Interview with Lola Saba
Tell us a bit about you.
I was born and raised in San Jose. I left when I was 18 for college but came back when I was 23 for honestly terrible reasons but I’m glad I did. My art is mostly photography and I focus around making art related community events. I do portrait, street, lifestyle photography mostly. It try to show work as much as I can but I find it difficult to divide my curating and photo time. I am the curator for Social Policy. We have First Friday events every month and our art changes every month. The month of March is actually my last month putting on the events. It will be a full year from when I started. I created a small critique group for photographers in downtown. We meet at Sopo every second Tuesday and one or two artist show work and we talk about the art and what can be improved. It helps artist work on their public speaking skills; giving artist and opportunity to say out loud their intentions on their work is extremely helpful to further work. I am also a part of another crit group in San Francisco that meets every first Tuesday of the month.
I was born and raised in San Jose. I left when I was 18 for college but came back when I was 23 for honestly terrible reasons but I’m glad I did. My art is mostly photography and I focus around making art related community events. I do portrait, street, lifestyle photography mostly. It try to show work as much as I can but I find it difficult to divide my curating and photo time. I am the curator for Social Policy. We have First Friday events every month and our art changes every month. The month of March is actually my last month putting on the events. It will be a full year from when I started. I created a small critique group for photographers in downtown. We meet at Sopo every second Tuesday and one or two artist show work and we talk about the art and what can be improved. It helps artist work on their public speaking skills; giving artist and opportunity to say out loud their intentions on their work is extremely helpful to further work. I am also a part of another crit group in San Francisco that meets every first Tuesday of the month.
What makes San Jose a unique place to organize?
There are a lot of artist here who do really amazing important work that just do it because they want to. San Jose has a lot of diversity and interesting perspectives. Trying to navigate around the San Jose art scene can be difficult. There are so many artist but not many put themselves out there. And there are a lot of people who like art but don’t really know how to get involved.
There are a lot of artist here who do really amazing important work that just do it because they want to. San Jose has a lot of diversity and interesting perspectives. Trying to navigate around the San Jose art scene can be difficult. There are so many artist but not many put themselves out there. And there are a lot of people who like art but don’t really know how to get involved.
What advice would you give to someone planning their first event or project in San Jose?
I would say keep going, don't take no for an answer, always find a way, and get the community involved as much as possible. There is not really a guidebook on how to do it. It's one of those "if you build it, they will come" things. Just keep building and creating.
So much of organizing is learning by doing. What is something you know now that you didn't know starting out?
Fuck its hard to even think about that. I started this job by emailing the owners of SoPo just looking to get my art on the walls. We had our first show there in March 2016 called Thanks For The Invite with artist Philip Bordallo, Michael Boehnker, Ryan Cosentino-Roush, and me. The shop wasn’t even open yet. That night was the first time the public was invited into the building as Social Policy. It was an amazing show. We didn’t know what to expect but the place was completely packed. After that I had a drive to continue and keep having these events. When our art had to come down I already had a group of illustrators ready to put their art up.
I learned that artist are always late (so you have to set a time about an hour early for things like install) and that the best artists rarely put themselves out there (so you have to really ask around and dig the internet to find some amazing artists). Some artist need a little push to get them going. Many of these artists didn’t have the privilege to go to school for art and don’t know how to talk about their work and why it is important. And sometimes that push really resonates with them and creates a wave of creativity. That’s really the purpose of what I want to do. My favorite part of the job is when artists tell me that their creativity is wide awake after I forced them to create, frame, hang, and think about their work.
It's best to seek forgiveness rather than to ask permission. If you ask permission its always easier for people to say no.
I would say keep going, don't take no for an answer, always find a way, and get the community involved as much as possible. There is not really a guidebook on how to do it. It's one of those "if you build it, they will come" things. Just keep building and creating.
So much of organizing is learning by doing. What is something you know now that you didn't know starting out?
Fuck its hard to even think about that. I started this job by emailing the owners of SoPo just looking to get my art on the walls. We had our first show there in March 2016 called Thanks For The Invite with artist Philip Bordallo, Michael Boehnker, Ryan Cosentino-Roush, and me. The shop wasn’t even open yet. That night was the first time the public was invited into the building as Social Policy. It was an amazing show. We didn’t know what to expect but the place was completely packed. After that I had a drive to continue and keep having these events. When our art had to come down I already had a group of illustrators ready to put their art up.
I learned that artist are always late (so you have to set a time about an hour early for things like install) and that the best artists rarely put themselves out there (so you have to really ask around and dig the internet to find some amazing artists). Some artist need a little push to get them going. Many of these artists didn’t have the privilege to go to school for art and don’t know how to talk about their work and why it is important. And sometimes that push really resonates with them and creates a wave of creativity. That’s really the purpose of what I want to do. My favorite part of the job is when artists tell me that their creativity is wide awake after I forced them to create, frame, hang, and think about their work.
It's best to seek forgiveness rather than to ask permission. If you ask permission its always easier for people to say no.
Is San Jose a "creative wasteland"?
Yeah I sort of think so. I mean I’m not too sure what exactly you mean by that but San Jose is just PACKED with artists. I mean everyone I know does art in one way or another. Even all these boring techies have creative sides that are mostly wasted. It’s hard here to be an artist and pay rent and have friends and feed yourself. Actually it’s almost impossible. San Jose likes to think that it’s all about the arts but its not quite there honestly. I think so many people are stressed out and struggling to do what they think they should be doing and what they want to do all the while working 30+ hour weeks just to pay rent that is somehow still increasing. It’s completely ridiculous. I think a lot of talent is wasted. I also think my generation has a confidence problem. So many of the artist that came through SoPo I had to drag them by the skin of their damn teeth to get their truly amazing art on the walls. I see some really incredible work and I say why did you make that and they look at me and say “I don’t know…” And I just want to scream “YES YOU DO.” Every month I saw an artist who didn’t believe their work was good enough when it really really was. It drove me wild but I can’t even be too mad because I totally relate. So yeah in a way its full of amazing artists who don’t have the time to create and lack confidence to keep going.
What is one place in San Jose that inspires your creativity and why?
In my group critiques I feel really creative but really in any community of people where you can bounce ideas off of each other and learn from other artists. A physical place I feel most creative is probably around the old greyhound building during golden hour. I love the way the light bounces off the Market Post Tower. It's beautiful.
Yeah I sort of think so. I mean I’m not too sure what exactly you mean by that but San Jose is just PACKED with artists. I mean everyone I know does art in one way or another. Even all these boring techies have creative sides that are mostly wasted. It’s hard here to be an artist and pay rent and have friends and feed yourself. Actually it’s almost impossible. San Jose likes to think that it’s all about the arts but its not quite there honestly. I think so many people are stressed out and struggling to do what they think they should be doing and what they want to do all the while working 30+ hour weeks just to pay rent that is somehow still increasing. It’s completely ridiculous. I think a lot of talent is wasted. I also think my generation has a confidence problem. So many of the artist that came through SoPo I had to drag them by the skin of their damn teeth to get their truly amazing art on the walls. I see some really incredible work and I say why did you make that and they look at me and say “I don’t know…” And I just want to scream “YES YOU DO.” Every month I saw an artist who didn’t believe their work was good enough when it really really was. It drove me wild but I can’t even be too mad because I totally relate. So yeah in a way its full of amazing artists who don’t have the time to create and lack confidence to keep going.
What is one place in San Jose that inspires your creativity and why?
In my group critiques I feel really creative but really in any community of people where you can bounce ideas off of each other and learn from other artists. A physical place I feel most creative is probably around the old greyhound building during golden hour. I love the way the light bounces off the Market Post Tower. It's beautiful.