14.3 "Perform" Summer 2022

Silicon Valley’s Innovative and Creative Culture

Girl with Flower

MEGAN “DAISY” RIZZO

A DIGITAL AGENCY FOCUSED ON WEB

ISSUE 14.3

“Perform”

Summer 2022

Cultivator

Daniel Garcia

Producer

Kristen Garcia

Editors

Elizabeth Sullivan, Grace Olivieri

Katherine Hypes, Virginia Graham

Samantha Peth, Katie Shiver

Esther Young, David Ngo

Interns

Susan Do, Jesse Garcia, Aili Koga

Béa Urbanowski-Womer

Writers

Michelle Runde, Brandon Roos

Esther Young, Nathan Zanon

Tessa Cheng, David Ma, Katie Shiver

Demone Carter, Chris Jalufka

Kah Mun Chia, Alyssarhaye Graciano

Taran Escobar-Ausman

Photographers

Stan Olszewski, Peter Salcido

Ronnie Patania, Arabela Espinoza

Keith Price

Illustrations

Jessie Barnes

Publisher SVCREATES

There are many aspects that I enjoy about doing CONTENT MAGAZINE—meeting new artists, working with talented creatives to produce the stories, and helping bring visibility and voice to the South Bay’s artists. This issue continues in that tradition (I think I can call our production a “tradition” after a decade!). In the last several years, CONTENT and SVCreates have awarded grants to regional artists who have applied to a juried selection for the Content Emerging Artist Award. Not only does this give the artist affirmation, but an unrestricted $5,000 award assists them in their career development, all made possible with the support of our partner, the County of Santa Clara, and the tireless work of the proponents of the arts, SVCreates staff Alexandra Urbanowski, Alyssa Erickson, and Alyssarhaye Graciano, and, of course, the leadership of Connie Martinez. We are honored to feature and recognize as the Content Emerging Artists of 2022 Chelsea Stewart, Kiana Honarmand, and filmmaker Jezrael Gandara.

On the theme of “emerging” CONTENT writers, the founder of the online artists’ platform EvilTender, Chris Jalufka, has written an article looking at the intersection of art and tech with a guide to NFTs. In addition, (keeping emerging going here) we are excited to showcase six students from the Cilker School of Art and Design at West Valley College. We are honored to be a platform for artists in their beginning phase and their established careers, such as illustrator Megan Rizzo, sound engineer Don Budd, and assemblage artist and painter Jenifer Renzel. As I said, there are many things I love about doing CONTENT, and now, in our 11th year as a print magazine, it has only become more apparent that there are more creatives in the South Bay that need our platform.

Thank you for reading and supporting the creative community with us.

Enjoy,

Daniel Garcia The Cultivator

IN THIS ISSUE

Megan Rizzo | Jenifer Renzel | Don Budd | Tank Shop

To participate in CONTENT MAGAZINE: daniel@content-magazine.com

Membership & sponsorship information available by contacting kristen@content-magazine.com

501(c)(3)

by .

10 ye ars

CONTENT

PERFORM 14.3

Summer 2022 San Jose, California Est. 2012

CREATIVE CULTURE

10 An Artist’s Guide to NFTs, Chris Jalufka

14 Fox Tale Fermentation Project , Felipe Bravo & Wendy Neff

18 Tank Shop, Yonex Jones

22 SJMA Director of Design and Operations, Richard James Karson

ART & DESIGN

26 Artport, City of San Jose Public Art at SJ International Airport

30 Artist, Megan Rizzo

36 Content Emerging Artists 2022, Kiana Honarmand, Jezrael Gandara, & Chelsea Stewart

50 Artist, Jenifer Renzel

58 Students at the Cilker School of Art and Design, West Valley College, Anat Baird, Frances Cooke, Kate Kanemura, Orit Avinoon-Metz, Sarah Kissinger, & Sienna Hopper

72 The dean of The Cilker School of Art and Design at West Valley College, Shannon Price

76 Francis Experience, Jonathan Borca

80 Tone Freq Recording Studios, Don Budd

84 Album Picks, Needle to the Groove

86 Contributors

All materials in CONTENT MAGAZINE are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published, broadcast, or modified in any way without the prior written consent of Silicon Valley Creates, or in the case of third party materials, the owner of that content. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of this content. For further information, or to participate in the production or distribution, please contact us at editor@content-magazine.com

Tank Shop, pg. 18

Megan Rizzo, pg. 30

Jenifer Renzel, pg. 50

Content Emerging Artists, pg. 36

Written by Chris Jalufka

Illustrations by Jessie Barnes

Mike Mitchell Twitter thevisitorsnft Jessica Cardelucci Twitter cardelucci

An Artist’s Guide to NFTs

DESCEND INTO THE NFT ART SPACE on Twitter and you will find a diverse array of aesthetics. Creators minting their work on the blockchain range from the seasoned digitally native to the absolute beginners in both art and tech. Each of these voices is equally matched by the investors and developers who occupy the same virtual community. I wanted to write about the world of NFTs and the opportunities it offers to artists. But the problem is that the world of NFTs is in fact an entire universe. The topic is celestial—cosmic and endless in nature. To enter the marketplaces, exchanges, and spaces where all the NFT conversations take place is to venture into a sprawling system of discordant voices. In it, you’ll find opinions written as fact, art lost in a Twitter thread, and chaos spun from a stream of irreverent trolling. What follows is a cursory explanation at best—a gentle nudge towards the edge of knowledge. As we get into this conversation, just know this: whatever your decision is regarding NFTs—to sell, buy, or to ignore it all completely—there is no right choice. Not every artist will take to the digital world of non-fungible tokens, and not all pieces of art will work in the digitally native NFT medium. My own journey with NFTs is relatively nascent. I began in August of 2021, and in that time, I’ve minted my own art as NFTs and even sold a few.

An NFT is a digital asset—a non-fungible token—meaning non-interchangeable. For example, the Mona Lisa is non-fungible only one exists.

A copy of To Kill

a Mockingbird is fungible. There are many of them, and it doesn’t matter which copy of the book you own—they’re all the same. An NFT is a one-of-a-kind token—a set of data that is stored on the blockchain and visualized via a static image or a video file. The blockchain acts as a digital ledger of crypto transactions. The information on the blockchain is distributed across the globe via a network of computers. Rather than being a centralized organization that has one body governing what happens on the platform (like Facebook or Twitter), the blockchain is decentralized. Responsibility for it is shared across the network. This aspect of decentralizing information and governance is a vital aspect in the cryptocurrency and NFT ethos.

Each cryptocurrency has its own blockchain. For instance, the Bitcoin transactions exist on the Bitcoin blockchain, and then there are the blockchains for Ethereum, Tezos, Solana, and a bevy more. Each marketplace and blockchain run in similar fashions. To keep it simple, my examples will be using the currency du jour, Ethereum.

To create an NFT to sell in a marketplace, there are a few items you need. First you need your art converted into a file type—something like JPEG, MP4, PDF, or PNG. Next, you need a crypto wallet to interact with the Ethereum blockchain. I use MetaMask, which is a browser extension that connects to decentralized applications (dApps) like NFT marketplace OpenSea. Once you have your MetaMask set up, you can use a crypto exchange like Coinbase or Kraken to connect your bank account and exchange USD for Ethereum. There are countless NFT marketplaces. Many will require you to apply

A short guide for artists who want to mint art on the blockchain.

to be accepted and granted the ability to sell your art. OpenSea, however, allows anyone to mint their work on the platform, which has allowed it to become one of the largest marketplaces out there.

Putting your art for sale on OpenSea (or any NFT marketplace) is called minting. Minting requires you to upload your art file and pay a fee to create a transaction that adheres the file to the blockchain. What is that fee exactly? The cost changes, but it is tied to the minting process. The minting fee, or gas fee, is what you pay for the network of computers that upkeep the Ethereum blockchain to compute the massive amount of data needed to place your specific NFT into the blockchain. When you hear how people say NFTs are bad for the environment, they’re referring specifically to Ethereum and Bitcoin—the two currencies that currently require a multitude of computations and a massive amount of energy to fulfill them.

If you want what some call “clean NFTs,” meaning no massive strain on the power grid, then you move onto blockchains like Tezos or

Solana where the energy consumption of minting an NFT is equivalent to sending a Tweet or an email.

Marketing your NFT can be as time-consuming as you allow it to become. I spend a few hours a day on Twitter sharing and commenting. If you want to find smaller communities, there are Discord servers for most projects. Coming from a background of selling traditional art, the NFT space can feel like a nonstop push of high anxiety as everyone fights for a place in the endless vacuum of Twitter. I’ve found that treating my NFTs like I would a painting or print takes the stress off selling and places it on the art itself.

There are a variety of project styles being utilized in the NFT space. My entry into NFTs was through the PFP (profile picture) project The Visitors, a collection spearheaded by illustrator Mike Mitchell. A PFP is simply the avatar you use in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms and software that allow you a digital visual identity. A PFP collection is a series of similar images. For instance, The Visitors are all aliens with each PFP in the collection varying from the next via randomized and auto-generated traits. After collecting Mitchell’s prints and other collectibles for over a decade, his entry into the world of NFTs led me and his other collectors into the digitally native space. When I asked him the big question—why NFTs— he said, “Not trying to be hyperbolic, but an

The Visitors, a collection by illustrator Mike Mitchell.

“I think NFTs are something that needs to be experienced to really be understood. There’s a large disconnect when it comes to understanding value. Many critics think the entire space is valueless, but you can ask different people what they value about it, and you’ll get a variety of answers.”

-Mike Mitchell

NFT can be so much more than a print. Not saying it’s better, but a print is just a print. An NFT can be many things. I’ve been wanting to do a subscription type service for years, but it’s just not practical from a logistical standpoint. NFTs allow me to accomplish the same basic idea with ease.” For artists like Mitchell with an existing fanbase, entry into NFTs can lead to intense blowback. As Mitchell explains, “When I first mentioned NFTs, there was near-unanimous disdain amongst even my closest fans, but

I kept at it and listened to their concerns and tried to apply those to my first NFT collection.” Many photographers are finding a place in the NFT space as well. Instead of needing to win the accolades of gallerists and come up with the funds to produce prints or books, photographers can simply mint their work and make them available, without the strain of prints or gallery involvement. Photographer Jessica Cardelucci made a successful entry with her Wild Mustangs collection. Her first step into the fully digital art world was a bit hesitant. “This industry was still so unknown early last year.

I was concerned how minting my work to the blockchain would be perceived in the eyes of the traditional art world. After some deeper thought I realized this opportunity was too exciting not to take a risk on. I truly believe it’s the future of art, including photography.” NFTs can be treated as editions like prints. A piece of work can be made into multiple editions. Artists like Cardelucci will often make one edition of a single NFT and price it as such. This leads into the amorphous arena of the value of an NFT. You see a piece of art online, and you can save it to your smartphone or take a screenshot. It will be there for you to see whenever the mood hits. This is one of the main reasons given by those who are against NFTs—why pay for a JPEG you can take freely for yourself? To understand why is to hear a myriad of perspectives on the nature of collecting, investing, provenance, and the genre of code as art. As Mitchell states, “I think NFTs are something that needs to be experienced to really be understood. There’s a large disconnect when it comes to understanding value. Many critics think the entire space is valueless, but you can ask different people what they value about it, and you’ll get a variety of answers. There are communities to discover and be a part of, artists to support, art to collect, and friends to make. There’s a whole exciting world that exists beyond money.” C

Stampede, 2019 from Wild Mustangs Series by photographer Jessica Cardelucci

Owners Felipe Bravo and Wendy Neff

Fox Tale Fermentation Project

Downtown San Jose’s latest brew café, Fox Tale Fermentation Project, on Santa Clara Street, is finally open. First-time business owners Felipe Bravo and Wendy Neff have endured a long road that was further delayed due to complications of the pandemic. Sitting beneath a beautiful painting of the company logo designed by local artist Brittni Paul, Felipe and Wendy look back on how they arrived here.

Bravo, a San Jose native who says he never even drank beer, had his interest sparked by a friend who introduced him to homebrewing. He fanned that flame further by shifting his focus from his graduate studies in engineering specifically toward the science of brewing: “I never thought about food or beer as a hobby, and it wasn’t until I saw [homebrewing] for the first time that I was like, oh, this seems really cool. I can probably get into this. To me, it seemed like you can really dive into it and figure out the formulas and the processes and kind of take this scientific approach,” he explains.

Written by Nathan Zanon Photography by Stan Olszewski foxtalefermentationproject.com 30 East Santa Clara Street San Jose, California Instagram foxtalefermentationproject

His master’s thesis focused on building and programming an AI system that would learn to formulate beers on its own—essentially an automated homebrewing system. “That was not working,” he says. “I had never worked in a professional beer setting. I didn’t have the professional skillset to really talk about it in the way that I wanted to. The only option I felt I had left was to quit engineering. So, in 2014, I basically went to my local brewery and asked for a job.”

Bravo moved his way up the ranks at various breweries, first working the floor, then working with packaging, and eventually moving into production. He landed at Fort Point Brewing in San Francisco as their research and development manager, where he now had the opportunity to develop some of the beer recipes.

Wendy Neff hails from Michigan and first moved to California

at age 18, essentially on a whim she says, but would return home a few years later for a life reset. While home, she got a job at the Brinery in Ann Arbor, famous for their fermented products such as sauerkraut and kimchi. It was a short-lived but instrumental gig, as it sparked a passion of her own.

“I really fell in love with fermentation,” she says. “Then when I came back to California, it just stuck a whole lot more.” She landed a job at Facebook on their superfoods team, making “really amazing, unique dishes that were raw and vegan and gluten-free” to serve in their on-site restaurants. “It exploded my whole desire to help people get interesting foods and ingredients and unique flavors. [They] let me create my own fermentation program, which they had never done before. So, then I had three years of experimenting and going wild with it as much as I wanted to.”

Fermentation, whether it be with alcohol or food, is part of humanity’s long and storied history. The process of combining food preservation with exploration of flavor has created a rich history that overlaps with the development of cultures around the world. The yeasts that turn grains into beer and cabbage into sauerkraut are not so different, and modern techniques have accelerated innovation and subsequent overlap in the fields of both food and alcohol.

When Bravo and Neff met, this overlap resulted in an immediate burst of creative energy as the two batted around ideas for sour beers using pickle brine and other unusual combinations of ingredients, imagining what sorts of flavors they might produce. They also discovered that they both harbored a dream to open a space where they could build community through their fermented creations.

As the two came up with projects to experiment with together, their relationship grew as well. They started making limited runs of beers using things like mushrooms, beets, radishes, and flow-

ers, which they fine-tuned and shared with friends and local beer enthusiasts. They named their venture Fox Tale, a whimsical reference to the stories that can be found behind each collaboration.

The next step was to open their dream space, but opening during COVID was “the hardest thing I’ve ever done, for sure,” Neff says. “We’ve been so fortunate to have connections and relationships and the goodwill of people around us.”

The small space is cozy and inviting, decorated with a rotating collection of art from local artists. They serve small bites that highlight the ferments, keeping things simple so as to remain approachable. They offer a mocktail and kombucha as nonalcoholic options and hope to offer classes on fermenting and homebrewing. They want their patrons to feel welcome, and more importantly, like part of the story. And as for what’s on tap: it’s not all pickle brine and mushroom beer.

“Taking twists on familiar things is a big part of what we want to do,” Bravo explains. The menu still offers recognizable styles like IPA and lager. “It’s a little different, [but] it’s not crazy blending these concepts that are unique and pique people’s interests, trying to redefine what those styles mean and create something new.”

Though market saturation and the pandemic have been tough on small beermakers, these two entrepreneurs are taking on the challenge. They understand that support from the San Jose community will be key, and have already built much of the foundation while eager to continue earning that support. And as they talk, new ideas keep springing up—the creative energy has not subsided.

“The business is an extension of us,” says Bravo. “The goal is to incorporate as many people into this project as we can. It’s not just us. We’re always going to be putting it back into the community. We’re not totally on our own.” C

“We’ve been so fortunate to have connections and relationships and the goodwill of people around us.”

–Wendy Neff

Tank Shop TANKSHIT

At first glance, Tank Shop may look like a typical thrift store with rows upon rows of clothes, dolls, and various assorted items; however, what makes this store special is the music. Besides selling carefully curated high-end streetwear as well as other products, like exotic flavored sodas and snacks, Tank Shop hosts weekly open-mic sessions encouraging young artists to showcase their talents. It comes as no surprise that this thriving cultural hotspot is quickly becoming an essential for music and thrifting lovers.

The 29-year-old rapper and founder of Tank Shop, Yonex Jones, said his favorite thing in the store is definitely the music. “My career starts with the music. I’m a local rapper from out here,” said Jones. “I used to be in the parking lot selling mixtapes.” Jones started rapping after he was arrested and sent to juvenile hall following a physical altercation with his stepfather at the time.

“Everybody in juvenile hall raps just for fun, just to pass the time,” said Jones. “And I ended up finding a passion for it.” He shared that it was fun because in juvenile hall, there was nothing to do, but he still got to play with words, even with no resources. Jones was intrigued that one could have absolutely nothing but could still have their creativity.

Written by Kah Mun Chia

Photography by Peter Salcido itankshit.com

1530 Alum Rock Avenue San Jose, California 95116 Instagram yonexjones tankshittankshop tankshitboxtruck

He recounted experiencing a moment of clarity when he turned 22 that his life wasn’t heading in the direction he wanted. Jones thought he was destined to either die or end up back in jail, where he’d been since 18. He tried going to college for a week but soon decided to drop out to pursue making music. “I just treat it like a college student treats college, you know like work 20 hours straight every day, nonstop,” said Jones. “Little to no food, little to no money, just grind, grind, grinding.”

That is when TANKSHIT was unofficially birthed. Jones bought a box truck and started selling his mixtapes in parking lots. Soon after, he quickly realized that just mixtapes weren’t going to be enough to sustain customers’ interest in his music and the business he had going. He then started to branch out to selling merchandise

THE 29-YEAR-OLD RAPPER AND FOUNDER OF TANK SHOP, YONEX JONES, SAID HIS FAVORITE THING IN THE STORE IS DEFINITELY THE MUSIC.

“Opportunities are in the person; it’s not in the place.”

-Yonex Jones

and from there decided to expand the variety of products sold. “You know, people want to support, but they can’t keep buying the same album kind of thing,” said Jones.

Jones and the team that he found, including close friend and fellow rapper Lil Unda, have really grown the business since then. Collectively, TANKSHIT now operates 4 mobile pop-ups that travel around the Bay Area and a physical store in Alum Rock in San Jose. The name of the physical store was originally going to be TANKSHIT as well, but was changed to Tank Shop to be more appropriate for younger clientele.

The store also often gives back to the community, donating clothes and food where they can. Jones aims to use the shop as a safe space for people like his younger self to hang out and guide them to not make bad decisions in life, declaring that the music he makes as well as his business is about supporting the underdogs often neglected in Silicon Valley, even with its abundance of wealth. “We’re the other side, the filth, the grime, the neglect, and the poverty. So that’s where TANKSHIT kind of stems from,” said Jones. “It’s just all about the growth.”

Speaking of growth, Jones plans to expand Tank Shop. One of his goals is to bring the store’s mobile pop-up trucks to Los Angeles. The furthest they have brought the trucks so far is Sacramento. They are also working to get the store up and running on DoorDash as well, making Tank Shop even more accessible.

“One of my goals would be like…to make the Bay Area version of what people leave the Bay Area to go to LA for, so like you don’t gotta go out there,” said Jones. He said that in order to achieve that goal, he would like to build a team of his peers and professionals to establish a collective geared toward expanding their careers and TANKSHIT together. Jones aims to provide an environment where young artists in the Bay Area can succeed and make it big without having to leave their homes for opportunities that they may not find. “Opportunities are in the person; it’s not in the place,” said Jones.

With a recording studio set up in the back of Tank Shop, he has already started making that a reality. Jones wants to make Tank Shop an environment where artists in the Bay can come and collaborate with each other, pumping new energy into the community of San Jose. And with the way that the store is covered with autographs from customers, friends, and people who come by the shop, as well as the love they receive on social media, Tank Shop has certainly started to cement itself in the local culture. C

Richard James Karson

San Jose Museum of Art Director of Design and Operations

Everyone that visits an art exhibit sees it from a certain perspective. You arrive through the front doors, enter the gallery space, and experience the exhibition as it’s meant to be. But for those who operate behind the scenes like Richard Karson, watching it all come together is the best part.

As director of design and operations at San Jose Museum of Art (SJMA), he’s spent the last 32 years, since his first day on October 17, 1989, the day of the Loma Prieta earthquake, with a front row seat, overseeing the various departments and processes that keep the museum’s vibrant slate of exhibits in flux all year round—even in the midst of the pandemic.

“There’s a huge ecosystem,” he muses. “It’s ultimately about the artwork and about the artist, but there’s this whole support network below that’s propping it up, guiding it, giving it shape, giving it structure.” He speaks in reference not only to the variety of people involved, but

also the intense level of collaboration that’s required to bring these shows to fruition. Sometimes the department’s task is consulting with curators on an exhibit’s layout or designing models used to navigate and troubleshoot a space prior to construction. Other days the exhibitions department prepares equipment, sources materials, and fabricates elements for the gallery. Karson even travels to outside institutions, working alongside in-house faculty or installing crews to better familiarize himself with a body of work. In this intricate environment everything moves in sync with speed and efficiency, yet there’s a deep dedication to craftsmanship as well.

“The joy for me is to really see how [things] can be interpreted and changed in a different way and how we can constantly push ourselves to do more ambitious things or things in new ways,” he says, still amazed by it all after nearly three decades on the job.

Written by Tessa Cheng

Photography by Daniel Garcia sjmusart.org

110 South Market Street San Jose, California 95113 Instagram sanjosemuseumofart

“There’s a huge ecosystem. It’s ultimately about the artwork and about the artist, but there’s this whole support network below that’s propping it up, guiding it, giving it shape, giving it structure.”

-Richard Karson

But that isn’t to say the museum has been without its challenges, especially during COVID. “The concept of enclosed spaces was very terrifying for many people, or at least at the early stage of the pandemic, and it still is for some.” So they’ve had to be strategic, opting for hidden air purifiers and open floor plans with fewer maze-like environments. Karson’s team was further confined by safety protocols and shutdowns, which limited their ability to meet in person or “throw something down on a table” to interact with. The interruption to their repertoire was frustrating, but it also drew attention to a major silver lining—the strengthening bridge between analog and digital realms.

“We took a very deep dive into this trove of content that we had generated over the years that we never knew would see the light of day,” he explains. They reviewed things like videos and photos mapping progress during installation projects, plus records of the historic clock tower, all of which were meticulously organized for online presentations or museum archives. At the same time, the positive response they received from the public was phenomenal. “We found there was this incredible level of interest in people wanting to see what happens behind that curtain, what happens behind the production door there.”

Sharing the insider perspective with the community has been immensely successful, inspiring renewed interest in the museum and connecting those who are fascinated by the unseen labor and techniques that propel the art. In 2021 Karson was even fea-

tured in a YouTube video on Hito Steyerl’s “Factory of the Sun,” where he gives two young brothers a backstage tour of the exhibit at SJMA from start to finish.

The video, Karson admits, is a condensed version of what happens at SJMA, but he appreciates that it offers a precious glimpse into the lesser-known world of exhibit production. “It’s a rare treat for people…It’s contagious [and] it’s really exciting to be a part of.”

Karson’s already thinking ahead by prioritizing the transfer of information and ideas for the next generation in his field. “It’s important for the next wave of people that do this work to understand that it’s relevant, it’s important, it’s meaningful, and that just doesn’t happen by itself,” he states matter-of-factly. “It’s really about supporting each other.” For Karson, not much has changed in this respect during COVID, and he’s as passionate as ever when given the chance to collaborate with his team or share trade secrets with curious minds.

Now he looks to the horizon for his next major project— the construction of the SJMA’s permanent collection gallery, due to start summer 2022. Technically, the museum has always used pieces from the collections, as they’re easy to access and don’t require complex or overseas transport. But in some ways, it’s a new chapter with Karson forging the path, elevating old favorites so they can be revisited and become the engaging focal point of teachers’ curriculums. “It’s a pretty wonderful thing,” he concludes, all too eager to set the stage once more. C

ARTPORT ART AT THE AIRPORT

Silicon Valley is well-known as a global center for technology and innovation, and anyone who wishes to get a glimpse of the seamless blend of art and industrial science so prevalent in the culture of the area should take care to travel through the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport. The airport, while serving as a hub for travel, also serves as a venue for large-scale exhibits—from paintings to sculptures to bioluminescent light shows. No matter the medium or origin of the piece, every exhibit is a beautiful showcase of the diversity, creativity, and dynamism that have come to define the city of San Jose and Silicon Valley as a whole. The city of San Jose and the San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs Public Art Program (OCA) work together to produce the exhibits.

San Jose’s Public Art Program was created in 1984 with the goal “to use public art to embellish buildings in the downtown area as a part of a grander strategy to expand the city center.” The city center would grow to become an active place full of opportunity, facilitated by plans for development and sponsorship of the arts. Investment and interest were especially guided towards unique shopping locations, welcoming housing, varied and exciting workplaces, exclusive entertainment, and lively community spaces. The impact artists had and continue to have on the cultural and economic structure of San Jose cannot be overstated, and so, a master plan was created to make this vision come to life. The Public Art Program manages 250 diverse artworks located at 130 sites throughout the city, from the biking pathways of the city to libraries to City Hall. The Public Art Committee oversees all the program’s projects and exhibit maintenance, fostering the

Written by Béa Urbanowski-Womer Photography by Courtsey of San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs sanjoseculture.orgnightmarket.com Instagram sjculture

Travel through Silicon Valley’s airport, and discover public artworks that reflect the spirit of this region’s role as a global center of technology and innovation.

vibrance of the arts in San Jose since the program’s conception.

Art displays funded through the Public Art Program are placed in public lands and facilities. The Capital Improvement Project provides one percent of its budget to funding the Public Art Program in compliance with Title 22 of the San Jose Municipal Code. This ordinance guarantees artistic displays in public libraries, parks, convention centers, and even public safety facilities. The program aspires to both support artists and allow the community to experience art wherever one may go in the city.

Over a decade of collaboration on behalf of the community of San Jose from 2000 to 2010 saw hundreds of citizens, sponsors, delegators, and politicians weighing in on how to display the spirit of the city in permanent artistic installations. In 2004 the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport was chosen by the City Council as a grand focal point under the Airport Public Art Master Plan. Prepared by the Rome Group in partnership with the San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs, this “activation plan” for the Public Art Program provides funding and structure for the commissioning and maintenance of thousands of priceless pieces of art and machinery. Change and development push the project ever forward, and the cutting-edge technology featured in the airport continues to break boundaries of artistic expression in the modern age.

Permanent installations come from both local and international artists who believe in the mission of the Public Art Program: to celebrate the city’s diversity, innovative spirit, historic richness and envision its present and future. Hands, by Christian Moeller, features a seven-story-tall, gigantic mural made of plastic pixel work spanning the walls of the garage of the airport. Brandishing the incredible progress made in weather mapping—updating hundreds of glass panes hung in the ceiling of the concourse in real time to display weather patterns and predictions from around the world—eCloud was created in collaboration by Nik Hafermaas, Dan Goods, and Aaron Koblin. Wall of Recognition, by Carlos Pérez, a vintage homage to the history of aviation in San Jose, blends

“We’ve always got to look ahead and try to forge partnerships and really do what we can to make sure the program has longevity.”

– Michael Ogilvie, Director of Public Art, City of San Jose

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the modern and historic to honor the past while envisioning the future. Space Observer by Björn Schülke brings the surreal and alien feeling of space travel down to earth, close enough to touch, in the form of intricate and modern sculpture. Each of these permanent installations have become landmarks of the space and anchors for public art exhibits throughout Silicon Valley.

Accompanying the permanent installations featured at the airport, exhibits and artwork contributed by artists who hold a place in their heart for the spirit only found in Silicon Valley are rotated and featured in various places through the airport. Terminal B has become home to hundreds of works over the years and will continue to serve as a gateway both to the city and its artistic community.

Artists and the arts as a whole were severely impacted and, in many places, run to the ground as COVID-19 changed billions of lives over the course of only a few short months. In response, the San Jose Public Arts Program partnered with the airport to host an exhibition to support and fund the works and livelihoods of the city’s artists. Nearly 100 works were featured that gave a voice to the community to reflect, comment, and express emotion in response to the global crisis. The #HoldingtheMomentSJ initiative helped keep the spark of artistry alive and well at the height of COVID-19 and serves as a crucial reference point for the city and the global artistic community. Michael Ogilvie, the city of San Jose’s director of public art, feels determined to allow artists to continue to share their voices, pandemic or no. “We’ve always got to look ahead and try to forge partnerships and really do what we can to make sure the program has longevity,” says Ogilvie.

The Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport is the portal for those entering the city of San Jose through the Art+Technology project. The artistic use, inspiration, development, and commentary on the technology of the modern age shines brightly in the city of San Jose, and it is the ambition and honor of the Public Art Program to provide this crucial insight into the arts at the heart of Silicon Valley. C

Tony Moralez | Carman Gaines

Color) | Bertrand “Patron”

| Andy René Tran | Benjamin

Brandon Quintanilla|

Elizabeth Moreno | Keenan Jones

Jose Bonjourno | Edwin Moreno | Christian Moreno

Featured Artwork: Pg 26 -27 (Top): A million Times (San Jose), 2021 by Humans since 1982. Photography by John Janca Pg 27 (Bottom): eCloud by Nik Hafermaas, Dan Goods, & Aaron Koblin. Photography by Spenser Lowell Pg 28 Thresold. Art and Photography by Philip Beesley Studio Pg 29 Hands by Christian Moeller. Photography by Jason Knowles

RizzoMegan

When enjoying Megan Rizzo’s bright, dynamic character illustrations, you’re not too far from the creator herself. Conceptualized by a curious and spirited imagination, Daisy Doodles capture a regular day of emotions—ups and downs from her own life.

When Megan was young, her mother modeled what it looked like for art to manifest in different ways. As her mother’s interests moved from sculpture to painting to baking and face painting, Megan and her sister Tina took art classes and developed their own style. Together in high school, they designed sneakers and lanyard bracelets that they sold to classmates.

From age 16 through her early 20s, Megan worked as a waitress, hostess, and bartender. Some days she powered through two jobs before coming home and picking up a pencil to draw. She refused an office job, convinced it would deplete her energy to create.

Megan knew she wanted to be an artist, but going into college, she followed Mom’s advice: “Make art, but you gotta do something else for money.” She chose art therapy.

After earning her master’s, she facilitated art therapy classes at a men’s rehabilitation center. The classes often began with a prompt to connect the participants to an unconscious emotion.

“Seeing those guys who’d never touched art before, especially older men who felt that art is for kids, was amazing,” she says. “People who never would’ve talked, talked more because of art therapy.”

Megan also kept a daily practice of drawing out her feelings for herself. She shared the results on Instagram consistently. The routine grounded her as much as it gave her an audience—especially other Black women—and a mood to relate to. “I still feel weird when I don’t do it,” she confesses. “If I miss a few days, I get irritable! It’s very therapeutic.”

Then opportunity knocked at the door. Her husband, Joe, was accepted into a PhD psychology program in Palo Alto. Megan was ready to pivot away from therapy, so they moved. Their first home was in Mountain View, a disquieting contrast to the bustling streets they were used to. Alone in a dark apartment, with no schedule or social network to lean into, Megan had to remind herself that moving had been her choice, and she would have to seek out her own rays of light.

She forced herself to “get out and go on trips.” Determined to explore, she took a job at Everlane in San Francisco. Soon, she met fellow artists through her coworkers and followed

Written by Esther Young

Photography by Arabela Espinoza daisyillustrations.com leagueoflegacies.xyz Instagram daizydoodles

Believe in your value. “ ”

these branches to Oakland. From there, she integrated into small art hubs that included artists from San Jose.

All the while, she began to create as if she was already hired. Continually upping her game in Adobe Procreate and Illustrator, she landed major commissions from back home (her clients include Foot Locker and Black Woman Animate). By joining street art competitions, she also acquired commissions such as a utility box for Redwood City and graphic design work for Sunnyvale.

When NFTs rose into the forefront of public discourse, Megan found herself among many skeptical artists deciding whether to keep their distance, or pan for a golden opportunity. A friend who produced events explained how an NFT could mean more than digital ownership—its purchase could include admission to an event, or mimic incentive-driven fundraisers by selling digital art to support a cause.

Still, Megan questioned the safety of her artwork on marketplace blockchains and the implication of selling what she originally made for herself.

It wasn’t until a friend in tech reached out to Megan that she was convinced. Her friend

proposed an NFT project that would highlight change-makers in society. If it raised enough money, they could create a grant to support youth art programs in Detroit.

Their League of Legends NFTs were minted in March. Deliberately styled after baseball cards, the collection honors figures such as Oprah Winfrey, Sidney Poitier, Erykah Badu, Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, and Angela Davis. With every project that launches, as well as each pitch that goes nowhere, Megan continues to reflect on her growth to keep moving forward. Her next goal is an animation series that stars a Black woman in her late 20s named Daisy. The storyline follows her transition from one community to another.

As with all her best work, Megan sees herself clearly in the concept. “I felt lost when I first moved here. I essentially had to reset my whole life,” she says. But it forced her to make decisions toward positive growth. It drove her to work for an audience she believed would come.

And that’s the heart of it. As she dives into this animation project, aiming to deliver the pilot before her real-life pregnancy delivers a human child into her world, Megan offers one reminder: “Believe in your value.” C

SV CREATES

CONTENT EMERGING ARTIST

two-thousand twenty two

After a one-year hiatus, SVCreates is delighted to bring back the Content Emerging Artist Award, which recognizes the vibrancy and impact of earlycareer artists working in all disciplines across visual, performing, and literary arts. This year, the Content Emerging Artist Award is granted to three recipients of differing mediums who have taken risks and embraced challenges, all in the name of art. All three artists contribute to the vital and creative community that is Santa Clara County. They are each committed to their practice, work intentionally to share their visions, and are rigorous in their approach to creation and production.

Written by Alyssarhaye Graciano

Photography by Daniel Garcia SVCreates.org | Content-Magazine.Com

CONTENT EMERGING ARTIST

Kiana Honarmand

Born and raised in Iran, Kiana Honarmand first experienced the magic of self-expression through music. “There was something that happened to me with the medium and expression that felt like magic. It gave me another language in which I could express myself,” Kiana described.

In high school she studied math and physics, pivoting to art one year before attending university. Kiana went on to study photography at the University of Tehran, Iran, where her education was rooted in tradition and honing her technical skills.

It wasn’t until she immigrated to the United States in 2012 and began her MFA at Pennsylvania State University that she had the opportunity to explore interdisciplinary arts. She explained, “I became really curious because I had never done any of these things. I started really experimenting and broadening my horizons.” This shifted her way of looking at what she did and as a result, her practice became more conceptually driven. Kiana’s work used digital fabrication tools and traditional methods of craft.

Kiana’s skills continued to develop over the years and she used different mediums to help tell her story. “You have to allow yourself to mess up. Playing and experimenting is a big part of any creative process,” she said. “If you put the pressure of perfection on your first try, you are just putting limitations on yourself,” she continued.

Her solo and group shows, displayed around the US, have allowed her to share the process of immigration and the stigma that comes with it, censorship, and her experiences as a woman in patriarchal Iran. “I’m interested in finding ways to connect with people through our shared experiences, and I found that art is a much kinder way to start a conversation,” she said.

Kiana moved to the Bay Area near the end of 2019 and found it challenging to connect with her new community due to the pandemic. Luckily, residencies such as Root Division in San Francisco and The Cubberley Artists Studio Program in Palo Alto helped her maintain her artistic development. Kiana explained, “This is why I need art. Because I am not very good at expressing things through words. The art is out of necessity at this point.” C

kianahonarmand.com Instagram kianahonarmand

“This is why I need art. Because I am not very good at expressing things through words. The art is out of necessity at this point.”

– Kiana Honarmand

CONTENT EMERGING ARTIST Jezrael Gandara

don’t like it when directors take full credit,” explains filmmaker Jezrael Gandara, who is well aware of the team effort it takes to realize the vision of a story. While deep down he enjoys having control of his projects, Gandara understands when he must let go, “I have to give others the freedom to do what they are good at and simply guide them towards the vision.”

His film studies at the University of Texas at El Paso pushed him to think about the stories that need to be told in today’s society. While he tends to gravitate towards stories that he can identify with, such as being a Latino man in America and growing up around immigrant culture, Gandara is equally as inspired by the folks he encounters daily. “What does it mean to be an artist? You could be a mechanic, and that could be art. My reality allows me to be empathetic to others’ stories and use my medium to amplify their narratives.” He believes that the more we learn about someone’s life, the more we learn about why people do the things they do.

Early in his film career, Gandara was not much of a planner. He went into shoots with no plan other than to go with the flow, which he soon learned was often unsuccessful. Gandara’s moody and intentional demeanor came across in his work when he began to write out his vision ahead of time. He would structure his preproduction, plan his shots, and create mood boards to match his subject’s overall philosophy to capture their vibe. “The root of my process is learning about the philosophy of their art or how they see the world,” Gandara explains. “My biggest interest is providing an accurate image that people can see themselves in.”

Today, Gandara’s work straddles the line between documentary and art, encouraging his subjects to communicate their feelings. “There are parts of San Jose that remind me of El Paso, and it makes it feel like home. I hope my work can make an impact within the community by helping share its stories.” C

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Instagram jezgand

“What does it mean to be an artist? You could be a mechanic, and that could be art. My reality allows me to be empathetic to others’ stories and use my medium to amplify their narratives.”

–Jezrael Gandara

CONTENT EMERGING ARTIST Chelsea Stewart

Bay Area native Chelsea Stewart dances in her studio with a brush in each hand, pushing paint together before it has a chance to dry. Her impulsive process leads her to work on five to six different pieces at a time, moving from one to the next. “I’m somebody who, if I don’t like something, I’m going to cross it out and start another painting. I’ll come back to it later.” Stewart’s youthful vibrancy can be felt as she considers all possibilities for a lifelong career in the arts. Outside of her art practice, she works as a gallery manager and volunteers with art-focused nonprofits. “I want to help others share their narratives; I know art will always be there.”

For the last two years, Stewart has been exploring papermaking, a craft she picked up during a virtual artist residency. “I think I’ve always been interested in the process of papermaking and how meditative it can be. You get your hands dirty, blend the paper, wash it out, blend the paper, wash it out...figuring out flaws along the way, then making the flaws part of the final piece.” The systematic and rhythmic papermaking process can take Stewart many hours, even days. As she works, she listens to a podcast or instrumental music in the background, such as Hans Zimmer:

Live in Prague. Stewart creates mixed media work by combining this newfound skill with the acrylic-based paintings she did as an undergrad, contrasting the two media.

As Stewart spins her anxiety ring, she dives deeper into a recent piece mixing paper and synthetic beads with acrylic on canvas, fusing it to her relationship with mental health.

“I want to make something that reflects my own personal experience, using these elements to say more about my life. I wasn’t sure how to express it because the topic of mental health is so delicate, similar to papermaking materials. But when the delicate fibers interlock, you create a strong piece of paper. I see a beautiful mirroring of papermaking to mental health as a whole, because while people can be delicate, people are also so tough and resilient.” C

chelseaannestewart.com

Instagram

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“I see a beautiful mirroring of papermaking to mental health as a whole because while people can be delicate, people are also so tough and resilient.”

– Chelsea Stewart

Jenifer Renzel

Exploring the fantastic side of art with paintings and mixed media assemblages.

There are traditional routes to becoming an artist—going to college to get a degree in fine arts, studying under trained professionals, building a portfolio of a wide array of styles to show mastery of the classic styles, and so on. But not all artists travel down those well-trodden paths, and Jenifer J. Renzel is one of those unique artists who has forged her own way with no formal artistic training, creating unique paintings and multimedia works that range from delightful and humorous to dark and even eerie in their composition.

Renzel is a proud San Jose native, representing the fifth generation in her family to live there. “They didn’t call it mayor at the time, but [my grandpa] was the first mayor of San Jose,” said Renzel. Though a technical writer by trade, Renzel always had a creative knack. “Well, I was always kind of a doodler and I always enjoyed art,” she recalled. “But as far as seriously doing art...I started doing the assemblage stuff probably like 15 years ago. And the more serious paintings and drawings, more like six or seven years ago.”

Her earlier assemblage work included all kinds of three-dimensional creations, usually with darker and scarier themes. Using mixed media sourced from various locations including garage sales and even using objects she found discarded on the sidewalk, Renzel brought together amazing, and at times almost haunting, pieces of art: layering doll heads within each other to create the appearance of one controlling the other like a marionette, making a small figure out of a discarded PG&E plastic tie, and more. “Assemblage was pretty easy for me,” Renzel said. “It just seemed, like, natural and it made sense, it’s always been easier.” One aspect that helped her dive in was the forgiving nature of

Written by Esther Young

Photography by Avni Levy caiakoopman.com Instagram caiakoopman

the

Written by Michelle Runde Photography by Daniel Garcia Facebook jenifer.j.renzel.assemblage.art Instagram jenifer_renzel Etsy jeniferjrenzel

“It’s almost like being a little kid again, just like playing with toys. Sometimes things just click, and it can be magical and fun.”

–Jenifer Renzel

work, as she explained: “That’s the thing about mixed media...you can fix any mistake if you’re willing to just do layers and layers and layers, so that kind of helped me too.”

While Renzel took a few basic classes to help her expand her mixed media skills, eventually she began to set her eyes on the less forgiving world of painting. “There was a part of me [that] always admired people that could draw an interesting picture or do an interesting painting, but I always felt like when I tried to draw, it was always kind of cartoony in a way that I didn’t really like. The lines were too neat, things were too symmetrical,” Renzel said. “Things were trying too hard—too cute, you know?” Knowing she was doubting her own ability, she started to slowly incorporate painting into her ongoing projects. “[I] kind of had to sneak up on it,” said Renzel. “[I] started to do some assemblages where I put a little bit of paint in the background, started to put some collage in there, kind of started to move things around, and started to add more colors, and I kind of started to get more comfortable.”

Renzel took a few more classes and seminars to gain more confidence, and suddenly things started to click. Before she knew it, she found herself enjoying creating two-dimensional pieces more than three-dimensional. As in her mixed media work, Renzel likes to paint

with an emphasis on unique faces and creates peculiar, and at times even bizarre, creatures and people. But she also found herself reaching more often for brighter colors, creating contrast between her darker themes with vivid shades of blues, reds, pinks, and more, while also mixing in written and printed words to draw the eye to different aspects of the paintings. “It’s more challenging [than assemblage], but it’s more exciting,” Renzel said. “I mean, you have a piece of paper and it’s just, like, it could become anything, right? I mean, I could start to draw a portrait of somebody then switch to do the other half...I could make it an animal body, I could do mark making, I could paint over it... It’s almost like being a little kid again, just like playing with toys. Sometimes things just click, and it can be magical and fun.”

After a long career in technical writing, Renzel recently celebrated stepping into retirement and has been looking forward to spending even more time creating art. While she has done a few gallery shows in the past and may again in the future, for now she’s still deciding what she wants to focus on for her next set of projects— perhaps taking on large-scale paintings. Renzel is active on Instagram and Etsy and has a loyal following that loves her unique and self-taught style. C

THE CILKER SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN

has developed a world-class community college of art and design that exposes students to cutting-edge technology and critical thinking.

The school offers interdisciplinary opportunities in architecture and drafting technology, engineering, fashion design, interior design, paralegal studies, healthcare, and park management with three departments—Visual Arts, Design and Architecture, and the Performing Arts.

The West Valley College Art Department offers courses in various topics and media, including art history, ceramics, computer arts and animation, design, drawing, painting, photography, and sculpture. Art Department facilities include a bronze foundry, state-of-the-art computer labs and lecture halls, ceramics, painting, and drawing studios. And offer programs in animation and computer art, drawing and painting (including color and design), photography, sculpture and ceramics, and art history. The Department of Design offers programs that embrace design as both a process and a vehicle to make a positive and meaningful impact on people’s lives and society. With a focus on architecture and landscape, architecture, communications design (digital media, graphic design, UX), fashion design and apparel technology, and interior design.

The Performing Arts Department includes emphasis on two general areas, music and dance and theater and film.

In this issue, we featured six notable students from the various disciplines of The Cilker School of Art and Design as they move forward in their craft and careers. In addition, we’d like to introduce you to the Dean of the Cilker School, Shannon Price, to hear her journey and the goal of this ambitious West Valley College program.

westvalley.edu/schools/art-design Instagram wvccilkersoad

Portrait Photography by Daniel Garcia

BAIRD ANAT

Theater

Anat Baird

Anat Baird has been involved in theater arts since she was in middle school, when she fell in love with performing in community children’s theater. Since then, she has taken voice lessons and participated in school productions. She started attending West Valley College in 2019 and joined the recently formed drama club that, unfortunately, didn’t continue after the pandemic hit. When classes went back to in-person, Anat reached out to the department leader, Laura Lowry, to revive the club. Since then, Anat has been the president of the West Valley Drama Club for the last two semesters. On top of that, Anat performed on mainstage and studio productions at West Valley and, over the summer, directed a children’s musical. On the side, she teaches private voice lessons. Anat plans on graduating this spring and transferring to a four-year university next fall.

Instagram: anatbaird

Images courtesy of Anat Baird.

COOKE FRANCES

Fashion Design

Frances Cooke

Frances has been making things since before she can remember, and textiles and clothing have a special place in her heart. When she had the chance to return to making things after a long hiatus, she chose to start with the patternmaking class at Cilker School of Design, and there was no going back. An aspiring technical designer, she enjoys the nitty-gritty of production as much as design and has a passion for repair and repurposing of clothing. After taking classes all over the Bay Area and a stint as an alterations tailor, she came back to Cilker to complete her fashion design degree. Her time at West Valley has given her the foundational skills to go on and co-found the postpartum clothing label Maia Mothers, for which she leads design, product development, and production.

maia-mothers.com

Instagram: franceslcooke

KATE

Animation/Illustration

Kate Kanemura

Kate has always loved creating art, using whatever materials she could get her hands on. She enjoys planning different creative concepts and talking with her friends about her creative ideas. Kate has used numerous artistic mediums, from traditional graphite pencil and charcoal to ceramics and digital media. She strives to achieve the title “Jack of all trades” by experimenting with new styles and ways to express herself. Disney movies and shows were a crucial part of her childhood, and Kate has become interested in animation. Kate aspires to learn as much as she can about different forms of art and to work for a major animation studio in California. Her collection includes multiple experimental pieces to help craft her own unique style and try new things. Instagram: k.squared_art

ORIT AVINOON-METZ

Orit Avinoon-Metz

A graduating interior design student from West Valley College, Orit Avinoon-Metz brings her native Israeli roots to her Californiainspired designs. She finds inspiration in her memories of her homeland, whether of the unique spring wildflowers or the color schemes that combine the Mediterranean Sea with a desert landscape. She incorporates this inspiration into modern living, creating spaces that are both unique and practical. When her kids got to school age, and the thoughts of getting back to work surfaced, Orit decided to follow her long-time dream and passion and embark on a career in interior design, leaving behind a successful career as a chemical engineer in pharmaceuticals. She looks forward to many years of creating beautiful spaces.

SARAH

Spatial Artist

Sarah Kissinger

Sarah has always been interested in creating pieces using solid colors and strong shapes to create images with a clear focus. She loves jumping between different media and inspirations to create pieces that are thought provoking and enjoyable to look at. She believes art should not be held down to represent an exact movement or statement, but rather created for enjoyment. Sarah is particularly inspired to repurpose materials such as cardboard, PVC pipe, and scraps of wood. She also loves drawing inspiration from sources that would not traditionally be considered artistic. Sarah hopes to one day use her skills to become a prop maker for film and television.

Instagram: sadnspicy

SIENNA HOPPER

Digital Media/Animation

Sienna Hopper

Sienna is a queer artist who found graphic design during a time in her life when she felt isolated from the world. Having dealt with social anxiety for a large portion of her upbringing, Sienna had trouble fully communicating her thoughts and feelings. She knew what she wanted to say, but vocalizing these messages was a struggle. However, in her junior year of high school, she finally found an outlet that did more than just give her a voice; it gave her a mission. Graphic design allowed Sienna to be the author of her dreams—building and telling stories through visual means. Today, she strives to tell the stories of others who struggle to have their voices heard.

Instagram: only_irose

PRICE SHANNON

From Community Art to Exclusive Art and Back

Shannon Price has always been surrounded by creatives. Her parents were art students and then artists, so she grew up roaming the halls of art schools. These experiences gave her a sense of the common language of art and design. Her understanding of the creative personality and how to balance artistic output with operational needs made her the perfect fit for her current role as dean of Cilker School of Art and Design at West Valley College.

As a teen, she was a dancer and made costumes for renaissance fairs. She spent the 1990s in the San Francisco music scene. As the musicians’ friend-turned-business-partner, she started the record label Prawn Song that put out Primus’ first record. She was tour manager for Mr. Bungle, Melvins, and Godflesh, and she styled music videos for Primus, Green Day, and INXS. Even as the only girl in a boys’ club, she described it as an “exciting way to spend your twenties,” working hard, “running around, and staying up all night with your friends,” with a lot of NSFW stories.

Concert tours took her all over the US, Canada, and Mexico, where she showed up at banks to make deposits as a “scruffy, punky girl with thousands in cash in a Halliburton case.”

The design work she did for music videos connected her to the academic piece around fashion history, art history, and research, and prompted her to get her undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley.

“As a Mexican-Italian-Irish single child of a single mom who grew up with no family wealth, nobody was paying for my college or giving me advice,” she explained, which is why she worked the entire time she was a student.

Written by Katie Shiver

Photography by Keith Price westvalley.edu/schools/art-design Instagram wvccilkersoad

The only place in the United States to get a graduate degree in costume or fashion history at the time was NYU. The program was a partnership with the esteemed Metropolitan Museum of Art, “so it seemed like a no brainer” to Shannon. She moved across the country to study and supported herself with student loans and retail clothing jobs. She recalls that “all work experience is valuable…Most people couldn’t afford it, and I couldn’t afford it, but I was just willing to live” hand-to-mouth with student loans.

After graduating, she joined the Costume Institute at the Met as a full-time employee. Her biggest obstacle was joining that world as an outsider. This was evident when her first boss’s “best advice” for Shannon was that she marry rich.

Shannon gained industry experience and realized that the pace of the costume department was much faster than other museum departments. One of the last shows she did was the

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibition in 2011, which showcased the fashion industry as a “huge pop culture moment.” She said that it was an honor to work in a museum like that. Yet after 12 years, the exclusive nature and glass ceiling wore on her.

Shannon didn’t want to look back at fashion history that the Met focused on. Instead, she wanted to look forward to where the industry was going. “That’s why I wanted to transition to education, because, of course, the future of any industry is where they are getting educated,” she explained. Museums have educational components to exhibitions, and she wanted to tap into that.

That’s why she joined Parsons as the director of External Partnerships and Cultural Affairs. She was excited to find out what the “secret sauce” was at the country’s preeminent art and design school.

Overall, she learned that the secret sauce was branding. That is, Parsons was the filming location for the show Project Runway. This brought popular attention to the school. Shannon dispels the notion that expensive, high-profile private art schools aren’t always training who the industry needs. “The industry needs pattern makers and technicians…they don’t just need rock star designers,” she continued.

While at Parsons, Shannon became involved with amazing projects. For example, she led a student project with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to develop women’s undergarments that were produced in a Kenyan factory and then given to refugees. In some developing countries, girls and women can’t go to school or work while menstruating because they don’t have access to feminine products. This design project solved a social problem and made a difference.

In 2019 Shannon moved home to the Bay Area. Here she was drawn to the broad scope of art disciplines at West Valley College and joined their leadership team. She enjoys being a dean over a lot of disciplines “because there are so many connections and ways to collaborate.”

“I don’t come from a very privileged background,” she explained. That is why she can relate to community college students in a way that other administrators can’t. “That’s the whole thing about representation. If people can’t see themselves in a position or an industry, they’re not going to easily or naturally consider themselves in roles like that,” she shared.

Her bête noire has always been the lack of diverse representation. “Being in the middle of Silicon Valley…we have a lot of opportunity [and] ability to impact the industries. Design touches everything,” Shannon said. Because current hiring problems are making companies rethink entry-level requirements, this puts community colleges in a good position to figure out how to offer the students and the industries what they need.

At West Valley, Shannon is working on a makers’ space for advanced manufacturing skill sets (i.e. laser cutting and 3D printing, which are applicable to all aspects of design), rewriting fashion to be more sustainability minded, and renovating the performing and visual arts facilities. She is excited to hold an end-of-year fashion show in May that highlights students’ output, provides an opportunity for industry portfolio review, and creates a showcase for the community.

When asked about what drives her to be alive and work, she smiles, “I should be more motivated for money than I am…it would be better for my retirement accounts.” But it’s her daughter that makes her feel happy to be alive.

The message Shannon always tries to convey is “you don’t have to take the same road that anybody else takes. It can be circuitous. It can be your own road…when you’re young it can be scary thinking ‘there is a linear path and I’m not on it.’ It’s okay to not know.” C

“That’s the whole thing about representation. If people can’t see themselves in a position or an industry, they’re not going to easily or naturally consider themselves in roles like that.”

–Shannon Price

Francis Experience

Written by Brandon Roos Photography by Ronnie Patania Instagram francis_experience

In the courtyard of Mexican Heritage Plaza, accompanied by the gentle sound of a waterfall and a slow sway of a dense crop of palm trees, Jonathan Borca admits he’s often a bit too busy. And in a moment of reflection, he shares the fascinating reason why.

“I feel I have an existential window,” shares Borca. As a very proud advocate of San Jose’s East Side, he feels a deep connection to, and urgency toward, his community work. But even after 10 years in the nonprofit space, he’s still finding ways to grow.

“This is the first time where I’ve never had to compartmentalize who I am,” he says of his time at the School of Arts and Culture (SOAC), where he serves as deputy director. The role is quite the achievement for someone still in his 30s, but Borca’s nonprofit success is merely one dimension to his story.

His life is a tale of dualities. Born to a Mexican mother and Filipino father who met at Eastside Church of Christ near Alum Rock Avenue, Borca spent his earliest years in Japan before returning to San Jose at age 7. Raised by his mom and grandmother, he remained entrenched in the East Side until he attended Bellarmine College Preparatory through a yearly, merit-based scholarship.

“It was visceral to me, the gross inequities [compared to] where my homies went,” says Borca of the transition he experienced. “[You

take] a 12-minute drive to Bellarmine’s campus, and it’s a completely different world: state of the art library, multiple sports facilities, you name it.”

Fueled by a desire to help even that divide, he first got involved with nonprofit work in high school. While juggling course loads at the University of San Francisco, he commuted home to work 30 hours a week at YWCA Silicon Valley.

That fervent pace was burning him out, but a fateful meeting with Jessica Paz-Cedillos, co-executive director at SOAC, in early 2020 helped reignite faith in the work he was doing. “I felt her passion immediately and saw her vision as a leader,” he notes. “So for her, I leaned in.” In two years, he’s successfully led state-wide programs and grown SOACs sponsorship numbers, earning two promotions in the process.

Yet well before finding his place in such spaces, he was a confused kid trying to make sense of the world. “Coming from Japan and arriving in San Jose, I was a bit of a knucklehead,” he recalls of his childhood. His mom and grandmother tried desperately to figure out ways to ease his temper and channel his energy. He found a release in hip-hop.

First learning from the works of Arrested Development and Tupac Shakur, Borca used rap as a framework to better make sense of the paradoxical nature of his experience: “I used to think I wasn’t Mexican enough, Filipino enough, East

A creative fervently fighting to not be confined to one format, poet, rapper, and producer Jonathan Borca is showing there’s no one way to effectively build community.

“I used to think, I wasn’t Mexican enough / Filipino enough, East side enough / Too private for public schooling / Too hood for private students.”

Excerpts from Borca’s poem “Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá” (“Neither Here, Nor There”)

“Living in between worlds, doesn’t have to be a deficit / It can make you a bridge builder / It can birth new hues, and add to your specialness.”

side enough / Too private for public schooling / Too hood for private students,” he shares in his poem “Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá” (“Neither Here, Nor There”). His narratives are often woven into a jazz-centric framework, intimately shared alongside a lone piano or strewn atop a wall of sound when he’s spitting bars as the resident emcee of 7th Street Big Band.

The name “Francis Experience” is an invitation toward deeper connection with those listening. It’s also a reference to his personal journey of cultural acceptance. For years, he thought his middle name was Francisco, but later found out it was actually Francis. It was a call back to his Filipino side—and the father he rarely saw—reminding him of his layered story: Mexican and Filipino, Francisco and Francis, performer and community builder.

In 2019, he took his passion for the arts one step further by presenting his first “Francis Experience” event at Tabard Theatre. Rather than present a variety show, he chose to stitch together different musical styles and arts disciplines into a thoughtful, three-act format. The

concept was also a bit of a thought experiment.

“The inspiration was really based on an assumption. We hear that life imitates art, but I thought, ‘Can art imitate life?’ ” he points out. “Just like I’m trying to chase the thread between different creative offerings, [I hoped] that people in the audience could find a thread amongst each other.”

He’s brought that same programmatic diversity to more of his events, including A Little T.L.C., a literacy event spearheaded alongside Oakland’s Akira’s Book Club, and “Colour Me Gold,” an affordable monthly series meant to empower small businesses and showcase local BIPOC creatives.

“Living in between worlds doesn’t have to be a deficit,” Borca goes on to share in “Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá.” “It can make you a bridge builder / It can birth new hues and add to your specialness.”

Though he may not have seen someone living the example he’s now setting, he’s making sure to be as visible as possible to those in his wake. C

DonBudd

Written by Esther Young

Photography by Daniel Garcia tonefreq.net Instagram donbudd

Tone Freq Recording Studios

Ask around the local music scene for a reliable recording studio, and certain names will start to repeat. One is Tone Freq Recording Studios, where hundreds of bands have gone to record their albums with craft and care.

Located on the creative haven Martha Street, Tone Freq supports artists of all genres and calibers who want to capture their most inspired takes through high-quality production. They get to work with Don Budd, an audio engineer and producer who treats each project like his own baby. Radiating an unbridled, lively excitement that brightens the whole room, he’s the musical foster parent who can “out-patience anybody.”

Music has driven his entire life, and Don gratefully credits his fabulous parents for honoring the ecstatic journey of his youth—trying multiple instruments and finally landing on the guitar with obsession. He chose day jobs that complemented the wacky schedule of a performer. Becoming a father himself prompted his pivot into music engineering.

After years of playing in cover bands, the birth of his daughter in his early 30s pulled him toward a more homebody lifestyle. “I think I lasted two months before somebody gave me a little four-track cassette recorder,” he laughs. “The kid would go to sleep, and I’d stay up till two with headphones on, writing and playing music every single night.”

One evening, his partner, Deena, showed him a Metro ad announcing open enrollment for a recording engineering course. The school, started by sound engineering author Dave Gibson, stressed ear training—an indisputable necessity in the age of analog machines.

As part of the class, Don had to become a master at using his own ears to judge recording signals and mixes. He took home assignments such as, “Bring back a song that has a Fender Strat, one that has Gibson Les Paul, one that has a Rickenbacker…and one that has a 12-string Rickenbacker.”

Today, digital audio workstations have brought accessibility and ease to DIY producers everywhere, but the accompanying tools—such as the number of plug-ins to use—exert some degree of influence on how a song gets made. To this day, Don keeps an intentional habit of using his ears before using visual monitors. When he catches a note off pitch, he judges it sharp or flat before checking the meter to confirm. When adding reverb to give a song three-dimensional space, he walks around the control room to hear the subtle nuances of his panning.

“I’ll out-patience anybody here. No matter how long it takes, I’ll sit for five hours just to get a line done, you know? Because at the end of the day, I know it’s gonna be worth it.”

–Don Budd

“We are making music—it’s not a visual thing,” he stresses. “Visual media goes really well with it, but a song that gives you a good visual without any visual? You got a winner.”

Soon after completing his course, Don was hired to run mix sessions at his teacher’s studio. For five years, he sharpened his skills on 16-track two-inch tapes. Then he landed an internship at a major studio and continued his work in outside sales until his responsibilities grew beyond his capacity to keep the day job. With his partner Deena supporting their family, Don soon made it to staff, directly running recording sessions for guitar-, bass-, and drum-heavy bands.

“I train my ears more than I train everything else,” he says. To him, anybody can learn to navigate the buttons, knobs, and dials on a producer’s rack. But the art

is in knowing when the puzzle pieces—each hit, strum, and vibration—are right, and then using those engineer’s tools to fix whatever is not being delivered. Only after troubleshooting does the production begin: assembling the puzzle pieces into a song.

Don freelanced for some time after company management at his studio changed hands. When an opportunity came for him and fellow engineer Steven Glaze to establish a studio of their own, they seized it. The two of them built the studio by hand—turning a defunct yoga center into studio control rooms, tracking rooms, and lounges.

Fifteen years later, it still feels brand new. For all the artists who come in and out of those double-sealed doors, Don keeps the studio in top shape. His hearty maintenance keeps the dust away and prevents those hundreds of

sockets on the patch bay from oxidizing. Down the hallway, CDs, posters, stickers, and T-shirts of familiar artists and homegrown bands testify to the studio’s role in grounding our music scene through its ebbs and flows. Throughout the years, local bands have thinned out; now more than half their clientele comprise hiphop artists.

Yet, 35 years in, Don still finds a special trait in each project, which he happily dedicates hours to capturing. Experienced musicians he’s worked with will tell you it’s his patience that brings them back. “I’ll out-patience anybody here,” he says. When a song needs heavy lifting, “No matter how long it takes, I’ll sit for five hours just to get a line done, you know? Because at the end of the day, I know it’s gonna be worth it.” C

ALBUM PICKS

Silvana Estrada

Marchita

(Glassnote Records)

Release date: January 21, 2022

Written by Taran Escobar-Ausman

Silvana Estrada’s voice softly rings like the sweetness of spring while echoing the solitude of a long, hard winter. On her debut solo album, Marchita (withered), she uses her voice to beautifully recite an intimate and bittersweet narrative on the warm, idealistic world of love and the somber reality of losing it.

Growing up with parents who were luthiers for their local village, Estrada’s musical vocabulary developed early on. She found her voice during nightly fandangos (jam sessions), singing folk songs of the son jarocho tradition from the Veracruz region of Mexico. Silvana’s sweet and delicate vocals are wrapped in a buttery smooth vibrato that achingly creates a vibrant universe accompanied mostly with just her trusty cuatro venezolano, a four-nylon-string guitar central to Venezuelan musicians.

The soundscape on Marchita is kept simple and stark, allowing various accompanists to rise and fall throughout, while keeping the focus on Silvana’s ethereal and dreamlike delivery. This minimalist approach gives the album an intense yet pastoral energy. “Te Guardo,” for example, has you engrossed in a simple vocal melody until strings slowly enter, ending in a crescendo where she gives way to new-found love, “I’ll keep my morning light for you / My eyes, my love and my pillow.” Then “Un Dia Cualquiera” haunts you with a minimal rhythm of hand claps and foot stomps as she warns her lover, “I want to be fear’s rival in your soul.”

Silvana finds joy in the rhythms of her homeland but also draws strength from them as she battles the terrible weight of lost love on her soul. On “Tristeza” she sings to sadness itself, trying to shake off her uninvited guest, “To the one who is no longer there / And you who don’t leave / I ask you once again, sadness, leave me alone.”

Marchita is a potent and exciting revelation from such a young artist and fits nicely into the contemporary canon of Latin American artists looking to the past for inspiration.

Favorite Track: “Tristeza” SILVANAESTRADA.COM

Lady Wray

Piece of Me

(Big Crown Records)

Release date: January 28, 2022

Written by Brandon Roos

In 1998, as the first signee on Missy Elliott’s new The Goldmind Inc. imprint, Nicole Wray went gold with her Missy-assisted lead single, “Make It Hot.” Only three years later, she’d left Goldmind altogether, split over creative differences. It was the first setback of an extended run of bad experiences and false starts that didn’t let up until she finally dropped a proper solo follow-up, Queen Alone, in 2016.

On Piece of Me, the third collaboration between Wray and Big Crown Records cofounder and producer Leon “El” Michels, the two retain their killer chemistry. Michels’ production, golden-age soul fused with punchy drums and a hip-hop sensibility, fits Wray beautifully and never toes the line too heavy toward nostalgic “throwback” territory.

“You let me sink, then sail,” Wray sings on “Joy and Pain.” “You give me heaven and hell, you threw me in jail, then you put up my bail.” Those dichotomies appear throughout the album, but Wray’s perspective feels rooted in sharing such moments from a place of hard-earned wisdom. She’s not sinking in her sadness; rather, her triumph in the face of misfortune is what gives her lyrics such weight.

In a recent interview with Bandcamp, she said this album captures what she had in mind 20 years ago, when she wanted to shift to live bands that more accurately reflected her gospel upbringing rather than stick with the sleek pop R&B that began her stardom. Over 40 minutes, there are screeds of doubt (“Piece of Me”), odes to love (“Through It All,” “Come On In”), and direct appeals to faith (“Thank You”).

Perhaps no moment stands out more than “Melody,” a sweet, understated tribute to her daughter. Accompanied only by acoustic guitar, she shares tender lyrics like “You love me for real” and “All of this joy, it matters more than fear.”

That relatability, cultivated from the palpable vulnerability she showcases throughout the album’s 12 songs, brings a special resonance to the project.

Favorite Track: “Through It All”

BIGCROWNRECORDS.COM/ARTISTS/LADY-WRAY

Curated by Needle to the Groove Instagram: needletothegrooverecords

Homeboy Sandman There in Spirit

(Self-Released)

Release date: February 25, 2022

Written by David Ma

Longtime indie rapper Homeboy Sandman has had a few tectonic shifts in his career that brought him more praise with each release. Nourishment, an EP from 2007, his first effort, showed a welcomed sense of weirdness and whimsy, while his collaboration with Edan (Humble Pi) has aged better than I remember. Sandman caught attention during one of late 2020’s COVID spikes for not endorsing mask-wearing at his shows. It was a controversy that ended in cancellations and people drawing hard lines. Despite emboldening anti-maskers and spewing borderline conspiratorial nonsense, Sandman is an undeniably skilled rapper, deliberate in delivery choices, who thrives inside the pocket where his skills seem to thrive, where swift insight and jokes abound. Here, he abandons the technical virtuosity for more straight-ahead deliveries—and it works.

His new release, There in Spirit, is a short one; an EP with Detroit’s Illingsworth, a rapper and producer who’s had a consistent ease throughout his career while maintaining a rep that bubbles beneath the surface, even within indie circles. A likable standout who’s Hashtag Illingsworth Vol. 6, an instrumental on his Bandcamp, is a series of quirky, short beats. His Poindexter/ everyman approach lets him relatably luxuriate in the everyday.

“Nothing like a scientist with a nerd’s touch to give us absurd luck,” he says on “Surf’s Up,” off the release Old Man Raps. The bedroom aesthetic and overt homespun production range from soul loops to minimal cuts with jutting sound effects. With There in Spirit, on tracks like “Voices” or “Stand Up,” we see minimal, melodic beats that don’t knock but patter along perfectly for Sandman to tuck and roll over, a formula that doesn’t offend.

There in Spirit is a seven-song effort that exemplifies what a fleetingly enjoyable Bandcamp gem should be. It’s not lengthy and has a spur-of-the-moment energy to it. It does not take itself seriously despite Sandman’s penchant for binding imagery with emotions, whether they be absurdist or, at times, surprisingly emotional. On “Keep That Same Energy,” over a horn sample and subtle background flutes, Sandman says: “Wild nice. / Avocado with wild rice. / Heavy weigh the crown, right? / Guess there’s no gravity in crown heights. / I wrote this in the key of paradise.” His breathy cadence deepens the presentation, at times seemingly unmeasured but nonetheless effective.

Favorite Track: “Voices (Alright)”

HOMEBOYSANDMAN-MMG.BANDCAMP.COM/ALBUM/THERE-IN-SPIRIT

Alchemist/Curren$y Continuance

(Jet Life Recordings/ALC/Empire)

Release date: March 9 2022

Written by Demone Carter

How do you make an Alchemist record even more mesmeric? Add syrup of course. This is probably the best description I can conjure for the new album Continuance by the legendary Alchemist and New Orleans rapper Curren$y. My word limit prevents me from detailing the full greatness of the Alchemist or the run he has had over the last couple of years here—but I don’t feel like I’m being hyperbolic when I say he is the best producer alive, creating some of the most important rap music (and I am not alone in this opinion).

Continuance is a 13-track, 37-minute offering, the latest collaborative release from the Alchemist and Curren$y. Other notable projects include Fetti (2018) and Covert Coup (2011). I’m going to switch up my usual order of operations here and start with a mild criticism. Continuance doesn’t really cover any new ground; rather, it is just a slight update on the old formula. I can see how fans of their previous joint ventures could walk away underwhelmed. Conversely, Continuance delivers exactly what it should. Alc is at the top of his game, producing eerie yet propulsive tracks. He uses negative space and nuanced drum patterns to create a feeling of low-level menace throughout.

And then comes the syrup. Curren$y brings his New Orleans drawl to bear, giving us the usual assortment of entrendes about cars, weed, and women. What makes Curren$y compelling, lyrically, is his shifty rhyme scheme that drops words just outside of where you think they should be. Because Alchemist does not favor the typical static drum patterns over predictable loops, Curren$y has room to work. The resulting vibe is a deep, meditative head nod.

Continuance has a tasteful array of featuring verses, including a brilliant three-man weave of Havoc, Curren$y, and Wiz Khalifa on Corvette Rally Stripes. The methodical genius of Boldy James is displayed on “No Yeast,” and the Bay Area’s new favorite narrator Larry June adds his colorful nonchalance to “Endurance Runners.” Overall, Continuance is another well-paced project from two rap veterans who know slow and steady wins the race.

Favorite Track: “Corvette Rally Stripes” STORE.EMPI.RE/COLLECTIONS/CURREN-Y-THE-ALCHEMIST-CONTINUANCE

CONTRIBUTORS

The production of CONTENT MAGAZINE would not be possible without the talented writers, editors, graphic artists, and photographers who contribute to each issue. We thank you and are proud to provide a publication to display your work. We are also thankful for the sponsors and readers who have supported this magazine through sponsorships and memberships.

Be a part of the CONTENT community.

Contact us at: Editor@content-magazine.com

ALYSSARHAYE GRACIANO

Alyssarhaye is an artist, designer, teacher, and writer born and raised in San Jose. Her mission is to connect people and communities through art.

Instagram: blacksheepmade

CHRIS JALUFKA

Chris is a Bay Area based art writer focused on the world of design, illustration, and limited-edition prints and collectibles. His articles have appeared in HOW Magazine, Print Magazine, Nerdlocker, and Juxtapoz along with his own venture, Evil Tender.

Instagram: eviltender_

BÉA URBANOWSKI-WOMER

Béa is an aspiring creative with a love for storytelling in all mediums. Their works seek to encourage thoughtful empathy and a sense of wonder.

Instagram: beawomski

JESSIE BARNES

Jessie is an illustrator and graphic designer whose favorite things include hugs, whodunnits, cherry blossoms, and her cat named Bunny.

Instagram: jbarnescreates

BRANDON ROOS

Brandon is 408 born and raised. He has covered music and local arts for nearly a decade. When not writing, he dreams up ideas for new mixes and accumulates too much vinyl.

Instagram: brandiathan

MEGAN RIZZO

This issue’s cover illustration is by Campbell artist Megan Rizzo. See more of her work and read her story on page 30.

Instagram: daizydoodles

ESTHER YOUNG

Esther, a singer-songwriter based in San Jose, recently released her EP Small Hands, Heavy Heart. She credits the brilliant artists, poets, and musicians featured in these pages for the grateful existence of her songs in the world.

Instagram: eestarrious

KATIE SHIVER

Katie left high tech to complete her creative writing B.A. and now writes full-time — a testament to following your dreams. Watch for her upcoming memoir, “Apologies to my Dog.”

Instagram: katrix01