John Joseph "Jos" Sances (born August 18, 1952) is an American artist, activist, writer, and community organizer, known for his printmaking, and tile murals/public art . He is the founder and director of Alliance Graphics. Sances is based in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Biography

John Joseph Sances was born August 18, 1952, in

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Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, to a Sicilian-American family. He studied at Montserrat School of Visual Arts (now Montserrat College of Art). He came to California in 1976 and became active in art and politics. In the late 1970s, Sance was active with the Galería de la Raza and the La Raza Silkscreen Center. In 1982, Sances co-founded Mission Grafica at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. In 1989, Sances founded Alliance Graphics, a Berkeley-based union screen print shop. Profits from Alliance Graphics support the parent organization, the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA). His work, ''Or,'' ''The Whale'' (2019) was in the 2019 exhibition, ''Here is the Sea'' at

Richmond Art Center Richmond Art Center is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit arts organization based in Richmond, California, founded in 1936. History In 1936, Richmond-resident Hazel Salmi began teaching classes under the Emergency Education Program (EEP) of the ...

. ''Or,'' ''The Whale'' was created on 119 panels. When assembled together they form a 14 feet high by 51 feet wide scratchboard with the image of a sperm whale with the illustrated history of

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

in America inside of the whale. Sances is a member of the food-based art group ''The Great Tortilla Conspiracy ''making tortilla art, other members include Rio Yañez, René Yañez, and Art Hazelwood. Sances' work can be found in various public museum collections, including

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

Birmingham Museum of Art The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. Its collection includes more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts representing various cultures, including Asian, European, United States, Amer ...

, American Labor Museum in

Haledon Haledon ( ) is a borough in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 9,052, an increase of 734 (+8.8%) from the 2010 census count of 8,318, which in turn reflected an i ...

, New Jersey,

Oakland Museum of California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

(OMCA),

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. FAMSF's combined attendance was 1,1 ...

, among others. Sances' screenprints, his own images and images printed for other artists, are included in ''Mission Grafica: Reflecting a Community in Print'' by Art Hazelwood.

Murals

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sances, Jos 1952 births Artists from Berkeley, California Montserrat College of Art alumni Hispanic and Latino American artists American people of Italian descent Living people