Dozens of San Jose murals define its heritage

San Jose may be widely known as a tech hub, but it’s also a city defined by its public art.

With a city of nearly 1 million people, San Jose is also home to hundreds of murals. In a multi-year effort to revitalize public spaces, beautify the city and make it more pedestrian-friendly, officials have focused arts funding on public works such as murals — art that enlivens the city and speaks to its past, present and future. About 1% of the city’s capital improvement project budget is allocated for public art, so expenditures vary yearly. This year, the forecasted amount is $677,000.

Randy Schmidt is the creator of the blog 825mph.com , where he documents his art and nature-focused excursions into San Jose and the surrounding area.

“If you have to have a wall, why not make it beautiful?” Schmidt told San José Spotlight. “We are fortunate to have so much art around us here to explore, appreciate and to think about.”

The ever-increasing number of murals brightening the walls of San Jose is thanks to the contributions of hundreds of artists, as well as nonprofit organizations such as Local Color, 1 Culture, San Jose Walls and the San Jose Downtown Association that helps organize and fund public art — including the recently added mural at San Pedro Square .

Murals are essential to the beautification of a city that has been referred to as “Tan Jose,” a jab at the less-than-exciting paint color chosen for countless public buildings and offices.

“Public art plays an important role in placemaking, and making a space feel exciting, vibrant, and safe — especially when it activates a space that didn’t have much attention before,” Alyssa Wigant, the artist behind the iconic San Jose logo mural in downtown, told San José Spotlight.

Wigant said murals are impacted by where they are located and play a role in reflecting the cultures present there.

“​​With this in mind, it’s all the more important that public art is created by artists that are representative of the area the art resides in, and crafted with intention,” she said.

Artists commissioned by the city, such as Wigant, must go through a selection process that carefully examines location, cultural significance and the community surrounding the proposed mural location.

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“It’s the people that pick the artist,” Michael Ogilvie, the city’s director of public art, told San José Spotlight. “The community can provide integral inspiration that tailors a specific artwork to a specific site. What I love about the process is that specifically it’s all geared to make sure that the public and the community have a say in it.”

Due to this careful selection process, San Jose murals often tie into the cultural heritage of the artist or local community, as well as San Jose motifs like sharks in homage to the city’s NHL team.

“Nuestra Ofrenda,” an expansive mural stretching the side of the ceramic workspace Higher Fire, is a prime example of how culture influences art, honoring two young Hispanic organ donors with immense care and beauty.

Tying in symbols of Hispanic heritage like loteria cards and a marigold flower, the mural represents the generosity of the hundreds of Hispanic organ donors who have saved lives. Clay artists from Higher Fire contributed to the piece with a ceramic milagro heart.

Murals can also communicate social justice messages, as well as serve to remember those influential figures of the past who left behind legacies of social or political change.

Taylor Reinhold is the artist behind the mural “Mālama ‘Āina,” painted on the brick side of a former Pono Hawaiian Grill location downtown. Reinhold told San José Spotlight the mural is intended to inspire the community to respect and nurture our environment.

The mural pays homage to Hawaiian culture, featuring Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire, volcanoes and hula. The Hawaiian words “Mālama ‘Āina” are painted on the wall, meaning to care for and honor the land.

“Many of my murals have themes of conservation,” Reinhold said.

Due to the efforts of the city arts department and the many arts organizations in San Jose, murals have become so ubiquitous in the city that it is hard to go one block without stumbling upon one. Schmidt encourages pedestrians to stop and take in murals, emphasizing the joy he has found in choosing to appreciate the artistry all around us.

“Murals have a special quality among artworks in that they bring the deep internal part of our humanity to the large external scale of nature and then present it back to us right within the otherwise utilitarian world of a city,” he said. “They are one great expressive part of the culture that makes a city special.”

Contact Kassia Bonesteel at kassia.bonesteel@colorado.edu or follow @kekb2004 on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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