Issuu

HANA LOCK

Rotunda Gallery September 14, 2024 through January 5, 2025

Reception Date: September 28, 2024

Cultivator

Daniel Garcia

Editors

Danae Stahlnecker, Elizabeth Sullivan

Katherine Hypes, Katie Shiver

Samantha Hull, Virginia Graham

Photographers

Cyntia Apps, Glo Saladio

Jay Aguilar, Jason Leung

Lauren Locquiao, Marietta Asemwota

Stan Olszewski

Developer

David E. Valdespino Jr.

Writers

Alyssarhaye Graciano, Brandon Roos

Bree Karpavage, Glo Salcido

Jonathan Fung, Mighty Mike McGee

Nathan Zanon, Nikoo Parsizadeh

Priya Das, Rah Riley

Saira Singh, Troy Ewers

Graphic Designers

Jesse Garcia, Sana Chiang

Publisher SVCREATES

Thirteen years ago, when we launched CONTENT, we hoped to be a blessing to the creative community and our region by providing a quality print magazine showcasing the talent in the South Bay. We set out to provide a platform for local photographers, writers, and designers to grow and gain practical experience in a published magazine and to showcase artists. Now, after 13 years and 68 issues, we have a track record for doing what we set out to do. With the partnership in 2015 with SVCREATES, we have taken that to the next level with the Content Emerging Artist Award (CEAA). Yes, we pay a small stipend to all contributors, and yes, we have the longest-running, highest-quality art-focused publication showcasing locals ever to come out of San Jose. But what we have accomplished exceeds my original vision with the addition of the CEAA. We are able to grant $5,000 of unrestricted funds to a couple local artists to assist them in their creative careers.

This year, the grantee panel, which I am not allowed to participate in, has selected singer/songwriter and CONTENT contributing writer Esther Young and painter/muralist Elba Raquel. These talented women demonstrated emerging growth in their fields as well as passion and dedication to refining their craft. Both are active in the creative community as agents of support and encouragement. We are very honored to highlight them and the other amazing artists in this issue.

I invite you to read and follow the people and organizations presented here—I know you will grow in pride as you read these profiles.

Thank you,

Daniel Garcia

THE CULTIVATOR

Rosanna Alvarez | Ripplings | Alyssa Wigant | Jubo Clothing

To participate in CONTENT MAGAZINE: daniel@content-magazine.com Membership & sponsorship information available by contacting david@content-magazine.com IN THIS ISSUE

The City of San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs and Arts Commission congratulate the 2024 Cornerstone of the Arts Awardees!

Cornerstone of the Arts Honorees:

Rick Holden

Ken Matsumoto

Creative Impact Honoree:

3Below Theaters

Luminary Artist Honoree:

Paul J. Gonzalez

October 3, 2024

5:30pm – 8:00pm

Susan and Phil Hammer

Theatre Center

RVSP for the event at:

bit.ly/sjcornerstone24

SPACES

10 Mexican Heritage Plaza Expansion

14 Liminal Space Collective, Weston Mossman, Wendy Frances & Taylor Royan*

18 California Native Garden Foundation, Alrie Middlebrook

ART & DESIGN

24 Graphic Designer, StayBrown!, Theo Mendoza*

30 Sculptor, Stephanie Metz*

36 Visual Designer, Lettering Artist, and Illustrator, Alyssa Wigant

42 Content Emerging Artists 2024, Singer/Songwriter, Esther Young * Painter, Elba Raquel*

STYLE

52 San José State University, Photo 125

60 Jubo Clothing, Jason, Averill & Brian Nemedez

64 Hair Stylist, Skittzz

DANCE

68 House of Inanna Belly Dance, Petra Pino

WORDS & MUSIC

72 Interdisciplinary Artist and Poet, Rosanna Alvarez

76 Hip-Hop Artist/DJ, Henry “Hen Boogie” Alexander III

80 Ripplings, Anna Macan, Sean Bautista & Jeremiah Ruperto

84 Contributors

Elba Raquel, pg. 48

Stephanie Metz, pg. 30

DJ Hen Boogie, pg. 76

Liminal Space, pg. 14

CILKER SCHOOL OF ART & DESIGN

CREATE

Get a premier arts education at West Valley’s Cilker School of Art & Design. As a top transfer institution, we know what it takes to help you achieve your educational goals. With world-class art, design, and performing arts courses taught by industry experts and experienced faculty, West Valley College prepares you for the path you want to take!

ACCREDITED PROGRAMS

» National Association of Schools of Art & Design

» National Association of Schools of Music

Cilker is a Steinway School offering courses in Stage Technology (Performing Arts), CLO3D (Fashion), and Animation (Visual Art).

Across PLAZA Mexican Heritage Plaza Looks to Expand Its Footprint. from the

THE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND CULTURE AT MEXICAN HERITAGE PLAZA has been offering classes and community activities at its six-acre space since 2010, and since that time it has also grown into a kind of anchor for the surrounding neighborhood. In the past few years, a new opportunity has arisen to expand the site to offer an entirely new set of facilities, programs, and housing that could solidify this corner of the humble Mayfair district (which is just a few blocks from a proposed BART station) as not only a cultural destination in San Jose, but also an example of how to uplift a neighborhood while preserving its history and heritage.

Built in 1999, La Plaza—as the space is referred to—features a beautiful outdoor courtyard, a glasswalled indoor conference space, a five hundred–seat theater where local performing arts groups present shows, and classrooms offering courses in visual arts, dance, digital media, and more. In recent years, under the leadership of CoExecutive Directors Jessica Paz-Cedillos and Vanessa Shieh, the location has also served as a COVID-19 vaccination site for the neighborhood and a food distribution center for low-income residents.

Directly across Alum Rock Avenue from La Plaza sits a 10,000-square-foot building, currently home to four small businesses and several vacant storefronts. Through fundraising efforts and a partnership with Gardner Health Services, the School of Arts and Culture (SOAC) has purchased this building with a bold vision of expanding its footprint in the community and declaring a new, officially designated cultural district in the neighborhood: La Avenida, a multi-phased project designed to revitalize the Alum Rock Avenue

corridor located in the Mayfair region of San Jose.

“We hope it is that third space for our neighbors here,” says Shieh, who first joined SOAC more than a dozen years ago after previous stints at several arts and social service nonprofits in San Jose. The new structure will house a Gardner Family Wellness Center, a cafe, and a smaller black-box theater that will allow limited-budget performing arts groups a space to experiment and showcase their work. “First and foremost, we want to be good neighbors,” Paz-Cedillos says. “But we’re also learning: how can we show up as good landlords?” The four existing tenants will stay put, as the intent is to secure the property in order to maintain the community—not push out others for the sake of growth and change.

Leadership at Gardner was instrumental in securing the space. Former CEO Reymundo Espinoza brought his experience to the table, while still allowing the SOAC team to lead the project and retain majority control in the acquisition. But the strategy of being aggressive by purchasing the property in order to take it off the market, followed by necessary fundraising, is part of how Gardner itself has grown over the past few decades to have clinics in a dozen South Bay neighborhoods.

Written

Director of Community Development Chris Esparza has also been key to the project. A longtime leader, business owner, and nonprofit advocate whose fingerprints are all over a wide range of San Jose programs, Esparza used his business and community connections to find a partner for the cafe space as well as incorporate the Sí Se Puede

schoolofartsandculture.org

by Nathan Zanon Illustrations by Steinberg Hart Architecture

collective to create a food distribution location that will make fresh food available in what is otherwise a food desert.

Although the School of Arts and Culture is an arts-centered nonprofit, neither of the executive directors considers themselves artists—instead, both come to their role with community-building backgrounds and have a keen understanding of how the arts can instigate cultural connections that build movements. With their combined strengths in administration and finance and their willingness to explore bold ideas, they have formed a powerful team over the course of the past decade as they continue to expand the role of La Plaza from a simple arts space into one of San Jose’s most important hubs of community and culture.

“I’ve been here since we were a scrappy—but great—team and have been part of the growth and evolution of this organization, doing well within the walls of the Plaza and now looking outside the walls of the Plaza,” Shieh says, expressing pride in her role.

Paz-Cedillos grew up in Oakland and came to the job after a stint at the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, followed by the community organizing nonprofit SOMOS Mayfair. “I came up through organizing,” she explains. And her questions coming onboard at SOAC were powerful: “What is our role as a cultural institution to really dig deep? What is our role as it relates to gentrification? To white supremacy? To school failure? This is a predominantly Latino and Vietnamese working-class community. So, how are we working across racial lines

to build solidarity, in order to create change?”

The business and community space isn’t the only element of the vision for La Avenida. In the back lot of La Plaza, they hope to build a new, mixed-use high rise filled with affordable housing, helping to ensure that lower-income residents of the neighborhood aren’t squeezed out as growth and gentrification seem likely to occur around them. It’s a scene they feel they’ve seen play out in nearby Japantown, where high-end condos have sprung up on every block surrounding the formerly sleepy neighborhood. Yes, it has brought economic growth to the area, but at what cost to the history and culture? How long will Japantown remain truly Japantown?

“The reason why we’re championing affordable housing and not market-rate housing is because that’s what’s needed in this community,” says Paz-Cedillos. “Here, you have three to four families living in one household. It’s incredibly expensive to live in Silicon Valley, and while there is tremendous wealth, that wealth is not being invested locally; that wealth is being invested globally, at state [level], at universities.” In order to slow down the flow of money out of the community and into the pockets of real estate developers and big-tech investors, SOAC’s strategy is to use La Avenida’s status as a cultural district as leverage to ensure housing is built with residents in mind. That includes allocating a high percentage of any new residential units to affordable housing and offering first option on housing to people who live in the neighborhood or were displaced when land for the

“We hope it is that third space for our neighbors here.”

-Vanessa Shieh

new buildings was acquired. It’s what the project proposal describes as “social purpose real estate,” a concept whose goal is to keep decisionmaking about the future of the neighborhood in the hands of the neighborhood residents.

In total, the projected cost of both expansion projects is around $30 million, with more than 80 percent of the money already raised so far—including investments from the City of San Jose, the Packard Foundation, and individual funders. And the goal is to move quickly, recognizing that costly delays have had a tendency to bog down other housing and infrastructure projects throughout the city and state in the past. “Aren’t you tired of waiting?” Paz-Cedillos asks. “People are tired of waiting. People are being displaced.”

If successful, La Avenida has the potential to become a blueprint for how to expand neighborhoods across the city—and nationwide—in ways that maintain the character and culture, inviting growth without squeezing out the very people whose roots are what gave life to an area to begin with. “Everyone who works here at the school, who works in this neighborhood, loves this place, this neighborhood, this community,” says Paz-Cedillos. “And this is one [idea] that is just that perfect confluence of resources and people to make it happen. And the perfect confluence of cross-sector support for La Avenida as a vision— because, really, everyone can see themselves as part of this vision for this neighborhood.” C

Liminal Space Collective

Written by

Bree Karpavage

Portrait Photography by Jason Leung

Liminal Space Event Photography by Weston Mossman

With a series of immersive art experiences and an inclusive community of artists working in collaboration, Liminal Space Collective is building a future of creative collectivity in Santa Cruz.

At an artist-led meetup on a Santa Cruz beach in late 2020, a small group of local creatives were gathering for the first time, coming out of their pandemic hibernation eager to connect with one another and their creative spirits. Weston Mossman was there, and the creativity and connection within the group sparked him. “I knew this idea could be expanded on,” says Weston. A few months later, Liminal Space Collective was born.

Starting at a small coffee shop downtown, Weston gathered a group of artists to lead workshops, show their artwork, and play music, advertising an immersive event experience of creating live art, learning, and sharing. Everyone and anyone of all ages was invited. People came. People created. People connected. Liminal Space was onto something, and within a year of hosting monthly events, they had packed 11th Hour Coffee beyond capacity and knew it was time to level up.

Enter the historic Circle Church, a massive unused building in the heart of Santa Cruz’s Westside neighborhood—quite literally circling it. Weston had a vision of murals and installations and creatives en masse working together in community—flowing and collaborating in the name of creativity. He got the keys, met Wendy Frances soon after, and the Northern Lights project was born. The project involved around 60 dedicated artists volunteering their time, materials, and ideas to create immersive, interactive art exhibits throughout the building. Each room was an experience. The one-night event blew away the organizers’ expectations, selling out and creating a buzz in the community.

Two months later they did it again. Impermanence marked their last project at the Circle Church as the building was set to be demolished later that year. Weston’s inspiration was guided by the question, “How do we enable creative agency, open creativity, and change, change being a constant thing that we are all grounded by—change in the world, in the universe, in us as artists?” And with that they wiped out the rooms and walls of Northern Lights and started again.

Artistic Director Wendy Frances recounts her entrance into Liminal Space as a shy creative with minimal experience in large scale murals and installations. She jumped in the fire head first, dedicating all of her time outside of work to a large mural for Northern Lights and an installation room called Weeping Note Grove at Impermanence. “I’d work all day, go to the church, and be there until three o’clock in the morning,” says Wendy. “The next day, I’d get up and do it all over again.” Her blacklit installation room was filled with fluorescent trees and an invitation to write a note and hang it from the branches. “The idea was for people to leave something there—intentions, thoughts, feelings, so that they left feeling lighter.”

Hundreds of artists contributed to the space for Impermanence. Watsonville-based muralists Augie WK and Jessica Carmen with

The Jams Brand, Elijah Pfotenhauer, Emily Love, and the group Made Fresh Crew were just a few artists who pitched in their time, skills, and supplies to bring this project to life. Supply calls went out on Instagram, and people came through, donating spray paint, house paint, and an assortment of art supplies and materials. Most of what was used was upcycled, another component of Liminal’s work they are passionate about. They packed the church for Northern Lights, gaining insight on how to throw large-scale events, work with the city, and forge community relationships.

In the summer of 2023, Liminal Space submitted a late proposal to the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH) for their Frequency Festival, a multi-artist exhibit featuring lights, sound, and digital technology. They just made their way in. This time they crafted a leveled-up version of Wendy’s former installation called the Crystal Note Grove, paired with a large-scale icosahedron sculpture and live performers. Collaborating with Jordan Layman of Idea Fab Labs and with the help of 117 volunteers, they created a 13-foot-tall tree filled with fiber-optic lights, twinkling experiences, hanging LED crystals, and 3D-printed elements along with a 5-foot, pink, lighted icosahedron.

The folks at Liminal Space stay focused on art as an impermanent structure and creativity as a constantly fluid mindset, so frequently changing spaces is truly at the core of the organization. The circle of creative energy that results from community interaction with their art installations keeps them inspired, connected, and creating more.

And more and more and more. Liminal Space, now a nonprofit project of The Children Are Our Future, recently teamed up with Idea Fab Labs and the Trellus Collective at the Old Wrigley Building in Santa Cruz to create a bimonthly meeting space and think tank for artists called “Creative Commons.” Everyone is welcome to this open event on the second and fourth Mondays of every month from 6pm to 10pm. Visit their website for information on how you can get involved, and keep an eye out for more projects collectively created in the liminal. C

Liminal Space Collective: Last photo at the Circle Church before demolition

“How do we enable creative agency, open creativity, and change, change being a constant thing that we are all grounded by—change in the world, in the universe, in us as artists?”

-Weston Mossman, Executive Director of Liminal Space

TOP: Weeping Note Grove at the Circle Church BOTTOM: Impermanence Captured

Alrie Middlebrook

California Native Garden Foundation

The artist turning parking lots into gardens that can feed entire communities.

When corn flourishes, she shapes the landscape, appearing as one leafy stalk that has burst upward in sheer determination. If you look closely, beautiful and essential collaboration is taking place. A deep-rooted bean plant is at the foundation, providing resources, stability, and savvy support. A wide-leaved squash shades the corn and beans, protecting their tight-knit network from tough conditions. Nearby, flowering chives attract top-notch pollinator partners. Critter kin like koi and catfish greet guests and hydrate everything in reach, and an ancient cactus demonstrates how to stay grounded through the seasons. Plant communities like this one work together to thrive where they are planted, and that is what this story is about.

Written by Rah Riley

by Daniel Garcia

Alrie Middlebrook, founder of Middlebrook Gardens and the California Native Garden Foundation (CNGF), is the woman rooted at the center of this ecosystem. She is a scholar, expert, artist, author, organizer, mother, founder, president, and steward. Her medley of majors (theater, public speaking, music, and art) from Michigan State could have blossomed into a career in the performing arts. Her first husband, David, was a sculptor, putting the two of them blissfully in the tides of a thriving 1960s arts community in the Rockies. A road trip swept them westward, eventually landing in California. She shares, “We just had a ball. And when we got to California, I had never experienced anything like it. I said, ‘We have to get a job here. We need to move in.’ ” So they did.

After renting in Willow Glen, they bought 2.5 acres near Los Gatos, and Alrie got a greenhouse gig. The seed had been planted. By 1974, the cracks of urban sprawl had wiped out most South Bay orchards. At 76 Race Street, an unused parking lot was cracked and disheveled. Even if driving by a decrepit parking lot and thinking,

Photography

Alrie Middlebrook

with absolute conviction, “This should be a garden” seems audacious, Alrie simply calls that pivotal moment of hers “clarity.” It was clarity that she could create something from nothing. She laughs, “Well, I’m an artist. A crazy artist. And it has come over 40 years—I didn’t start out this way.”

Alrie grew up foraging blueberries in a forest in Michigan. It was an idyllic childhood of dirt underneath fingernails and kinship with oldgrowth forests. Her father built houses and hunted pheasant, teaching her to sharpshoot. Her mother gardened and made everything by hand. Alrie was 16 when she first ate in a restaurant. In the late 1950s, interstates began reshaping the US, gashing neighborhoods and cutting away the wooded path that Alrie walked daily. It was an important moment in her relationship with nature and man.

Given Alrie’s background, her efforts to transform 76 Race Street almost seem inevitable. The acre of old blacktop is now drenched in edible native plants with deeply revitalized soil under a canopy of wild grapes. An abundantly forageable garden embraces an outdoor kitchen. Blooming year-round just blocks from SAP and Diridon Station, it’s a rebellion against the concrete that has long sought to eradicate the wild.

“You don’t hold on to something and do what some people would think are crazy things unless you believe in something strongly,” she starts. “And that’s the artist. You hold on to this voice inside that says, ‘This is really a part of who I am. And I’m not going to be trampled,’ ” she continues, explaining that she’s committed to perpetuating the system of life. Alrie has pursued her vision for decades, weathering unrelenting rent, limited resources, red tape, and the sheer obstacle of going first.

Today, CNGF is a leader in re-envisioned urban land use. It has numerous South Bay gardens, a network of partners, and a staggering variety of programs, consulting services, and certifications. One initiative in its 14th year is ELSEE, an educational model connecting youth with nature that pairs brilliant Alrie-designed educational gardens with plant community curriculum. Her hand drew the map that is the program’s framework.

Resident Chef Matt Close

More recently in May 2024, CNGF and The Core Companies—a real estate development and construction firm—celebrated the opening of the $100 million Agrihood, Silicon Valley’s first-of-its-kind urban farm community. Alrie did concept drawings and consulting for the six acres of affordable, low-income and market-rate housing that is centered around a regenerative farm that feeds the residents. The project took 12 years from conception. Now her vision is “Build 25,” an initiative with plans to build 24 more communities. She notes, “A new food system can become productive in just a year. It happens so quickly, because this is what the Earth does. It grows plants.”

None of this would exist without Alrie. She is the scholar, the steward, the artist. And she is starting to see the shift as more people understand the work. “I feel like I’m really lucky, because I’m getting to see it in my lifetime,” she shares. She’s most proud of the community they’ve built of dedicated volunteers, staff, interns, fellows, partners, kids, workshop attendees, and the Urban Growers Network. It’s a ripple of resilience and rewilding. She explains, “A plant meets all of its life cycle needs without moving. That’s where the idea came from. That’s my dream. If a plant can do it, we can.”

While you may still find her at CNGF’s Monday night socials, Alrie is retiring at the end of the year, or semi-retiring, as community leaders do. “I’m really interested in the Build 25 initiative. We’ve made some incredible partnerships to champion these projects, and the people who will actually manage them are coming directly from the communities who want this.” Soon we can also expect dinner parties in the 76 Race Street garden. For the last year, Resident Chef Matt Close has been cooking everything on site, testing how to best enhance the flavor of native leaves, seeds, and flora to bring them into modern cuisine.

In addition to reintegrating humanity with nature, Alrie wants to try watercolor, create a coloring book, and write a series on nature under attack. “Art is so important because it helps me visualize the gardens. I go on hikes, then drawing [afterward helps] keep the nature alive in my mind,” she explains. Those guided plant hikes, led by one of her most transformative teachers, sparked two of her great loves: California native plants and her second husband, Barry, whom she married 34 years ago and hikes with weekly.

Alrie has planted and grown so much. Teams are now working to cultivate all of it. “I believe the future of food in the US is really about urban agriculture,” she says, hoping to have this model replicated worldwide. She hypothesizes that “it’s the only way we’re going to survive—by restoring the systems that supported us. There’s no shortcut. But we can do it.” She continues, “It is really about being in a garden, enjoying good food, and coming together as a community.” C

Theo Mendoza

BROWN! STAY

Born in the ’90s and a San Jose native, Theo Mendoza was naturally drawn to skateboarding, hip-hop, and graffiti. Early on, he realized his future was in art. With support from his family and teachers, he pursued graphic design and streetwear, spending five years at the Art Institute in San Francisco to earn his degree and develop a unique style.

Theo received valuable advice from his instructors that deepened his understanding of design. He discovered a love for layout, structure, grid systems, and typography—love that was influenced by his background in graffiti. Theo’s intricate thinking about design and his desire to express himself creatively were challenges he overcame through dedication and practice.

After graduating, Theo joined an internship program that placed him on a project showcasing his skills for Nike. This opportunity led him to an agency in New York, where he was captivated by the lifestyle but soon felt overwhelmed by the competition. He realized that proving himself in such an environment wasn’t natural for him, remarking: “If you know me and you know who I am, it is easier to make a decision to say ‘yes, I want to work with this guy.’ But for me to try to go out of my way to prove to someone that I am the guy, it was not something I saw myself doing naturally.”

Seeking a different path, Theo found an opportunity with the PAC12, a collegiate athletic conference representing the top institutions in the USA. Though unfamiliar with the sports world, he embraced the challenge and spent four years developing his professionalism as their sole graphic designer. Managing live events and championships taught him discipline and resilience despite the demanding nature of the job.

Theo later joined a marketing agency that provided financial stability—until the pandemic led to his layoff. This setback prompted him to start his own venture. Inspired by the need to keep his two daughters engaged during the pandemic, Theo and his wife launched

Written by Nikoo Parsizadeh

Photography by Daniel Garcia

“Colorful Feelings,” a sensory play company where the project rekindled Theo’s passion for branding.

Wanting to form an agency, Theo collaborated with Alex Knowbody, a local San Jose photographer. Despite their initial enthusiasm, they soon realized that the projects they attracted were not fulfilling, leading them to part ways. Through challenges and changes like these, Theo remains optimistic, sharing: “Design has brought me in, kicked me out, made me think and figure things out myself, and for all those reasons, I am forever grateful for the journey it keeps taking me on.”

Theo next found a position with the San Jose Earthquakes. Working with the San Jose soccer team for three seasons, Theo has overcome new challenges such as mastering Photoshop and other tools. This experience has boosted his confidence, allowing him to own his ideas, meet his design expectations, and nurture his passion for streetwear.

Theo draws inspiration from Swiss design elements like minimalism, simplicity, and cleanliness. His passion for skateboarding culture and streetwear, along with an awareness of influential brands during his school years, shaped his design philosophy. Theo likens his love for design to solving puzzles. Authenticity and real references are central to his personal design projects, reflecting his commitment to genuine expression.

His interests in West Coast graffiti, lowrider culture, New York hip-hop, and skating made him feel disconnected from his Mexican heritage and often led Theo to feel he didn’t fit traditional cultural expectations. However, he eventually embraced his unique identity, showcasing what it means to be a Mexican American through his work. “I’m learning that everyone is a different shade of brown,

“I’m learning that everyone is a different shade of brown, and many minority cultures share similar upbringings and ways of navigating issues. I wanted to embody that in a brand and see how we can come together and be able to recognize each other for the work we are putting in.”

and many minority cultures share similar upbringings and ways of navigating issues. I wanted to embody that in a brand and see how we can come together and be able to recognize each other for the work we are putting in.”

Self-taught and inspired by his grandmother, who worked at the Levi’s factory, and his father, who owned a sewing machine, Theo discovered his talent for creating streetwear. Passionate about design, he founded streetwear brand StayBrown! which has evolved into a community-based brand focused on encouraging self-acceptance and perseverance. Theo’s creative process for StayBrown! began with upcycling and thrifting. Using heat press and screenprinting techniques, he boldly displays his messages on clothing, creating a collection that showcases his vision and dedication.

Theo believes his and his brand’s progress stems from supporting other artists in showcasing resilience, hoping to inspire and motivate everyone to exceed their perceived limits. His advice to graphic artists and streetwear designers is to find their voice and be confident in who they are, recognizing overlaps and embracing the differences in lifestyles and skills.

Theo’s main goal in his art journey is to root himself in happiness. He is learning to practice community over competition every day, and his StayBrown!’s brand message is to save yourself by finding peace and happiness even if it feels like your world is on fire. “You got this; we are in this together” reflects his belief. This daily learning process deepens Theo’s appreciation for art and inspires him to keep creating. C

Stephanie Metz

stephaniemetz.com Instagram

stephanie_metz_sculpture

Written by Saira Singh

Photography by Daniel Garcia

Exploring the intersection of reflection and light, attraction and repulsion, and the soft and raw power of feminine forms.

Pink is a loaded color for Stephanie Metz, a San Jose–based sculptor whose artwork often grows out of her desire to explore meaning in the everyday things around her. She remembers going to toy stores as a little girl and resenting all the pink, girly toys she saw. She explains, “Pink always seemed like it was derogatory or diminutive—like a way to make something overly cute and helpless. I felt like that was so often paired with ideas of femininity, and I just didn’t like that as a little kid.”

Over the years, though, Stephanie’s relationships with many things—including art, sculpting, femininity, and the color pink— has changed. “I remember I was taking a walk with my dog, and we came across a bougainvillea bush that was so intense,” she says. “I stood up really close to it, and I was so overwhelmed by it. But it also occurred to me that what I was actually experiencing was the light reflecting off of those bright pink flowers.” This experience inspired Stephanie to experiment with placing bright pink pigment against stark white walls to see if she could elicit any reflections. She then developed a series of hand-stitched felt panel sculptures that play with the concept of bounced light. For each piece, viewers think they’re seeing a bit of pink-tinted felt. What they’re actually seeing is the reflection of hidden fluorescent pink paint off of white felt. “I love the fact that the pieces make you think of the effect. What does it even mean to see that bright pink?” Stephanie muses. Throughout this project, the more that she thought of pink, the more it felt

“I wanted to focus on the strength and the raw power of feminine forms, but also leave space for the idea of soft power—like leading through cooperation and collaboration as opposed to leading with force.”

-Stephanie Metz

to her like a strong and decisive color that could be reclaimed for its strength.

Another of the color’s strengths comes to Stephanie in a more subliminal form. In various projects, Stephanie plays with the idea of push-and-pull. For instance, she has made sculptures that pair wool felt with porcupine quills. The soft warmth of the felt draws the viewer in, but the danger of the quill spikes pushes them back. She also works with silver metal mesh, which gives her sculptures a snaky effect that’s both threatening and entrancing. “I love dancing in the middle between drawing you in and repulsing you,” Stephanie says. “The color pink has become that for me. The more I play with different tones of really bright pink, the more I love them and the more I am overwhelmed by them.” It was this dance between reflection and light, pushing and pulling, love and overwhelm that Stephanie decided to explore more when she was offered a solo show at the Triton Museum of Art.

Stephanie has been a sculptor most of her life, and her work has been featured all over the world—from touring exhibition across Europe and Australia to the Rijswijk Textile Biennial in the Netherlands, the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, and the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. In 2020, she had a solo show at the de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University called Stephanie Metz: InTouch, which featured large, touchable felt sculptures that she’d spent over two years creating. Stephanie’s new show, In the Glow, will run from September 14 through December 29, 2024, at the Triton Museum of Art, a Santa Clara–based contemporary art museum that seeks to enhance critical and creative thinking through art. The exhibit, which took her 14 months to create, will feature a single, gigantic centerpiece and several additional supporting sculptures, all of which play with reflecting color and light.

Stephanie views her artistic practice as an extension of her experiences observing the world and learning from it. When de -

Grotesque, wool and mixed media, 14 x14 x14 inches, 2024

signing for In the Glow, Stephanie wanted to push herself to try things she had never done before. “I really wanted to challenge myself to make a large-scale exploration,” she explains. “To experience a sculpture, you have to move around it with a human body. And the larger the piece, the more you have to be aware of your physical relationship with it.” This was a challenge that Stephanie met head-on: the central piece will be a 16-foot-tall and 20-foot-wide sculpture made of pieces of white industrial felt meticulously stitched together. The sculpture will hang like a multidimensional curtain of writhing, body-like, and serpentine forms. A neon-pink wall will stand about 10 feet behind the curtain and reflect the light of the room onto the white felt. Viewers will have the opportunity to walk around the sculpture, immersing themselves in a pink, glowing space.

Size is not the only boundary Stephanie hopes to push with this piece. Stephanie feels that a lot of her work is already perceived as “feminine,” and she wants to examine the full spectrum of what feminine and female forms can mean. “I’ve been in a female-identified body all my life,” Stephanie explains. “I’ve had children. I’ve had a miscarriage. I’ve had all these life experiences. With the female body, it feels culturally okay to share certain experiences, but other things are hidden away.”

Stark among these experiences for Stephanie was having children and the changes to her body that she did not anticipate. “It would have made me feel a lot more sane to have been warned of some of the more uncomfortable, grotesque, and fascinating parts of what a body goes through,” she reflects. This pushing between the pretty and the grotesque, the attracting and repelling, the familiar and unfamiliar, is part of what Stephanie wants to evoke from this piece. She explains, “I wanted to focus on the strength and the raw power of feminine forms, but also leave space for the idea of soft power—like leading through cooperation and collaboration as opposed to leading with force.”

For a long time, Stephanie didn’t feel comfortable talking about the feminist aspect of her art because of the pushback. Now, though, she’s trying to be more vocal, without being heavy-

Cleave, wool, 9 x 8 x 6 inches, 2023

Voluptuary, wool and mixed media, 3 x 8 x 8 inches, 2023

handed, so she can raise awareness for a range of experiences and realities. Even the monumental size of the central sculpture plays into Stephanie’s relationship with womanhood and speaking out. “I’m really excited to blow these forms up to be huge and really take up space,” she says, “because that’s one of the things that has always been an issue for me as a woman. I’m always aware of everybody else’s space and trying to make sure they have what they need, but sometimes at the expense of myself.” Stephanie continues to play with the idea of femininity with the smaller freestanding sculptures and wall pieces also included in the exhibit. “Some of the pieces are playing with these organic and intriguing forms. They’re almost menacing because they look kind of familiar but are also mysterious,” she says.

Playing into this element of mystery is the fact that Stephanie is not positive what her pieces will look like in their final form—particularly the show’s centerpiece, since a lot of science and engineering go into making a free-hanging sculpture. “In the Glow is very experimental for me, which is exciting,” Stephanie says. “I keep repeating to myself that I am making something that has never existed before. No one can tell me if it is right or wrong. This project is going to be what it is. And that’s really freeing.” The opening reception for In the Glow will take place on September 28 from 2pm to 4pm at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara.

Much like releasing the need to control the final physical form of her sculptures, Stephanie has also embraced the idea that different people will have different responses to her art. She says, “People can be uncomfortable with abstract forms because they want to know what something is supposed to be. You can have whatever reaction to these pieces you want. There is no right or wrong in what you see or how you respond to it. I hope people will find what resonates with them.” To Stephanie, art comes back to this very concept—that it is all about making connections and finding meaning in one’s own life. She concludes, “The highest sort of thing art can do is make me feel connected to other people or ideas. I love finding kindred spirits through my art. It makes me feel like maybe I’m not so alone in the world.” C

In the Glow Installation Concept Drawing (Front), pencil on paper, 14 x 24 inches, 2023

Alyssa Wigant Pixel Perfect

Along-haired tabby cat tightropes a fence that stands near a buttercup bush tree swaying in the afternoon breeze. The sounds of the nearby park echo in the distance as Alyssa Wigant settles in a patio chair in her backyard. She muses, “I missed the Bay Area’s hustle. It is fast-paced and innovative.”

Growing up, Alyssa loved to draw. She would sell her work to family for fifty cents a pop and amassed a proverbial “ten thousand hours of practice” by drawing on friends’ canvas bags and shoes. She remembers, “My family encouraged my creativity but urged me to seek something more practical, with a broader focus.” Alyssa completed a BS in graphic communications and a minor in studio art at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo before making her way back home to San Jose. The graphic communications courses taught Alyssa to focus on how design applies to print, packaging, and the web while considering context and space. That skill set has landed her jobs in digital tech at Shutterfly—where she designed holiday cards with flowing script—and, most recently, as a designer at Apple. She says, “My day job is the foundation from which I can do all the creative fun things on the side—I have the stability to feel comfortable. It is a challenging job in itself, but I think it helps with time management and the way I present work to clients.”

In the last six years, in addition to her career as a graphic designer, Alyssa has painted several colorful, large-scale murals in partnership with local organizations and business. When she moved

Written by Alyssarhaye Graciano

Photography by Marietta Asemwota

“I grew up with the idea that if you have something to share, you share it. You don’t keep it to yourself.”

-Alyssa Wigant

back to San Jose, Local Color was taking off as a nonprofit arts organization. Her first project with them was the 100 Block Mural Project, a mural in the SoFA District painted collaboratively with 100 local artists. Alyssa says, “It became the catalyst for my work in the local arts scene.” Her pixel-perfect designs are now sprinkled throughout San Jose on walls, electrical utility boxes, and sports arenas. Her recent projects include designs for Veggielution and the 2024 San Jose Half Marathon. She also has a new side hustle teaching lettering workshops. Alyssa says, “I grew up with the idea that if you have something to share, you share it. You don’t keep it to yourself.”

As a graphic designer and muralist, Alyssa practices two distinct yet complementary mediums of artistic expression. She explains, “My process starts analog because it’s hard for me to conceptualize what I’m doing if it’s not physical. I start sketching and then bring it on my iPad.” It’s a balancing act that speaks to the duality of her artistic person, blending the digital precision of graphic design with the organic flow of muralism. Her design work at Apple satisfies her technical prowess, while her passion for mural art allows her to channel her artistic voice into immersive, community-centered projects. Alyssa uses her murals as an opportunity to reimagine her experience as a biracial Filipino American. She accepts the challenge of representing her perspective by drawing from the chaos and nuance of her mixed identity. She recognizes the complexity of being both White and Filipino and wrestles with the question of cultural authenticity in her pieces: “Am I Filipino enough?” Alyssa rejects the notion of reducing her Filipino culture to mere symbols and champions the idea that every voice deserves a space to share their experiences.

Outside of the local arts scene, Alyssa explores other forms of self-expression such as learning to play harp and participating in the Silicon Valley Roller Derby league. She says, “I want to keep my art practice as something I enjoy doing. I have my whole life to be an artist.” The vibrant and empowering world of roller derby has offered her camaraderie amongst a community of strong femmes. Alyssa adds, “There is a similar feeling of flow between drawing and roller skating. Plus it’s a great way to let out aggression and stress.”

It’s important to Alyssa to balance her day job, art practice, and endless other interests. She says, “I don’t want to polarize my own identities. Nothing is perfectly half and half. Art has helped me capture that feeling of being in between. We can be all of the things.”

In a world where the line between cultures and disciplines can become blurred, Alyssa Wigant walks that tightrope as a beacon of authenticity, reminding us that true artistry lies in the willingness to learn, connect, and share. She explains, “What you say yes to determines what you’ll keep getting. It’s so important to say yes to what you’re truly aligned with, and to say no to anything that isn’t falling into that alignment.” C

2024 Content Emerging Artists

Written by David E. Valdespino Jr. / Photography by Daniel Garcia

Celebrating the vibrancy and impact of early-career artists across disciplines.

SVCREATES is excited to announce the 2024 Content Emerging Artist Award recipients, celebrating the vibrancy and impact of early-career artists working in all disciplines, across visual, performing, and literary arts. This award, a testament to SVCreates’ commitment to building the capacity and amplifying the voices of artists in our community, has been granted to two artists who have made a significant impact. These artists, who

work with diverse communities and across mediums, have shown remarkable courage in taking risks and embracing challenges. Their unwavering commitment to their practice, intentional sharing of their vision, and rigorous approach to creation and production are commendable. We are privileged to have them as part of our community in Santa Clara County, where they have contributed significantly to the richness and vibrancy of our region.

“To

write a heartfelt song, you must live with an open heart so that the ache is tangible.”

Esther Young

hyperfollow.com/estheryoung instagram: eestarrious

When Esther Young sits down to write music, she processes the outside world by looking inward—a fragment of a memory, a dusting of spirituality, the electrochemical processor that analyzes those inputs. The intuitive nature of her work is reflected in lyrics and stories that sometimes even she can only decode once she steps away from the source. The product is what she calls “ethereal indie folk.” Her music videos portray things like going for a drive, playing guitar in the woods, or doing laundry, but they contain a tilt of celestial normalcy that begs viewers to review the lyrics in the description. In many ways, Esther is laying bare her process of self-discovery for listeners and asking them to join her. In many ways, that process of self-discovery has been a process of redefining community.

Esther Young grew up as a shy kid in the East Bay, raised by a Chinese immigrant family devoted to their Chinese Christian faith. Esther was enrolled in classical piano lessons, sang in church, and generally listened to the music her parents showed her. She recalls, “I grew up around a mix of crazy music. My dad likes Chinese pop music, and I wasn’t allowed to listen to a lot of secular music.” At that time, her relationship with music was structured with a focus on worship. Early on, the roots of her songwriting stemmed from the prayers she would journal. That practice was a haven for her intimate musings.

Esther’s teenage years proved transitional in her approach to life, music, and spirituality. She disenrolled from classical piano classes, picked up the guitar, and began listening to secular music. These developments drew Esther closer to her voice as an artist but were also forms of assimilating into an idyllic American lifestyle. She admits, “I wanted to blend in with American culture for much of my life. I tried hard to avoid the parts of me that are Chinese.” Esther later attended Santa Clara State University, where she majored in both English and music. She became invested in finding her voice through the communities she engaged with. That experience culminated in her disaffiliation with religion. She explains, “I don’t identify as Christian anymore. I thought so many people should be saved, but according to

the rules I had learned, they wouldn’t be. It was the existence of all my beautiful gay and queer friends that made those rules not make sense. I just wanted to live my most authentic life, and I started to feel more like myself—less conflicted.”

Esther credits the open mics she attended in college as a critical moment in her trajectory as a singer-songwriter. She says, “Mighty Mike McGee’s storytelling open mics were the first I went to. It wasn’t even music open mics, but I knew that was the space I wanted to be in. As a writer, what’s valuable to us is what’s being said and why it’s being said.” That emphasis on storytelling is manifested in Esther’s lyrically driven compositions. Much of her writing is distilled from her own lived experiences, but she hopes to imbue her work with universal themes and community voices. Esther’s work as a journalist and non-profit cultural worker has helped shape that perspective and worldview. She says, “As writers and artists, to be effective, we must explore our blind spots; to know ourselves, we must know our history. My pet peeve is when songwriters put together lines that have no purpose other than to rhyme—what a wasted opportunity. To write a heartfelt song, you must live with an open heart so that the ache is tangible.”

Esther’s journey of self-discovery through song is ongoing, but she is constantly refining her process. As a recipient of the 2024 Content Emerging Artist Award, Esther hopes to spend more time in the studio recording unreleased music and begin work on new music videos. In addition, she has recently been collaborating with local contemporaries. “Playing with other musicians that I look up to, who have strengths that I don’t have, has been exciting to me,” she says. Esther’s emphasis on community parallels her reflections on the importance of art. She explains, “If the art community has a foundational belief, the way that church does, it would be ‘what you do matters,’ period. I feel like that’s what holds our communities together. Everyone has a chance to tell their truth. There’s that sense of acceptance. I think that’s the thing about art that is so healthy for people.”

Reflecting on her past, Esther says, “I’m grateful to the younger versions of me that spent time alone writing. I’m proud of her.” When asked why folks should care about Esther Young, she replies, “I’m always trying. When I see the worth in something, I will put some effort behind it. I’m always sincere.” C

Elba Raquel

elbaraquel.com

instagram: theelbaraquel

“Art has been my savior. I also feel bad for my

A young girl stares off into space while sitting at the dinner table, surrounded by family. “Elba!” the girl’s father says, snapping his fingers for a reaction. “Elba, where are you?” the man echoes. Elba replies as if a fog had begun to lift: “I am right here.” “No, we lost you,” her father replies.

Growing up, Elba Raquel was a daydreamer. When asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she would reply with professions such as detective, writer, or world traveler. She shares, “I have a restless mind and a zest for life. My parents were protective of us growing up, but I always wanted to live a more exciting life.” As far back as she can remember, she loved drawing. When preparing for college, she knew “it was either going to be writing or art. I chose art because it was the only thing that fulfilled me 100 percent.” Through art, she could investigate the subjects she painted, travel to a world of her own creation, and tell stories through her imagery.

While steadfast in her passion to pursue art, Elba remembers her family’s skepticism. “They wanted to convince me to switch majors. They would say things like, ‘¿Dónde vas a comer? You’re not going to make any money as an artist.’ They thought I was wasting my potential.” She went on to earn an AS in two-dimensional design, a BFA in illustration from the Academy of Art University, and an MFA in art education from Santa Clara University. That self-determination to forge her own path has been a constant theme in her journey. Elba discovered Mexican painter Frida Kahlo while in high school. Researching her work stirred Elba’s identity as an artist. Like Kahlo, Elba painted her reality, which included the pain of lost love, states of depression, and familial turmoil. Painting was a conduit for peace, a way to work through those emotions. She explains, “Art has been my savior. I also feel bad for my art because I place my burdens on it. Many of my paintings are about my torments, but I am working to make art about happiness and joy.”

Elba’s technical ability to produce masterful realism on canvas contrasts the time it has taken to discover her unique style and voice.

art because I place my burdens on

it.”

ABOVE: Healing, mural, 19.5 x 48 feet, 2023 | OPPOSITE PAGE, LEFT: Princess, acrylic on canvas, 12 x 36 inches, 2024 | TOP RIGHT: Inked acrylic on wood, 12 x 12 inches, 2021

That discovery process spanned a decade, including having children and becoming an art teacher. She truly fleshed out her approach only during the COVID-19 pandemic. Elba recalls, “I had completed enough Instagram challenges that asked artists to create characters in their own style, and I began to notice my own style. I was doing two-dimensional lead pencil realism with highlighter backgrounds. I started trying that style on a large scale and fell in love with it. I completed a piece called Mexicanas Unidas. That was my first ‘Elba’ piece.” Mexicanas Unidas is a 4-foot by 6-foot self-portrait in grayscale with a crimson-red background. The subject is adorned with colorful tattoos and is strangling a fang-baring snake.

Mexicanas Unidas was a turning point in Elba’s career. Along with finding her style, she discovered her voice. Elba began painting murals at events like the Bizare Art Festival and with the San Jose–based artist collective Together We Create. She noticed the lack of women participating in live painting events and made empowering women part of her mission. “That’s my little bit of change. I know it has to start with me. The more successful I am as a female artist, the more others give themselves permission to do what I am doing.”

As part of that mission, Elba has participated in the Art Builds Community’s Womanhood project that recognizes influential Santa Clara County women. She actively seeks women to assist her with projects, has created a portfolio of female muralists, and actively engages with feminist themes in her studio practice.

Elba describes her work as a muralist: “Muralism is my heart and soul because it gets me away from myself and takes me into a different role that serves the community. I love Frida Kahlo for her ability to put herself out there and be 100 percent vulnerable. But I admired Diego Rivera for his audacity in creating pieces that were larger than himself. Murals are my gift to the community. It’s their voice and vision through my style and symbolism.”

As a recipient of the 2024 Content Emerging Artist Award, Elba plans to create more from a place of joy, manifesting the reality she wants to live. “We think we have to create from pain. But we can also paint from light. We don’t always have to paint alone, either. Paintings don’t talk back to you. They don’t give you a life. People do.” She is currently working on a new body of work under the moniker “Bo$$ Bïtçh” that she plans to share with the community through social media by exploring performance art. Elba is determined to forge her own path and be a light for those who follow it. C

San José State University’s Photo 125

San Jos é State University’s Photo 125 is a beginning fashion photography class taught by Professor Jonathan Fung. The course introduces students to beauty advertising and the fashion editorial. Students use digital and film cameras, strobe and location lighting, and digital image processing. Toward the end of the semester, students make digital prints to showcase their work in a gallery exhibition in the art building on campus.

Students research the fashion industry by way of various top fashion photographers and designers. They learn to tell the story of a clothing collection, including its references and inspirations and by creating a theme. Students are encouraged to build a production team for editorial projects that includes makeup and hair artists and a clothing stylist.

Assignments are designed to develop technical, aesthetic, and communication skills to help students succeed as artists. They conduct research and pitch their concepts for approval for each shooting assignment—as they would for a professional client. Critiques are an important part of the class, helping each student grow and improve their skills as an artist.

Written by Jonathan Fung

sjsu.edu

Instagram sjsu

This is a valuable opportunity for San Jos é State University photography, art, and design students to have their work published in Content Magazine. Not only do they learn how to become professionals and deliver quality work on a deadline, but they also find ways to problem solve unexpected challenges.

Josefina Valenzuela

@_tearyeyedphotographer_

Jesus Sanchez

Aahliya McElroy @jsanchez.jpg @liyahpix_

Regina Joseph @reginaj.photo

Class of ‘24

Josefina Valenzuela

@_tearyeyedphotographer_

Josefina Valenzuela is a fourth-year San José State photography student from San Diego who is passionate about street, landscape, and portrait photography.

Eric Luu

@eric.fotography

Eric Luu is an aspiring photographer at San José State University. Eric specializes in crafting visual narratives, favoring portrait photography and the adept use of perspective.

Stevie Salcido

@salxido_photo

Stevie Salcido’s comprehensive work focuses on creating commercial, conceptual, and identity images. He likes to say, “Anything for the Shot.”

Jesus Sanchez

@jsanchez.jpg

Jesus Sanchez is a first generation student at San José State University and a photographer who expresses himself with images about topics from his personal life and community.

Aahliya McElroy

@liyahpix

Aahliya McElroy is a Bay Area photographer exploring themes of contemporary apparel and glamour portraits based on images of a desirable, attractive beauty.

Regina Joseph

@reginaj.photo

Regina Joseph is a BFA student in photography at San José State University. Born and raised in Southern California, she enjoys fashion, lifestyle, and travel photography.

(L to R) Jason Nemedez | Brian Nemedez| Averill Nemedez

Jubo Clothing

Coldwater Streetwear Boutique, the headquarters for Jubo Clothing, is one of those places where you immediately want to touch everything because there’s so much cool stuff to look at: albums, hats, collectible items, branded merch—not to mention the awesome clothing on the rack. Located in San Jose’s Japantown, Coldwater is a place to chill and chat with some really creative people and a shopping experience that’s bound to end up on your Instagram story. The shop and its original designs offer shoppers an infectious sense of heart and positivity. A quote on one of Jubo’s

It all started when Jason Nemedez, the man behind Jubo Clothing, saw his middle school classmate wearing the same shirt as him. He recalled feeling so embarrassed that he never again wanted to run into someone who had the same outfit—so much so that he was motivated to design his own shirts. His brother had coined the name Jubo and would call Jason by that name, so it naturally became his art name. After first painting his art on walls, which was leading him down a path he didn’t feel aligned with, he switched to learning how to screenprint his work onto T-shirts. He then took a graphic design class at Evergreen Valley College, where he found a lot of support and learned how to translate his ideas into wearable garments. One of his teachers encouraged him to have an art show to display his work, and the shirts he designed for the show ultimately led to the birth of Jubo Clothing.

Salcido

Growing up with an immigrant mother and witnessing his parents’ hard work to provide for their children inspired Jason to work on something that was bigger than himself. He’d learned that anything was possible, and he wanted to create something that was tangible to his experiences. He drew upon these ideas when implementing his designs—like a Nike shoebox inspired by his mom who sold Nike shoes when she moved here from the Philippines. That shoebox was like a doorway that Jason walked through and felt proud of. Like this box, the designs at Jubo Clothing are full of meaningful background stories and represent real lived experiences.

Clothing is very intimate. Art is very intimate. When you visit

Coldwater, the storefront that houses Jubo Clothing, you can sense this intimacy in the careful attention to every corner of the place. Jason’s brothers, Averill and Brian Nemedez, are pillars of the Jubo brand; they create art for Jubo, as well as for their own brands: Big Ave Get Paid and MadeByRila. Together, the three brothers have nurtured Coldwater into a creative space for people to freely express themselves and create inspiring art- works that are part of San Jose’s fashion history. When you’re there, you may run into other creatives also working on their brands—making videos and doing photoshoots. This moment is a glimpse into the world Jubo Clothing has created: a pro- found community aimed at boosting one another up and supporting others’ creative eyes and visual rhythms. There is nothing greater than the beautiful magnetism of coming together to form a shared understanding of defining San Jose culture. When you wear a Jubo piece, you know that you are carrying deeply rooted stories that are part of the Jubo legacy—part of San Jose’s legacy. “I just want to be written in history books in San Jose. Just be known that we made a mark here,” Jason says. Jubo Clothing takes pride in being part of the San Jose fashion scene, pulling inspiration from San Jose’s very own fashion houses like Head-

be known that we made a mark here.”

liners, Breezy Excursion, and Cukui. Jason makes it a point to maintain a connection with local South Bay artists and include them in his inner community so that he, too, can support others who aspire to create clothes professionally. He mentions that looking at cities like New York, Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Francisco makes him think about how San Jose doesn’t get the recognition he believes we deserve since the city has many talented, creative people who are constantly inventing new ways to make art.

“It’s something to be told,” he says. “There is too much talent here for just us to see it, the world has to see it…I know it’s a different kind of style, but I feel like we have our own type of taste here.”

Jubo Clothing could easily be categorized as a mover and shaker in the South Bay. The creativity and effort they bring to their work is inspiring and allows nity to thrive and expand beyond Japantown. This is the beauty of fashion. This is what makes fashion a cultural reflection of traditions, beliefs, and trends prevalent today—a mirror of what it means to be a South Bay Area resident. It encapsulates our values and attitudes as individuals, giving us a sense of belonging. After all, fashion is not merely about buying clothes. It is a complex and dynamic cultural phenomenon that influences and reflects community and individual identity. Jubo Clothing is one of these hubs. C

A Healing Experience SKITTZZ

Braidz

by Skittzz:

Indigenous hair is a significant piece of native culture. It carries so many traditions and stories that have been passed down through generations and is a key to understanding ourselves as spiritual beings. It has the potential to protect us and to even heal us. Tasé Kitten Montaño, Gila River Indian Community, Sacaton, Arizona, who goes by Skittzz, is a professional intricate braider at San Jose’s Faded Barbershop, and she does just that. She connects to the source of her healing energy and shares that energy with other people, through the intricate process of braiding.

The name Skittzz is a nickname from high school, a time when she wore really bright colors and her friends called her “Skittles,” which evolved into “Skittzz.” Skittzz grew up with her mom braiding her hair, but her mom gave her just one braid. She noticed a friend had really cool braids, with lots of different colors and extensions. She went home with her friend to watch her hair get braided and watched Mama Coco box braid her friend’s hair. She paid close attention and then raced home and practiced what she saw on her own hair and on her Barbie’s hair. Eventually, she could do her own hair, feeling about with her fingers and separating her hair with a pencil.

Skittzz was born in LA and has a lot of family there, but her grandma grew up in Sacaton, Arizona. She still has family members in Sacaton and Casa Grande, Arizona, but Skittzz went to college in New Mexico, majoring in criminal justice, because she wanted to help youth in foster care. She grew up in the foster care system until she was thirteen. Then, she dropped out of college, realizing that it wasn’t what she actually wanted to do, and went to cosmetology school, where she learned the fundamentals of scalp care and how to properly braid hair so as not to worsen or give anyone a scalp condition. After a short time in Arizona, she found her way to the

Written and Photographed by Glo Salcido

Faded Barbershop

“ The world is separated enough. Why not bring humanity and love back together? And if I can do that with braiding , then so be it.”

BRAIDZ

Bay Area and got a job at Faded Barbershop, also attending the Barber Academy. Today, she continues to work at Faded Barbershop, where her clientele have grown substantially. When she first started, she knew no one, accepting walk-ins, sometimes only having one client in an eight-hour workday. But as time goes on and word spreads, she has grown popular in the community.

“I don’t like to braid when I’m having a bad day. I don’t like to put that energy into the hair. I believe that our skin holds energy and our body has frequency,” says Skittzz. When she is having a bad day, she notices the difference in the quality of the braids and the client’s experience. Braiding has taught her patience and grounding, and with braiding, she has opened up a spiritual door. Braiding is like a meditation for her; she releases her thoughts and is more open to positive energy. “Sometimes clients come in having a bad day, and by the time they leave, they are completely uplifted,” says Skittzz. By feeling the vibe of her clients, she can then work with them to do the braids. When she’s done with her workday, she reflects back to see what worked to heal and builds her technique to help everyone who sits on her braiding chair.

The most difficult part of being a braider is balance. As an empathic person, Skittzz has to work through a lot of emotions, not only her own, but also from other people. She has found that meditation has been helpful, as well as journaling, to clear up emotional space. Skittzz has allowed herself to be her own competitor. She says, “If I wake up and I’m not better than the day before, then why am I continuing to do this if I can’t make myself better?” This has motivated Skittzz to learn about the braids of different cultures. “You have cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation, but all cultures have some type of braid,” says Skittzz.

She goes on to say that whatever hair you have, she is here to work with it. Skittzz thinks that everyone should experience the feeling of braids. “The world is separated enough. Why not bring humanity and love back together? And if I can do that with braiding, then so be it.” says Skittzz. C

Petra Pino, artistic director of House of Inanna Belly Dance

Petra Pino

C reating a lternative S toryline S

“I’M WEIRDLY OKAY with being in a place where people are not speaking my language. I’m accustomed to being a minority—in culture and language,” says Petra Pino, artistic director of House of Inanna Belly Dance, commenting on her journey that started as an American in Germany. “Everyone should go places where they are a minority. It’s good to understand that your way of being isn’t the only one!”

That journey, which was a turning point in her life, continued to her eventually discovering Middle Eastern, Hellenistic, North African, and Turkish music and dance. The emotional richness of these cultures anchored her even as she fell in love with the improvisational nature of both the dance and music. She shares, “I feel tied to these cultures in a past incarnation.” Finding herself as a dancer has been the most critical and empowering thing she has done for herself. She believes that everything she has accomplished since that time is because she found her dance voice.

Respecting the source and educating herself and others is an important aspect of Petra’s practice. Dance is how she manifests purpose and beauty in her life, in a world that she still feels adrift in at times. “I feel like an immigrant to the US, as so much of my youth was spent elsewhere. I don’t get cultural references, and my lack of exposure to American media set my habit of not really engaging much with it. But it’s also freed me to see things from a different perspective and leaves me prioritizing making art.” And keeping it authentic.

Petra is currently committed to instruction in Ghawazee dance, which is unlike the touristy variety of belly dance and is performed at weddings and other life events in Egypt. Her commitment to preserve and represent the artform authentically shines through in the way she teaches, talks about, and performs it. The emphasis is on technique and aligning with the rhythm, as opposed to just moving the belly and hips.

Petra explodes on stage with this 24-carat quality. She likened her performing approach to society, where we take cues from each other to figure out how to engage. It’s also why she feels passionate about being a part of Mosaic America’s family, for the loving, supporting, and warm environment it offers. Mosaic America’s mission is to activate social cohesion by connecting people to place, history, and each other. She explains, “The concept of a ‘mosaic’ of America resonates with me. We all fit together like a puzzle, where the finished piece is greater, more dimensional, than the individual parts.”

Petra’s yearning for exploration led her to the goddess her troupe is named after. Inanna is an ancient Sumerian, preBabylonian goddess. She is a goddess of the harvest, love, war, sex, the storehouse, heaven, and earth. Petra loves that Inanna made

Written by Priya Das

Photography by Cyntia Apps

“It’s good to understand that your way of being isn’t the only one!”

-Petra Pino

herself. She took the tools of patriarchy from the primary patriarch. Her troupe is working on a dance/ritual/theater piece about the relationship between Inanna and her older sister, Ereshkigal—the queen of the underworld—whom the Hittites called “the Sun of the World.” She explains, “Their relationship is not great, and we want to explore an alternate storyline where that is not the case.”

Exploring alternate storylines is in Petra’s DNA. Her paternal great grandparents immigrated from Spain and Mexico. “It’s sad that they left their former culture behind, assimilating to survive,” Petra reminisces. “My great grandma came from Mexico to escape Pancho Villa and the violence of the Mexican Revolution. My Spanish grandparents indentured themselves on the sugar cane plantations of Hawaii to come to the US.” Petra’s mom’s people came in the 1870s, escaping conscription into the Tzar’s army. She says, “There’s not much in my family that screams dance. I had a great grandmother that did Flamenco, but I know nothing about her. My auntie was a competitive ballroom dancer; my uncle was an amazing guitarist. But I didn’t grow up around any of them. So maybe dance is in my blood.”

Petra has also completed a 200-hour Hatha yoga certification program. She began studying the Bohemian belly dance sword technique a few years ago, and the plan is to go back to the cultural roots of belly dance, as well as take classes in either Maghrebi or Persian dance.

Amidst all these exciting (re)imaginings, when reality bites, Petra relies on her inner grit, following her aunt’s advice that “artists who don’t make art make bad art out of their lives.” She edits her internal editor and lets dance help her come out into the light. It is this aura that shines out on stage and in class, mesmerizing everybody around her. C

RWhen your love language is communication, advocacy is how you feed your people. Rosanna Alvarez provides an extensive menu.

Alvarez osanna

In fourth grade, Rosanna Alvarez once laughed from under her desk as an earthquake shook her classroom and the rest of Eastside San Jose. Her classmates thought she was demented. She didn’t know how to explain that she was nervous and had not actually enjoyed the temblor.

These days, Rosanna expresses herself through all the languages a multifaceted interdisciplinary artist works with. As a painter, dancer, jeweler, and poet, among other things, she has plenty of outlets. But a good giggle opens her pressure valve. “I laugh all the time,” she says, punctuating it with a small but generous chuckle.

Levity helps balance the consulting work Rosanna provides, which often includes navigating sensitive matters for governmental agencies like Santa Clara County Social Services and Executive Offices. She provides support to the people who do the groundwork so that communities can thrive.

In her own life, Rosanna’s mother greatly supported her dreams. It was her mother who helped Rosanna sew the artist’s first set of regalia. “She didn’t know what the hell I was asking her to do, but she was like, ‘Okay. Sure. We’re gonna do this,’ ” Rosanna explains.

Written by Mighty Mike McGee

by Jay Aguilar

Inside iJava cafe, underneath Highway 87 on the edge of Downtown San Jose, Rosanna looks at her phone, obsessing over an Aztec regalia she wants to buy online. She dances with and is a founding member of the Aztec dance group Calpulli Tonalehqueh.

Rosanna credits her mother’s creativity for drawing her to community and adds that her mother would never claim to be artistic. “But then you look at the way she ran her household,” Rosanna adds. From Halloween costumes for Rosanna and her siblings, to countless party favors for baptisms and quinceañeras, her mother was there.

“My mom taught us the art of the glue gun—[she had] so many glue sticks! That is her love language—helping other people,” Rosanna

Photography

“It’s a reminder that if I wanted to show up in bold red lipstick and my big hoops and speak in my eastside twang, that I’m still the same person with the same insights as if I chose to show up in a blazer and the neutral lipstick and the styled hair.”

Rosanna

Alvarez

context con leche the rogue coffee bean finds its way into a tazita de barro swirling in a cup of milk - never mind how much processing it takes to get it that artificially white the milk is not itself either

says. “Folks appreciated the love she put into everything she made,” she adds.

To meet Rosanna is to be met with her big hoop earrings and an ensemble of dark and vivid colors that almost run counter to her stoic nature. She describes herself as a bit of a peacock but exhibits a locked-on-target focus—one that remains engaged as she tells a story while a dozen police cars scream past the cafe. Rosanna finishes her thought, then calmly peers out the window, succumbing to curiosity.

Originally, Rosanna wanted to become a lawyer. After studying political science at Santa Clara University and in grad school, her focus shifted to community and art as she worked in youth development, hopped around non-profit organizations, lectured on Chicano and Chicana studies at San Jos é State University, and co-founded Eastside Magazine

While pregnant with her second daughter, Rosanna’s family lost their house in San Jose during the 2008 market collapse, forcing them to move to Gilroy. Her daughter was born with congenital birth defects, so Rosanna and her husband began advocating for the best medical care they could get. Their daughter is now a teenager and is doing well.

Rosanna’s firstborn recently told Rosanna that she decided not to join MEChA, a high school club that focuses on empowering Latinx students, because other club members made her feel not as Mexican. “I thought I fought that battle!” Rosanna says, and adds, “How can we be less ugly with each other?” She offers her daughters guidance through their own art and teaches them about their deep cultural connections.

Whether she is speaking in front of students, government workers, or employees at Apple, Rosanna brings her authenticity. “I think I show up in a way that encourages people to remember that it’s okay to put aside what might feel like a costume for some of us and to just connect.”

Online she sells T-shirts, one of which reads, “Hocicona eres mas chingona.” This translates to “You’re more badass for being outspoken,” Rosanna explains. Growing up, hocicona meant “Don’t be so outspoken. Don’t have that audacity.” She shares that in reality, “It’s the container for the audacity of certain behaviors women in particular aren’t supposed to have, [like] being outspoken.” She counters that idea by stating, “I am raising hociconas.” Her daughters wear the shirt.

Rosanna adds a final meditation on the word. “It’s a reminder that if I wanted to show up in bold red lipstick and my big hoops and speak in my eastside twang, that I’m still the same person with the same insights as if I chose to show up in a blazer and the neutral lipstick and the styled hair.” When asked what her love language is, Rosanna responds with “gangster rap,” an example of her sense of humor, which she uses to balance the heavier parts of the world.

As an advocate for authenticity, Rosanna seems to be less of a peacock and more like a raven in a purple sweater, armed with a glue gun and voice that will be heard. C

Written by Brandon Roos

Photography by Stan Olszewski

“I HAD A FRIEND say ‘If you think about it, you had decades. There’s the early ’90s Hen Boogie. Then there’s the early 2000s Hen Boogie. Then there’s the 2010 Hen Boogie. Now look at you.’ It’s crazy,” laughs Hen Boogie during an extensive look back at his musical journey, sipping on D’ussé XO inside San Pedro Square Market.

A master of many crafts, a man of many musical lives: beat maker, next-up hip-hop artist, eclectic producer, city council candidate, disc jockey. Despite his deep notoriety in select circles, Hen can still fly under the radar. That’s because fame was never the goal. “I just wanted to be considered an actual contributor,” points out the man otherwise known as Henry Alexander III. Now in his fourth decade of creativity, he has no plans of changing course, adding, “I’m on the route to do it to death.”

Growing up in the ’80s, Hen found a kinship with hip-hop. He began to make beats with whatever gear he could get his hands on. After numerous music projects with friends, he left his group Loaded Wax on the eve of signing a production deal. He was more interested in working with a rapper he’d recently met named Iz. In time, the rap duo the Dereliks was born.

The group (still active, in case you were wondering) is revered in San Jose hip-hop lore, though their career trajectory is a bit more complicated. After three demos and plenty of buzz, they independently released A Turn on the Wheel is Worth More Than a Record Deal in 1995. Now a sought-after collector’s item, the album is cherished by fans who recall the Dereliks’ ascent. But despite opening for every headliner that came through San Jose and appearing twice on the world-famous Wake Up Show, their meticulously crafted album didn’t help them level up. The two took a hiatus, unsure of their next move.

Hen’s creativity took new turns in the subsequent years. He returned to DJ’ing, finding a home as a resident at Fuel 44 at the turn of the new millennium. In 2005, he released the mixtape Nobody Beats the Boog, followed by his solo debut, A Happy Present from the Planet Earth, in 2007. It was the first time he was ever paid for his music, and he took the opportunity to showcase what he was capable of. The album, while grounded in Hen’s hip-hop sensibility, sprinkles in jazzy flair, world-influenced percussion, and acid jazz textures. Music Muzik Musique, Vol. 3.0 of 2020 shows he’s still been crafting beats.

“I love that I love both, because I can take a break and not feel like I’m not doing nothing,” he says of his dual creative outlets. “By making beats, you develop an internal metronome, which makes you better as a DJ. And as a DJ, you start seeing how people move and why they move. It makes you better as a producer.”

He’s never been a full-time creative, and to him that’s been an asset. “It gives me a certain freedom,” he says. “I know that there’s people who are 100 percent creators, and I respect that. But for me, I never wanted to feel like I had to do it. I think it waters down the intention.” That intention guided his choice to pitch a summer se -

“By making beats, you develop an internal metronome, which makes you better as a DJ. And as a DJ, you start seeing how people move and why they move. It makes you better as a producer.”

-Henry Alexander III

ries on the patio of downtown San Jose’s the Continental in 2022. Billed All Vinyl Therapy, the night showcased DJ Hen Boogie on his own terms. While the billing wasn’t his choice, he acknowledges that the audience he built started to seek out the night as a release.

“When I DJ, I say this basic prayer, which is ‘Let me touch somebody,’ ” he explains, noting the responsibility of a DJ to wield their influence wisely. “I can guide the night to where people are acting real rowdy, and that’s a heavy responsibility. People are going crazy, so you think you’re doing a good job. But are you? I have the ability to give people not only what they want but what they kind of need. Once you have that, all of a sudden you’re looking around. Other people are feeling it too, [and] you don’t feel alone anymore. That’s the community.”

Most recently, he’s found a way to share several of his beats that were taking up space on his hard drives. Under the name Institute for Cognitive Baby Development, Hen has started releasing instrumental projects intended for babies in the womb. As directed via Spotify: “For best results, place headphones on your tummy and play daily while relaxing.”

It may be a surprising turn for some, but he quit caring about those perceptions years ago. As Hen likes to say, he’s just the messenger, not the message. A YouTube video of his remix of Indeep’s post-disco classic “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life” in 2009 commemorates that change in mindset, with him declaring, “I have finally gotten to a place where I can just have fun with music again.”

“I finally accepted that fact that I don’t care what you remember me as, because I’m in charge of what my story is,” he says. C

Ripplings is a math rock band based in the South Bay. Anna Macan, Sean Bautista, and Jeremiah Ruperto make up the collective. The three have been part of other band projects in the past, but as Ripplings, these three represent a style that may not be known to mainstream audiences. Math rock, as described by Ripplings guitarist Anna Macan, is “very intricate guitar melodies, mostly finger style with different time signatures.” The different time signatures are what inherently term it “math rock,” because the band has to count off different time signatures to make a full song. “We’ll play whatever is cool at the time to us and count the time signature after. It’s whatever feels right,” says bassist Sean Bautista. It’s a genre that has been described as jazz infused with rock chords and instrumentation. This fusion of styles is what gives the Ripplings a cinematic sound.

Sean, Anna, and drummer Jeremiah all went to Milpitas High School. Sean and Jeremiah attended the same South Bay music school, so by the time Ripplings formed, these three musicians already had a friendship and some history playing together. Anna had some riffs and ideas that she presented to Sean, and from there, they kept bouncing ideas back and forth until they knew what direction they wanted their band project to go. Once Jeremiah was added to the fold, the concept of Ripplings was complete. From there, they started recording songs and performing all over the Bay Area, including performing with Ian Santillano.

“Hearingthesongscometogether is my favorite.” - Jeremiah Ruperto

Written by Troy Ewers

Photography by Lauren Locquiao

Instagram ripplingsband

“It just so happens we’re Filipino, and we make math rock.”

- Sean Bautista

Ripplings’s latest EP, Ad Astra, is a great example of the evocative nature of their musical style. Anna says these songs are “based on emotions and stories in [her] head.” For example, in the song “Space Queen,” Anna envisions a space queen going from coronation to becoming a villain, and the song is the soundtrack to the story. The EP itself was inspired by her manager’s birds. “The birds would make sounds when we’d be on Zoom, and I heard it as chords. I started making beats and told my manager to send me a voice note of the birds,” Anna explains. From there, Anna, who hadn’t picked up her guitar in a while, made guitar riffs over the beats, based on what she heard from the birds. Anna explained how this song “came from a place of loneliness, but a feeling that everything will get better.” With such inspiring music, people might assume that their process is extremely meticulous; instead, it’s very simple. These bandmates have known each other and their individual music styles for years. “Anna usually starts writing riffs that sound like full song ideas, and I’ll begin doing a drum pattern in my studio, but I’ll do it how I think Jeremiah would do it.” Sean says, with Jeremiah adding a laugh, “He does it exactly like I would do it.” After ideas are shared, they record at MushMan Music in Willow Glen.

Of the three stages of creating music, all agree that the writing stage is their favorite. “Hearing the songs come together is my favorite,” says Jeremiah. After the writing stage, they love performing at shows, then recording. “I’m such a perfectionist, but at live shows we get to connect with people, and I love connecting with people,” Anna says. But even though these three have been performing for over a decade—since high school—Anna still gets stage fright. “I still get stage fright and anxiety, like I get in my bubble…” But Jeremiah politely cuts her off and says, “Then she shreds it!” Out of the many shows Ripplings have done, Art Boutiki, when they opened for Ian Santillano, and San Jose Day Festival, when they performed after the electrifying Kid Lords, are their favorite shows. Their live shows feel like jam sessions all can appreciate.

Ripplings members have gained a lot of knowledge from many people over their young careers, but only a few are credited with providing opportunities that got them to this point. One of their mentors is Joe Santoro, who was their music director in music school. He taught them how to set up a stage, taught Jeremiah how to drum, and according to Sean, taught them how to play as a band. They also credit Ian Santillano and Astralogic, a Filipino queer math project that Anna also performs with, for giving them opportunities when they felt like a weird genre. Being Filipino, Ripplings feels they are lucky to see a lot of fellow representation in Bay Area music, even if it’s not just math rock. “It just so happens we’re Filipino, and we make math rock,” Sean says with a smile.

Currently, Ripplings band members are starting to record their next EP, Baja Blast. While they find the time in between their busy schedules to record, they are excited to showcase more of Ripplings music to their audience. When asked what a dream gig for them would be, Jeremiah shouted, “A mosh pit at the Ritz or the Catalyst.” All laughed and agreed.

Ripplings makes music that would be studied within a university’s music department. To some it’s a complex style, but no matter how complicated the style and structure may appear, Ripplings make you feel like you grew up with math rock. Ripplings paints pictures with sound and solves equations with chords. Ad Astra isn’t just a project based on bird sounds that Anna heard in her manager’s Zoom, it’s the soundtrack that can make a listener who is feeling alone see that everything will be okay. C

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.

RAH RILEY

Rah is an award-winning creative director, climate activist, and ecofeminist. Profiled by CONTENT MAGAZINE in 2018, she is based in San Jose and now occasionally writes about the people and places shaping the South Bay.

Instagram: rahriley

VIRGINIA GRAHAM

Virginia, a San Jose native, founded the “The Right Edit.” She works in communications and in the startup world and loves to dance bachata.

Tik Tok: the.right.edit

BRANDON ROOS

Brandon is a writer and DJ native to San Jose’s Berryessa neighborhood. His favorite pastime is hate-watching the San Jose Earthquakes.

Instagram: brandiathan

JASON LEUNG

Jason is a self-taught Bay Area–based photographer and videographer with a passion for food. He enjoys revisiting old places, discovering and exploring new ones.

Instagram: xninjason

NATHAN ZANON

Nathan is a quiet San Jose observer who supports creative artists, weird cinema, vegetarian food, revolutionary politics, and monochromatic cats.

Instagram: nathanzzzzzzz

SANA CHIANG

Sana is a Bay Area-based multimedia artist/ designer. She enjoys making and listening to electronic music in her free time.

Instagram: the.akita_

JAY AGUILAR

Jay is a Polaroid/Instant film photographer from the South Bay. He is also the founder of the SJ Photowalk.

Instagram: thepolaroidjay

BREE KARPAVAGE

Bree is a collage artist, writer and the director of First Friday Santa Cruz. She works with artists to support their artistic talents and goals, coordinating community events, storytelling and making connections through art.

Instagram: bree.karpavage

Julia Haft-Candell

The Infinite Library

Ever evolving, Haft-Candell’s The Infinite references an alternative universe complete with its own values, ideology, and visual language. These ideas are embedded in the exhibition’s four components: an expansive installation of ceramic work; text-based drawings and stop-motion animation; documentation of her experimental art school, The Infinite School; and an alternative, participatory library with shelving that doubles as seating stocked with books selected by over seventy artists.

+ Inaugural Project Room Exhibition: Joanna Keane Lopez

The Project Room series is organized by Ennis, Baines, & Sicat

Exhibitions: October 2 - December 8, 2024

Reception: Thursday, October 3, 4:30-6 p.m. www.scu.edu/desaisset Free admission

The Infinite Library is curated by Ciara Ennis, Director, de Saisset Museum. The exhibition was organized by Pitzer College Art Galleries in 2023, and has been expanded at the de Saisset. Photo by Brica Wilcox.

Congratulations SVCreates 2024 Operating Grantees!

You are the foundation on which our arts community thrives.

1202 Contemporary

6th Street Studios and Art Center

Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose

Aimusic.us

Alliance for Youth Achievement

Art Docents of Los Gatos

Art Forum SF

Arthouse Studio

Bach-Millennium Music

Calpulli Tonalehqueh

Cambodian American Resource Agency

Cantabile Youth Singers

Cashion Cultural Legacy

Chinese Performing Arts of America

Chopsticks Alley Art

City Lights Theater Company of San Jose

Contemporary Asian Theater Scene

Cupertino-Toyokawa Sister Cities Committee de Saisset Museum

Eritrean Community Center of Santa Clara

Friends of Levitt Pavilion San Jose

Golden State Youth Orchestra

Institute of Contemporary Art San José

Japanese American Museum of San Jose

Kaisahan of San Jose Dance Company

Local Color

Los Gatos Museum Association

Luna Park Arts Foundation

MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana

Mission Chamber Orchestra of San Jose

Mosaic America

Nova Vista Symphony

Opera Cultura

Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra

Palo Alto Players

Peninsula Cantare

Peninsula Women’s Chorus

Playful People Productions

Thank you!

Poetry Center San Jose

Rainbow Women’s Chorus

Red Ladder Theatre Company

Resounding Achord Productions

Russian House Kedry

Sampaguita Press

San Jose Chamber Music Society

San José Chamber Orchestra

San Jose Downtown Foundation

San Jose Metropolitan Band

San Jose Multicultural Artists Guild

San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles

San Jose Stage Company

San Jose Symphonic Choir

San Jose Taiko

San Jose Youth Symphony

Santa Clara Chorale

School of Visual Philosophy

Silicon Valley African Film Festival

Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus

Silicon Valley Pride

Silicon Valley Shakespeare

sjDANCEco

South Bay Guitar Society

South Bay Musical Theatre

South Valley Civic Theatre

Sunnyvale Community Players

Teatro Nahual

Teatro Visión

Terrible Adult Chamber Orchestra

The Audacity Performing Arts Project

The Bay Area Glass Institute

The Pear Theatre

Triton Museum of Art

Vivace Youth Chorus of San Jose

Voices of Silicon Valley

Works/San José

Immersive Video Mapping Experience

and Moon Festival Celebration

September 6 - December 15, 2024

Opening Reception: Friday, September 6, 2024 | 5 - 9 PM

Chopsticks Alley Art presents Under One Moon, an immersive experience celebrating the traditions of the Mid-Autumn Festival. This unique blend of contemporary visuals, poetry, and music highlights the moon's significance among various cultures and histories. Featured artists include Illuminate SJ Now!!!, Cynthia Cao, Sabrina Kwong, and Robin Lasser, with an original score by Troy Truong.

Friday, September, 6, 2024

Opening Reception: 5 - 9 pm

Lion Dances and Performances: 7 pm FREE LANTERNS!

Exhibition Dates

September 6 - December 15, 2024

Chopsticks Alley Art Gallery

Open San Jose

38 S. 2nd Street San Jose, CA 95113

Gallery Hours

Saturdays & Sundays 12 – 4 pm

First Fridays ArtWalk SJ 5 – 9 pm

Partially funded by:

Partners:

RSVP: moon24.eventbrite.com

ChopsticksAlleyArt.org

very good presets.