The Art of Service: Navy Veteran Joel Mendoza’s Fine Arts
Joel Mendoza, ’26 Pictorial Art, created “25 Years of Service” for San José State’s Center for Community Learning and Leadership. Photo courtesy of the artist.
The ballroom in the Lupe and Compean Diaz Student Union bustled with students, faculty members and community organizations on January 28, when the Center for Community Learning and Leadership (CCLL) celebrated its 25th anniversary at the annual Community Connections Fair. While CCLL Director Elena Klaw accepts a commendation from San José Mayor Matt Mahan on the dais, Joel Mendoza, ’26 Pictorial Arts, stands offstage before a large half-finished canvas. The painting in progress captured Spartans tutoring around a table in front of San José State’s Tower Hall, while the outline of the CCLL logo waited to be filled in on the top right corner.
“I learned about this opportunity through the VET (Veterans Embracing Transition) Connect program,” says Mendoza as he gestures to a table of art supplies. A Navy veteran, Mendoza met Klaw, who directs the VET Connect program in addition to serving as a psychology professor, last semester when she conducted a brief presentation at the SJSU Veterans Resource Center (VRC). When Mendoza mentioned his pop art-inspired work and showed her photos of his pieces, Klaw commissioned him to create a unique piece of art in honor of the CCLL’s 25th anniversary — and requested that he paint it live so others could see the work in progress.
Joel Mendoza, ’26 Pictorial Arts, at the Center for Community Learning and Leadership’s 25th Anniversary Celebration and Community Connections Fair. Photo by Robert C. Bain.
“I was inspired by Joel’s commitment to his art as soon as I met him and I immediately appreciated the authenticity and contemporary style of his creative expression,” says Klaw. “I knew that students and community members would relate to his work, so it felt essential to provide both opportunities to showcase his talent and vehicles for him to represent SJSU, our student veteran community and our center’s longstanding commitment to serving the neighborhoods of San José. ”
Born in Nicaragua and raised in Costa Rica, Mendoza’s family moved to San Juan Bautista, a town 45 miles south of San José, when he was 11. After graduating from high school, he enrolled in a nursing program at Gavilan College, but lost interest after about a year.
“I liked learning about the human body, but nursing wasn’t something I was passionate about,” he explains. “So a year in, I joined the Navy.”
He completed two deployments in his four years of service, including a stint in Asia, where he traveled to the Philippines and Singapore, and a tour in northern Europe, visiting Norway, Italy, Spain and Ireland. Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic began, Mendoza was sent home, where he worked remotely until it was considered safe for him to return to the ship. Throughout his commitment, he drew constantly, filling notebooks with drawings, sketches and illustrations.
In 2022, he returned to community college to complete an associate’s degree in art. Along the way, he worked at the school food pantry, where he often would hang his art to attract the attention of passersby. In fall 2024, he transferred to San José State.
The transition from community college to SJSU helped him concretize his plans, Mendoza says. Not only has the pictorial arts major been producing work — large acrylic portraits of celebrities juxtaposed with graffiti and stylized lettering, glitter and resin — but he’s also created stickers of each of his pieces to sell via Instagram and his online marketplace. He’s learning how to combine artistic talent with his entrepreneurial nature.
During the first week of spring semester, Mendoza filled a gallery in the art building with several paintings, including a 24” x 30” acrylic painting of the Monopoly man called “Money Comes and Money Goes.” Many of his pieces feature expressive people with graffiti-style messages embedded in the background, some including words like “motivation” or — in the case of a portrait of Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, “conejo” (“bunny” in Spanish). There are portraits of Tupac, SpongeBob SquarePants, a modern reimagining of Michaelangelo’s David and a painting of the U.S.S. Sampson, the naval ship where Mendoza was assigned.
Gesturing to a portrait of Los Angeles artist Nipsey Hussle, Mendoza adds: “The theme of this exhibit is motivation — hustle, because that’s what I’m doing right now. That’s why I like Nipsey; he raps about motivation.”
Mendoza’s artistic approach is equal parts service and commerce. Prior to coming to SJSU, his “student mentality” was to wait until he graduated before promoting or selling his work, but faculty members like Digital Media Arts Lecturer Steve Durie inspired him to build a website to build an audience now.
Joel Mendoza delivered the finished piece to CCLL on February 10. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Mendoza offers work on commission, and as such has contributed or loaned original pieces to events like Cultura in the Park, last fall’s Mexican Independence celebration in downtown San José, as well as the Veterans Day activities hosted by the VRC on campus. Once he’s completed the CCLL painting, it will become a permanent fixture in the Center for Community Learning Leadership office in Clark Hall.
“When we heard Joel painted a mural for Gavilan College, we knew it’d be a unique way to mark our 25th anniversary,” said CCLL Assistant Director Andrea Tully. “The scenes depicted are inspired by pictures of service-learners through the years. We are excited to see the finished product!”
“Before I enlisted, school felt like an obligation, so I wasn’t that successful,” Mendoza reflects. “But now I feel like I’m being successful because I’m doing what I want to do, and I’m enjoying it. To me, student success is when a student actually looks forward to school because they are doing what they want to do, studying what they want to study.”
Brian Anderson, ’24 MFA Digital Media Art, interviewed Mendoza in fall 2024 about his decision to study art.
