Content Magazine

Cilker Art & Design Interior Design Student: Sienna Hopper @only_irose Digital Media/Animation Sienna is a queer artist who found graphic design during a time in her life when she felt isolated from the world. Having dealt with social anxiety for a large portion of her upbringing, Sienna had trouble fully communicating her thoughts and feelings. She knew what she wanted to say, but vocalizing...

British artist and photographer Marcus Lyon has been in the South Bay with his team, Camila Pastorelli, and Joe Briggs-Price, working on the next edition of A Human Atlas. Previous projects include Somos Brasil (2016), WE: deutschland (2018), and i. Detroit (2020), with this next version, titled De. Coded (launching 2023). This version will explore 101 remarkable change-makers of Silicon Valley. E...

Interior Design: Orit Avinoon-Metz A graduating interior design student from West Valley College, Orit Avinoon-Metz brings her native Israeli roots to her California-inspired designs. She finds inspiration in her memories of her homeland, whether of the unique spring wildflowers or the color schemes that combine the Mediterranean Sea with a desert landscape. She incorporates this inspiration into...

Featured in issue 14.3 Cilker School of Art and Design Student  @wvccilkersoad Artist: Sarah Kissinger @sadnspicy_ Sarah has always been interested in creating pieces using solid colors and strong shapes to create images with a clear focus. She loves jumping between different media and inspirations to create pieces that are thought provoking and enjoyable to look at. She believes art should n...

Featured: 2022 Content Emerging Artist – Kiana Honarmand @kianahonarmand (https://instagram.com/kianahonarmand) Kiana Honarmand  is the last of three 2022 Content Emerging Artists, receiving $5,000 to continue the development of her art form in addition to being recognized for her unique artistic vibrancy. Originally from Iran, Honarmand moved to the U.S. in 2012 to attend graduate school in...

Featured in issue 14.3 - Kate Kanemura @k.squared_art - Animation/Illustration  Kate has always loved creating art, using whatever materials she could get her hands on. She enjoys planning different creative concepts and talking with her friends about her creative ideas. Kate has used numerous artistic mediums, from traditional graphite pencil and charcoal to ceramics and digital media. She s...

Featured in issue 13.4 "Profiles"   (See more video on the Contentmag Vimeo page ) Low Conspiracy Car Club @lowconspiracyc c   East San Jose was arguably the hub of the lowrider golden age during the late ’70s and through the ’80s, despite its LA roots—a period Abel refers to as the “King and Story Days.”   Cruising acted as a night club on wheels, as much a social staple...

Chelsea Stewart is one of three recipients of the Content Emerging artist Award for 2022.   “I want to make something that reflects my own personal experience, using these elements to say more about my life. I wasn’t sure how to express it because the topic of mental health is so delicate, similar to papermaking materials. But when the delicate fibers interlock, you create a strong piece of p...

Jezrael Gandara’s work straddles the line between documentary and art, encouraging his subjects to communicate their feelings. “There are parts of San Jose that remind me of El Paso, and it makes it feel like home. I hope my work can make an impact within the community by helping share its stories.” trnscnd.org Instagram: jezgand Written by   Alyssarhaye Graciano @alyssarhaye Photography by D...

#80 Scott Knies - CEO San Jose Downtown Association Scott has been at the helm of the San Jose Downtown Association since 1988 and has been the foundation's only executive director. Starting as founder and owner of the Fencing Center in 1981, Scott's career changed as he and other business owners looked to represent the needs of downtown businesses and the Downtown community experience. Under his...

Bassist and composer Nick Panoutsos' (who was a Content intern before he went off to NYC in 2016) released his first solo album Monos. The Greek word for "alone" (μόνος), the album is a meditation on the isolation of 2020's pandemic lockdown. The album reflects on Nick's Greek heritage and fond memories of growing up in San Jose, CA, and the nearby Santa Cruz mountains. In our conversation, we tal...

Mattie Scariot became Director of PJIFF in 2018 and grew the festival to an 8-day regional festival including Morgan Hill, San Martin, Gilroy, Hollister, and San Juan Bautista.  In our conversation, Mattie explains her vision for the festival, focusing on diverse, inclusive, and women empowering films and seven educational programs. We talk about her journey to be the director and some of the...

#77 - Amanda Rawson- Project Manager and  Researcher Director for Art Builds Community Amanda Rawson has participated in the cultural art sector for more than eight years. Previously, Amanda worked as the Major Gifts Officer for the San Jose Museum of Art and the Donor and External Relations Manager at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles. Rawson's background in art history, developme...

A mixed-media artist and arts educator Corinne Okada Takara was also one of the artists selected for the City of San Jose's the first Creative License Ambassador in the program in 2019.  Corinne composes technology-integrated projects and crafts sculptural work out of elegant yet mundane materials, like silk, food wrappers, newspapers, and plastic produce netting.  In our conversation we...

Episode #75 -  Gensler Designers Corinda Wong and Brian Corbett This episode of the Content magazine podcast is a little bit different. I conducted the full audio interview with Corinda Wang and Brian Corbett of Gensler about the Los Altos State Street Market project. Corinda is the design director and senior associate, and Brian is the studio director.  Los Altos community investments l...

Episode #74 - Donny Foley - Illustrator and Gallery Manager for the Pacific Art League Palo Alto Donny Foley is currently the gallery manager for the Pacific Arts League in Palo Alto. Donny has also created his own illustrated characters, Donbon, Bert the cat, and Skunk-Truck, who live and make mischief in the Donbon Universe. Though he has slowed the creation of these comics during the pandemic,...

Episode #73 More Más Marami Arts - Cofounders Marissa Martinez and Matt Casey In this episode, we speak with Marissa Martinez and Matt Casey, cofounders of More Más Marami Arts. Marissa is a playwright and a creative writer, and Matt is a theatre producer and organizer. More Más Marami Arts formed in 2019 as a collective of artists united by our faith in the power of theatre to bring people togeth...

#72 - Suzanne St. John-Crane - ALF Suzanne St. John-Crane joined the American Leadership Forum (ALF) in March of 2016. She has worked in community media for the last 24 years, serving as the founding executive director for two community television stations in the Bay Area, including CreaTV San José. In addition to her leadership and influence in local media, Suzanne is also a talented blues s...

#71- Rebecca Herman and Mark Shoffner Rebecca Herman and Mark Shoffner have been artistic collaborators since 1999, creating sculptures and installations incorporating textiles, wood, bamboo, paper, and reclaimed materials. Their recent work draws on art and architecture from different cultures to create new interaction sites and refuge in contemporary society, and can be seen at the San Jose Muse...

#70 - Brandon Roos - Arts Journalist, DJ, and  Content Magazine  Contributing Writer Brandon has been a contributing writer for  Content Magazine  since our second year of publishing in 2013. In addition to  Content , Brandon has written for  Metro Silicon Valley  and San José Jazz. In our conversation, we talk about his love of words and music and how they have...

#69 - Conrad Egyir Conrad is a Ghanaian artist based in Detroit, working in figurative narratives of the African Diaspora. His work blends religious and West African folk iconography within domestic scenes, portraying  a deep understanding of the history of portraiture. He utilizes shaped canvases and relief elements to reference stamps and postcards as metaphors for migration; journals, book...

Danny Thien Le , known by many in downtown San José as "Dandiggity," has been a key figure in the local art and cultural scene where he is known for his poetry, event planning, arts and music advocacy, and fashion entrepreneurship. He has collaborated with Universal Grammar, Cukui Clothing, The APIA Spoken Word & Poetry Summit, and POW! WOW! San José, and most recently has taken on a librarian...

My-Linh Le now describes herself as a Multidisciplinary Storyteller as she has moved from being an environmental lawyer to freestyle dancer, choreographer, and director of a forthcoming film, Mudwater . The film is an adaptation of the turf dance project she started and developed known as Mud Water Theatre. In our conversation, we discuss how My-Linh's artist's expression and leanings have moved h...

#66 - Scott Fulton - Special Project Manager San Jose Jazz Scott Fulton began with San Jose Jazz 2013 to oversee the Summer Fest performing artists' transpiration, getting them pick-up from the airport, taking them to hotels, and getting to their performances. Since then, his role has expanded to include helping write grants, managing the high school all-star big band and the U-19 combo, and organ...

#65 - SoFA Pocket Park - Veggielution The San Jose Downtown Association approached Veggielution to be a part of a temporary (approx. 3yr+) revitalization project at an underutilized parking lot in the SoFA District (South First Area). With funding from the Knight Foundation, Google, Urban Community, and with the property owner's support, the space has been transformed during COVID-19 #SIP into a d...