José Manuel dos Santos Cross José Manuel dos Santos Cross "was born in Ilhavo, Portugal, in 1927 and came to the U. S. in 1936, where he finished grade school in Alameda, California, and attended high school in Patterson, California, while working for, and living with, relatives on a dairy ranch. He joined the Merchant Marine in 1944, during World War II, and returned to civilian life in 1947. That same year, he enrolled as a student at California College of Arts and Crafts, where he took classes in basic drawing, design, graphic techniques, water color painting and figure drawing. After one and a half years of formal training, he left to pursue independent studies throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, in the form of regular visits to the museums and galleries in that area. In 1954 he traveled to Mexico, where he studied the Mexican muralists and painters.
In 1956 he enrolled in an evening class in life drawing, at the Berkeley High School, California, Adult Education Program.
He worked continuously in the media of oil painting and drawing (with pen & ink, charcoal, and pencil), while earning a living in the East Bay and the San Joaquin Valley, at various trades including cowboy, bartender, taxi driver, and, from 1955 to 1960, as lab technician and photographer at the prosthetics research project at U. C. Berkeley.
In 1957 he began working in the field of sculpture and, in 1960, added the media of collage, assemblage and construction.
In 1958 he began exhibiting his work throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and, in 1961-62, in the Los Angeles Area.
He taught wood sculpting at the studio of the associated students of U. C. Student Union, in 1961, in Berkeley.
He moved to Mendocino, California, in 1963, working as a carpenter, building his own house, and continuing sporadically with drawing and sculpting.
From 1988 his involvement with art increased progressively, with a significant increase in output which continued during his construction of his studio from 1993 to 1997, after which, he has worked full time in sculpture, drawing and assemblage.
Jose M. S. Cross
P.O. Box 575
Mendocino, CA 95460
Tel: 707.937.0356
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“Still Life With Bread & Butter”
Redwood, 1998
7 1/2 “ x 20 5/8” x 9 7/8”
“Serial Arrangements of Wooden Pebble-Like Forms
Redwood, 1977
18 1/8” x 293 3/8” x 12 5/8”
“Red Torso”
Hardwood/ Acrylic, 1996
17 5/8” x 10 7/8” x 10 1/8”
“Tectonic Formation II”
Redwood/Acrylic, 1997
65” x 74 5/8” x 19 ¾”
“Small Free Form”
Bronze, 1962
8 1/2” x 9 ¼”
“Free Form (Medium)
Black Walnut
7 ½” x 21 ¾” x 9 ¼”
“Bird of the Industrial World”
“Assemblage, 1993
25” x 14 ½” x 9 ½”
“Clear Cut”
Redwood, 2001
44 ¼” x 22 ¼” x 22 ¼”
“Tall Table”
Mixed Media, 1998-2000
9ft. 1 and 1/8 inch
“Free Form”
Black Walnut, 1961
20” x 24”
“Tall Table”
Redwood, Basswood, Mixed Media, 1998-2000
9 ft. 1 and 1/8 inch
“Still Life with Bread and Knife”
Redwood, 1998
4 ¼” x 11 ¼” x 6 ¾”
“Allegiance to Gravity”
Redwood, Enamel, and Marble
60 ¾” x 11 ¾” x 8 ½”
“Clear-Cut”
Redwood, 2001
44 ¼” x 22 ¼” x 22 ¼”
