Wish Book: Local Color fosters community for San Jose artists

As Tachiya Bryant’s work as a multimedia artist in San Jose began to gain momentum, she knew she needed a dedicated studio to take the next step in her career. But renting a workspace in the pricey South Bay was simply out of her budget.

Then, at a panel discussion Bryant moderated on the connection between African-American women’s hair and identity — a central theme of her art — she met another artist who works for Local Color, a nonprofit that leases affordable studio space to creatives in San Jose.

It wasn’t long before Bryant, 28, was renting a shared studio from the group for $400 a month. She’s since filled her workspace with canvases and art materials, including bags of synthetic braiding hair, which she’s used to create a series of masks for a project Local Color exhibited this year at its gallery in downtown San Jose.

Recently, she also designed a practice jersey for the San Jose Sharks inspired by traditional Adinkra symbols for the team’s Black Excellence Celebration in February.

“It’s definitely made my dream of becoming an artist, and actually having space to branch out,” said Bryant, a San Jose native. “It was through having a space that I was able to refine my art. It wouldn’t be possible without Local Color.”

Local Color was founded 10 years ago by San Jose-based artist Erin Salazar. Initially a pop-up art space, the nonprofit evolved to partner with developers to transform commercial buildings slated for demolition into studio spaces for local artists.

Currently, Local Color has 25,000 square feet of studio space at two locations for more than 50 artists, including painters, graphic designers and multicultural percussion groups. Last year, the nonprofit opened its Noble Workshop and Gallery, a small space on the ground floor of an affordable housing complex, which hosts free exhibitions, workshops and public art programming.

Wishbook donations to Local Color will support free, community arts events at the gallery and help fund a mentorship program that pairs youth with professional artists. In a past program, participants worked with a screen printer to design and sell their own tote bags.

“There’s this added layer of cool that comes with the artist,” Salazar said. “And it allows them to see art as a vehicle in the future to whatever degree that matters to them.”

Janet Appleton, a photo artist and events coordinator at the nonprofit, moved to San Jose from San Francisco about three years ago. Appleton, 39, described the arts community that Local Color supports as more generous and inclusive than the more established art scene she left behind 50 miles north.

“If you need a studio, you can get a studio,” she said. “And if there’s exhibitions, you’re going to be there with your community.”

At the Noble gallery this fall, Appleton and Bryant each showed pieces as part of an “experimental” exhibition titled “interwoven: the threads that bind (US).” On an evening in October, two dozen people gathered at the gallery to hear the two artists and others discuss their work.

Appleton described the process for creating her photo piece, known as cyanotype printing, which involves placing an object on a surface coated with a chemical solution, exposing it to ultraviolet light and rinsing with water to produce a striking white-and-blue image.

Bryant initially appeared nervous to speak before the group. But she quickly gained confidence describing the inspirations for one of her masks, including a poem by the 19th-century African-American poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar, as well as Black Dandyism, a movement that embraces Victorian-era fashion to defy expectations of race and class.

Bryant explained how the work reflected her experience growing up in San Jose, where she often felt like an outsider as a young Black woman and girl.

“It was a little bit harder for me to embrace my culture and my identity because assimilation was kind of like my way of survival,” she said.

She added that creating a project that celebrates Black women’s hair has helped her process those feelings and confront hurtful stereotypes.

“We think about hair as a sense of expression,” she said. “It’s a sense of, this is me, this is who I am. I think in a place where you’re expected to behave or dress a certain way, it’s important to use things like that, as small as they may seem, as just ways to fight back.”

ABOUT WISHBOOK
Wish Book is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operated by The Mercury News. Since 1983, Wish Book has been producing series of stories during the holiday season that highlight the wishes of those in need and invite readers to help fulfill them.

WISH
Donations to Local Color will directly support free, community arts programming at Noble Workshop and Gallery. Goal: $10,000

HOW TO GIVE
Donate at wishbook.mercurynews.com/donate or mail in this form.

ONLINE EXTRA
Read other Wish Book stories, view photos and video at wishbook.mercurynews.com.