Tuesday, June 7, 2011

"Splicing Forms of Nature and Science" by Jos Sances and Daniel Galvez


Daniel Galvez and Jos Sances have recently completed a mural titled Splicing Forms of Nature and Science at Skyline College, San Bruno, California. They have worked independently as successful, professional artists for over thirty years each. As a collaborative team, our partnership creates a unique skill-set profile that includes monumental site-specific projects, graphic and digital design, exceptional drawing and painting skills, carving and glazing handmade tile and a wide range of public projects from etched stainless steel to oil on canvas painting to digital ceramic tile.

Leslie Ceramics advised Sances and Galvez on technical issues related to the glazing and firing of the ceramic mural components, that were fired in a TOKI 99 kiln.

"When addressing new interpretive site-specific artwork, we initiate dialogue to explore theme, content and medium while devising a strategy for involving community, administrators and architects to assist in furthering the design parameters. We have successfully completed such projects as the interpretive dual canvas murals for the U.S. Department of the Interior’s 150th Anniversary in their Washington, DC headquarters building, the 165’ digital tile installation for Alameda County’s Juvenile Justice Center in San Leandro, the 3-panel mixed media installation for the African American Museum and Library in Oakland, the 700 square foot digital tile and hand-carved tile art installation for the new Castro Valley Library along with many others." (Visit Sances' website here to see some pictures)


"It gives us great satisfaction to design work that has been developed through interaction and dialogue with interested stakeholders in creating artwork that reflects their vision and values in meaningful content."

Daniel Galvez has created numerous public works ranging in scale from 128 square feet to 128,000 square feet. Most recently he created twelve etched stainless steel elevator doors highlighting the natural habitats of Richmond’s shoreline and creeks/woodland parks along with an interpretive artwork on the City’s history and renaissance for the City of Richmond’s Civic Center Renovation Project. Previous works include a 12 x 66’ painting honoring the life of Malcolm X for the City of New York at the Audubon Ballroom and a $250,000 project with two collaborating artists for four 200’ long interpretive and historical murals on Highway 680 underpass walls in Dublin, CA.

Jos is founder and the art director of Alliance Graphics, begun in 1989 it has grown into a successful, union screenprint and design shop. Over the years Jos has designed and printed thousands of posters and t-shirts for hundreds of progressive causes, while at the same time maintaining a steady output of art which address issues and ideas which concern him. In 2010 the Library of Congress aquired 487 prints from Sances which represented a broad overveiw of his thiry years of printmaking. Before Alliance Graphics, he co-founded Mission Grafica at the Mission Cultural Center in 1980 and worked there until1988.

During the past 15 years Mural and Public Art has been Jos's passion. He has painted murals at the Oakland Coliseum and tile mural commissions at the new Juvenile Justice Center in San Leandro, CA; AMTRAK/BART Station, Richmond, CA, the Sixteenth Street BART station in San Francisco.Two tile murals were completed in 2009, at the new Library in Castro Valley and Arnett Watson Apartments in San Francisco. In 2010 with Daniel Galvez, Jos completed a huge 7000 sq.ft Mural for a new Recreation Center at Ira Jenkins Park in Oakland and also a Etched Stainless Steel and Ceramic Mural for Skyline College in San Bruno, CA. Jos is proudly a founding and lifelong member of the Great Tortilla Conspiracy.

About the Skyline Project: Sances says, "When I first visited the site at Skyline College I was struck by the view of the ocean from the hills and it got me thinking about the mission of Skyline College, which is essentially teaching technical skills, illustrated by the harsh, modern buildings which dot the campus and the beautiful, natural Pacifica setting in which it was nestled. I decided to create a project which juxtaposed the technical and the natural and show how the two can integrate. We used etched stainless steel triangles to demonstrate the hardness and accuracy on science and hand-made, hand-painted tiles to represent the warmth of the natural world. Going even deeper, we filled the geometric steel triangles with spheres, circles and other softer, more natural lines resulting in a piece which reveals how nature and science complement each other."

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