!

I am proud to call myself an artist although I wish I was a bit more talented and passionate about drawing as I used to but now I'm in-love with writing!

Came here back in March of 2010, so most of the exhibits that I saw are most likely not featured anymore. That is one of the reasons why I really like this Art Museum. Near to none of the collections featured are permanent! It is always changing! Meaning that it will never get boring. Art is forever so seeing the same thing over and over again in a never changing gallery is really a one to two time visit.

The admission fee is only $5 for students...but regular admission is on 2 bucks more...so still fairly cheap.

My favorite exhibit that was featured back in March was the "Listening Post" by new-media artists Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin. They created rows and columns, the size of a billboard, of tiny monitors wired together about 1 to 1 1/2 inches apart. On each monitor are text messages derived from chat rooms. It really gave me a shock of reality of how technology has become such an important part of our lives. The messages that I read were so familiar because the types of conversation sentences on the screens were things I would write to my friends. De-javu!

I'm planning on coming back before Feb. 6, 2011. There is an exhibit called "Build their own world" that I really want to check out and Feb 6th is the last day it would be featured!!!!!! =)

If you are interested, check out the San Jose Museum of Art's website and find out what other exhibits are being featured and what there is to come! =) Good luck!

sjmusart.org

4 stars why? It's toooooo smalllllllllllllll! I seriously finished the tour in 45 minutes! Wahhhhhh! =/ Am I being fair?

1/3/2011

Just visited recently with my family and a couple of other friends with their young children.  We came to see the Leo Villareal exhibit, which was spellbinding for all.  Being a Silicon Valley resident, I always take pride in seeing local tech-friendly artists featured for their unique works.  This one happened to be world class, in my opinion.  

I've come several times in the past and there's always something that is completely mind-blowing in the varied collections.  I also appreciate that they have activities for kids in some of the galleries.  Our group of 4 kids (and 3 moms) happily spent 45 minutes coloring and making origami boxes.  Perfect for families needing to get off their feet for an inspired break!

For those with of B of A credit card, the first weekend of each month is FREE!  Also, I believe you get a discount if you have a SJ library card.  You can get validation for the Fairmont garage if you buy something at the museum cafe, which has good grub.  The gift shop is awesome too- great place to buy creative gifts for kids.

7/27/2009

Went here with my roommate and we got to see the American Surreal exhibit which was lovely. Even the variations on a theme was decent.

Actually let's take a step back, the American Surreal exhibit was extensive and great, lots of information and great pieces to examine. We were somewhat suprised that the pricing was such a sweet deal at $8 (although a little sad that there was no photography allowed).

Move on to the Women's Exhibit which was... lacking. Appalling, really. I couldn't believe that it was so terrible to be honest and of the entire collection only two pieces really impressed me. Only two pieces screamed, "I'm an artist." The rest were bland and lacking -- trying too hard and without a handy explanation one could easily feel cheated.

Onward to the Variations which was good. It has the potential of being great especially if the idea was expanded upon. I got what it was aiming for but was a little sad that they didn't have more pieces expressing the theme.

My roommate's hopes were also dashed when he found that the store did not carry the print of the piece he really enjoyed. Heck I was sad for him.

So I give this three because two of the three exhibits failed to impress but I cannot stress enough how fantastic that American Surreal one is.

11/28/2011

Wow, haven't been here in a while! My sister had to do a project and took me a long with her... I can see why... Some parts of the gallery was geared towards feminism and girl power! OMG! I loved it! I walked around in silence and awe... We also visited the gift shop which had some pretty interesting things! Haha I loved it. Can't believe its been in my own home town all this time!

11/2/2008

This weekend's event was sponsored by Target Family Weekend. It was the perfect weekend to go to a museum because it was pouring outside! It was FREE admissions all day Saturday and Sunday! The event was called Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)! So they had tons of crafts and entertainment going on throughout the day to celebrate the dead! It was so much fun! There was a Tamunal performance, guided docent tours, kids could make colorful paper flowers, paint sugar skull heads, create tin art, make a butterfly and add it to the ofrenda for Frida Kahlo.

The first floor was somewhat interactive with its Road Trip exhibit. Lots of interesting artworks and installations, and road trip books to read! You can even make a postcard and mail it!

Second floor was the Fridao Kaklo Portrait exhibit. I had fun making paper butterflies and putting it on the curtains in honor of her.

The museum itself is a bit small, but then you know you don't have to rush through it because you'll be able to see everything you want in one visit. I loved the glass sculptures hanging above the lobby entrance! They are really beautiful!

It's a perfect time to go to the museum when it's raining, it's free admission day, and lots of activities going on! :)

7/6/2012

Small simple place and enjoyable. I like this museum....not to big and easy to get around. I really liked the Mexicanisimo exhibit and To Hell and Back: Sandow Birk's Divine Comedy . It is the artist take on dante's divine comedy, but more modern and based in SF. oh I also liked the circus animal sculptures....made me laugh inside like a little kid.

8/1/2012

Quite impressive for its size. Small art museum and VERY well curated exhibitions. The Hell & Back exhibit is a must see. The building does give the appearance of being much more massive and substantial than it actually ends up being....I thought that it would take half the day to get through all of the artwork- but I was only there for maybe an hour or so.

6/13/2012

I didn't get too excited by their exhibits except for some amazing Chihuly pieces hanging everywhere.  Some sections were closed off so it seemed small-ish.  But I'll go again in the future; very cheap: $8 for admission.

3/4/2012

I used to come here in between the long gaps of classes at state. I love modern art.  Some of my favorites include Michael McMillen's 'third eye' diorama, Liza Lou's beaded 'Kitchen' instillation, and Hans Burkhardt's human skull war painting of Viet Nam.

8/17/2010

This gallery is small, but it didn't feel like it because I was too intrigued by the collections and exhibitions to even notice.

What I got to see:
- Degrees of Separation: Contemporary Photography from the Permanent Collection
- Reto-Tech
- Vital Signs: New Media from the Permanent Collection
- Let's Look at Art: Animals In Art

I would love to give a detailed review of each exhibit, but I also don't want to spoil anything.

If you are into WEIRD, non-traditional art that will make you question, this is the place for you. There are separate rooms for each collection or exhibit, and enough things to look at in each room to tickle your fancy.

TIP: Look for the interactive story book. Play the games at the ice cream cart. Stare at the ghost in the dark.

I've already given too much information, but I had to throw those tips out because all 3 of those things may be easily overlooked or ignored.

5/11/2009

Went on free Koret day, on Mother's day in May. koretmuseumdays.org
Got through the two story museum in an hour.  Since it was mother's day and free, was crowded with family and kids.  Also had some extra programs for kids, painting, drawing and entertainment.
Enjoyed the Jun Kaneko ceramic exhibit and the Andy Warhol paintings.
Parked at the Market Parking lot, free on weekends, around two blocks away.
yelp.com/biz/csj-market-…
You are not allowed to take pics throughout the museum, only the lobby.

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  lobby

  lobby
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• See all photos from Deb N. for San Jose Museum of Art

8/24/2010

This museum is small in size, but I could tell there's a lot of people trying to make the most of the space. They caught my interested with Leo Villareal's showcase. Very cool concept, he's creating art for the masses. I could see his work for sale at retailers, don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

The kids center downstairs is tiny. But cute and quaint. I appreciated the interactive centers and the way they displayed the art pieces. The stratigic locations made it easy for me to get around and enjoy the art pieces. Their Plastic Art: Contemporary art from Asia was so interesting.

I really liked the museum store, but didn't buy anything. I didn't give them all the stars because of the "no photography" except of the lobby rule is very enforced---employees followed me all day.

10/12/2009

My dear and super cool daughter invited me to go to this museum.
For her humanities class, a visit to a museum was required for
an essay regarding art.
Cool...I love arty everything.

Off to beautiful San Jose us girls went for some arty daughter
and mama fun.

The museum is pretty darn cool; old-ish and charming exterior
architecture. Interior is classy, airy and contemporary.

Cost is reasonable; $6 for students $8 for moms (adults).
:D

The exhibits rotate; check their site for exhibit information.

We truly were fascinated by the artworks created by Chuck Close.
Wow! His work consists of printmaking and portraiture.
His use of torn handmade paper in portrait artworks is phenomenal.

The other exhibits were OK.

The miscellaneous 3-Dimensional artwork on display was
ultra cool and really grabbed us.

The only part of the visit that was not happy was in regards to
the staff.

As always, before taking photos in ANY establishment, I ask if
photo taking is OK. I asked  the employee at the registers if photos
were allowed there.
She said photos of the art in the lobby were allowed, yet not in the
exhibit areas.
I told her I was fine with that. I do respect the no photos policies.

FYI-
Some museums do allow photos, others do not...always ask before
you click the camera.

OK...we realized we were in a museum.
We read the signs stating no touching was allowed.
We're happy to follow the rules....not a problem.

Yet, the staffers seems to have their panties in a bind and
glare-stared at us for the duration of our visit...making sure we did
not touch the art nor take photos.

At one point, my daughter reached into her purse to get a pen
so she could notes for her assignment.

Panty-wadded male staffer snip-shouted that photos were not allowed.
Duhhh...we knew that and I told him we would not be taking photos.
I told panty-wadded dude my daughter was
just
getting
a
pen
out of her purse.

Sheesh, dude...get the panties out of the wad.

Yes, we were glare-stared at on the entire first level of the museum.

We then trotted upstairs to a wire-art exhibit.
At the stair top, there was a table set up with wire pieces for visitors
to sit and create their own little wire thingies.

Us girls had fun creating some wiry stuff and chatting away.
We thought we had a little quiet time....daughter/mom time.

Nope...got off our chairs and saw another panty-wadded staffer
hiding right around the corner from the table behind a wall
...very intentionally hidden...
it
was
weird.

Panty-wadded girl followed us downstairs to another exhibit
and stare-glared.

We did get some laughs over the panty-wadders...
it was funny seeing them jump, ready to snip every time I
reached into the side pocket of my purse to get lip balm.
Dang...wish I could have gotten photos of them ready
to pounce on us.
:D

A little word of advice for the staff...please don't make the visitors
feel so uncomfy at your museum.

On a sun-e note, the gift shop offers some fantastic arty items.

3/6/2012

I used to have a "Young Professional" membership to this museum, which I LOVED having, as I was invited to go to openings and special events. I am so glad San Jose has this art museum, SO glad.

8/28/2007

Whenever I'm downtown during the daytime (which is somewhat rare), I make it a point to stop by the San Jose Museum of Art.  I'm all for putting cool paintings, pictures, and other random art on display for the public (it used to be free, but I guess they charge now):

Adults: $8.00
Students & Seniors: $5.00
San Jose Library Cardholders: $2.00 discount.
Children under 6: FREE
SJMA Members: FREE

That's still less than a movie.

It's closed on Mondays, but is open every other day from 11am-5pm.

There is currently an AMAZING exhibition by Camille Rose Garcia that I highly recommend seeing before it's gone toward the end of September.  I soooo want the limited edition print of hers that's up for sale!

Anyway...GO already!  And it's not so big that you get overwhelmed either.

3/22/2012

Very cool exhibits and the NACE Mixer was fun! Has a great time. What a nice museum. :)

11/5/2010

A small museum here, but some good and interesting works.  "The Modern Photographer" exhibit was being shown when I was there, and had some really good photographs.

There were also some works that dealt with light...  They had a board that demonstrated Conway's Game of Life and let you set the initial conditions.  It's required to have some computer science influenced exhibits in Silicon Valley, right?

However, if you only have time for one museum in San Jose, I would recommend the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum over this one.

2/19/2010

While small, this museum makes an effort to bring in great shows. I also like a lot from their own collection: Juicy Paint and Real and Hyper-Real are two examples.
The great shows that I've seen include the recent Todd Schorr exhibit and one from the old days when it was a free museum, Barbara Broughel.
I think the head curator does a good job bringing in vital new art: Camille Rose Garcia had a show there a couple of years ago that was spectacular.
And since I like Wayne Thiebaud's landscapes, I look forward to visiting again soon.
And one more thing, the cafe always has a nice selection of sandwiches and salads. It's a great place to take a lunch break if you're downtown.

3/7/2012

It's a relatively small museum in a beautiful building. There's a lot of interesting modern art if that's your taste. Best things is that it's in the heart of downtown San Jose, so you can visit the Tech Museum and the Paseo de San Antonio Walk for dining or a movie right after.

2/1/2010

Came here on a Sunday and found free street parking a block away - score!  The museum is good for what it is - a small building housing a small collection.  It's currently featuring the early works of Ansel Adams, which was small but informative.  Don't expect to be wowed by an extensive amount of art or a lot of very famous artists.  I loved the Dale Chihuly chandeliers in the lobby.  It's a good, cheap way to spend a Sunday afternoon - you can tour the whole place in 1 hour if you really concentrate, but it's pleasant enough to stretch it to 2 hours.  I would definitely recommend checking it out if the touring exhibit interests you.

5/12/2009 Updated review

This museum gift store has some pretty cool items. It almost makes me wish I had kids that I could buy books and interactive toys for.

Kidding!

2/16/2010

We went here on Valentine's day, when they had a Lunar New Year event.  Free admission!  Woohoo!  Parking was a pain in the booty. We were there for about an hour for the free event, and had to pay $8 for parking in downtown SJ!  

The museum is pretty small, with only 2 floors.  The whole thing can be seen in about an hour.  Right now the exhibits aren't the greatest, but I've been there when there were cooler things to see.  

I think they should have at least ONE exhibit that would want to draw you in.  

Being that it's local, with tons of free days, I'd go again.  But if I had to pay, I'm not so sure I would.

3/24/2007

I escaped the maddening sound of airplanes flying overhead every two minutes by ducking into this lovely example of a big ol' box of awesome stuff!  

I've been to every museum in Northern California at this point, and I can safely say that the SJ Museum of Art is the most kid friendly fine arts museum by a mile.  I was brimming with warm fuzzies seeing the lil' ankle biters ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the pieces.  

Since most, if not all, of the public school districts have been forced to cut budgets, art has been axed in most schools in the Bay Area.  My school included.  

Every year we are forced to fund-raise for our own art program, making it increasingly difficult to expose our students to new forms of expression and creative outlet.  So I'm comforted knowing kid-friendly museums like this exist.  

Giving this place five stars was, as they say in kinder-land,  easy peasy lemon squeezy.  Woo!

8/7/2009

No parking validation unless you buy something at the museum shop. This applies no matter how much you spent on admission. I usually bike or walk over, so this policy was an unpleasant surprise.

For this bit of tackiness, they have lost a customer.

3/3/2010

What an awesome little museum!  It's super intimate, and I feel like I'm not pressured by crowds of people.  There's a lot of interactive things to do, as I saw an area where everyone was painting!  The building looks big, but inside you see a lot of little galleries.

I came for the Ansel Adams exhibit, I'm a huge fan, and I enjoyed it more here than when he was at the SFMOMA since it was smaller.

I really liked Shandow Birk's paintings.  They're so amazing!  I stood there looking at them for a long time.

I'll definitely come again.

12/5/2011

Crazy to see how the human mind and body can be so venturesome and skillful.

7/24/2011

It's a very good museum, simple as that. Is it great? Not quite. One detracting factor is it's size. Still, they manage to pack an infinite number of exhibits into the space. Some have photography, some show paintings, and some display sculptures of all kinds. There's always a wide variety, and there's always something to enjoy at San Jose's Museum of Art.

7/26/2012

love this place. kind of small but great use of space. also, i love their activities.

6/14/2010

Ventured here more out of curiosity than anything else.  I was pleasantly surprised.  First of all, $8 admission?  You can't get in anywhere for less than $10 these days.  Didn't have a student ID but the docent let us in anyways.  For $5.

The museum itself wasn't very big, only 2 floors (plus a downstairs children's area), but it was still worth it.  Loved the Realism vs. Realistic Exhibit with the massive soundboard of instantaneous chat messages (you have to go to understand).  The Theibaud exhibit was wonderful and very introspective.  Sandow Birk's rendition of Dante's Divine Comedy was incredible.

Worth a trip if you are in the area.  Its cheaper than a movie and likely better.

6/16/2012

Nice exhibits, but rather small. Worth a visit if you are in the area. Polite staff who are very helpful.

6/5/2011

Compact and easy to navigate, the SJ Museum of Art is a nice stop in the heart of downtown.  The staff was very friendly throughout.

I redeemed a recently purchased Living Social deal for $18 that included two adult admissions, a $10 voucher for the gift shop and another $10 voucher for the cafe. A great bargain overall!

We came for the Mapplethorpe exhibit (closing today). I noticed that the accompanying descriptions for each portrait were extremely well researched/detailed. Kudos to the curators for such a good job.

I love Dale Chihuly's glass installations--so having three on permanent display in the lobby here is awesome.

One note: research your parking options before you go. There are "free" lots on the weekends, but we ended up parking down near the convention center and while it was supposed to be free til 6pm, we got stuck w/ a $4.50 tab for about two hours.

Also-you might want to dress in layers. The main gallery on the ground floor was sweltering!

8/29/2009

The SJ museum is small- you're going there to see specific exhibits, not tour a bunch of general stuff.  They've had some amazing displays (Camille Rose Garcia,etc) and it's well worth the visit to head down there and see the work. We went to see the Todd Schorr exhibit.. wow! what a neat exhibit. There is the nice option to download the iPod tour (although we forgot to listen to it), and the show was well laid/spaced out.

I don't know about the issue with parking- we were there during peak downtown business hours and found metered parking right across the street. It's 2 hour meters, but even if you wanted to see every single piece of every exhibit, you could do that in 4 hours. I don't know of any businesses that validate without a purchase.

Overall- cute little museum, excellent choice of exhibits, nominal entrance fee.... can't wait to see what they have coming up next!

1/5/2009

Went here once with my family when I was in elementary school cause we had free passes.  Out of all museums and sight seeing places in and around San Jose, I think this is one that I'd actually recommend to never pay for, unless you have to for a class or they have an exhibit that you're dying to see.

Not sure if they've renovated this place or done anything special over the years, but yeah.  I wouldn't pay to go here.  Stanford's Cantor Museum is free and usually a better experience.  Granted, they don't get new displays too often, since most of their exhibit rooms are already set.  And I'm sure anyone who took an Art History class around the bay area in college had to visit this museum at least once for their class.