Shanty Town (exterior installation) continues through mid-September

Download the Shanty Town exhibit catalog (

Six artists came to A.D. and built a dwelling space in a place called Shanty Town. It's located just outside the roll-up door of the gallery. You're invited to come share the peace at the altar, the beauty within the shanty's walls, the solitude of the outhouse, the soft glow of the solar powered lighthouse and if you lean into the shanty van near the foot of the volcano... you just might hear the ocean.

The project continues inside the gallery with new works by each artist.



Ezra Li Eismont and Jessie Rose Vala beginning shanty installation



Carolyn Ryder Cooley working on her shanty outhouse




Jessie Rose Vala working in her shanty




Andrew Schoultz creating the shanty volcano





History repeats itself.

We've all been the witness to the phenomena of a city's burgeoning economy forcing the arts/culture outside the comfort of its high-rise shadows to make room for commercial enterprise. It's the creatives that make a city desirable to live in and the economy that sustains it. Yet somehow the lesson of balance goes forgotten because time after time it all comes back to haunt us. A crippled city is embraced by the creatives, people start to return for the experience, businesses move in because it's beginning to thrive, rents go up and enterprise begins to replace the culture which made it so desirable in the first place. The economy peaks as the cultural climate wanes... the fall begins.

Shanty Town is both a celebration of the Spirit of creative culture and a gentle prodding to remember, less we repeat history once again. After all, it's safe to say that many of us are just a few paychecks from a reality we choose to ignore. For a good number of artists this statement holds a bit more truth than we'd like to believe. But we embrace the fact that money cannot restrict creative flow, it merely influences creative process. In a flailing economy, ideas are king.

The artists we have chosen for Shanty Town are ones we know that creating is as much a part of them as breathing. Several of them have travelled into third world countries creating art in public spaces where there is no concept of Public Art programs – just people living and waiting for inspiration to come their way.

Come out, take a stroll through Shanty Town, recognize the beauty, but don't ignore the tragic reality. Stare out over the shanty rooftops at the buildings of downtown in the distance and remember... history repeats itself if we don't care enough to change it.

Peace.

Anno Domini




Jessie Rose Vala resting in her shanty during installation

Artists' Reception:
First Friday, August 6th, 8 p.m. 'til late
Sound: Aaron Ximm
Special Performance: Dusty Rhodes
Admission: free

Gallery Hours: M-Th, Noon-5 p.m.
additional hours by appointment

Anno Domini
150 So. Montgomery Street Unit B
(btwn Park & San Fernando) map
San Jose, CA 95110
t: 408.271.5151 / f: 408.271.5152
www.galleryAD.com

Art • Music • Performance • Life

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sound ambiance by Aaron Ximm

Aaron Ximm is a 33 year-old sound artist who lives and works in San Francisco. Since 1998, his Quiet American project has focused on constructing new soundscapes from the intimate recordings he collects while traveling.

Aaron and his wife Bronwyn won the Third Coast International Audio Festival's Director's Choice award in 2002 for their collaboration 'Annapurna: Memories in Sound,' which is available for download along with hours of other recordings and compositions free of charge on his website, quietamerican.org.

Ximm's recordings and compositions have appeared in a variety of contexts, including in galleries, performance series, and on public radio. In 2002 he produced a four-hour documentary on sound artists working with field recordings, Quiet, Please, for KFJC.

Aaron also curates and hosts the Field Effects concert series, which presents quiet and subtle sound art in a comfortable environment. The series has won awards from the SF Weekly and, just this week, the SF Bay Guardian.

quietamerican.org

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special performance by Dusty Rhodes

"Hailing from the dried riverbeds of Orange County, Dusty Rhodes & the River Band is a six piece band that blends Alt-Country with Progressive Folk. With violin, accordian and electric slide, you'd think they'd be all Americana, but when the keys come wailing in, Dusty Rhodes blend in the Prog-Rock influence and always leave audiences dancing for more." dusty-rhodes.net

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Everett Taasevigen installing

Alex Kopps and Jessie Rose Vala hangin'

Ezra Li Eismont preparing his stellated dodecahedron