Artists innovate ways to tell stories of Santa Clara County women

When the Womanhood Project launched its first effort in 2022, it created a model for creatively honoring and sharing the stories of women in Santa Clara County. The newest part of that effort, “A Journey Through Womanhood,” features 20 augmented reality artworks created by women that honor other women.

The work will be featured on markers that eventually will be rolled out at locations around Santa Clara County, with the augmented reality elements viewable through a smartphone-based app. People got to try out the technology at a reception held March 20 to celebrate the project and mark Women’s History Month.

The women honored — representing science and space, art, social justice, sports and tech — included writer Iris Chang, open space advocate Artemas Ginzton, postal worker and activist Inez Jackson, software engineer Nomi Trapnell, Chinese Performing Artists of America Co-Founder Ann Woo and Olympic athlete Margaret Jenkins. You can tell that the artists chosen to realize the project, including Kathy Aoki, Kiana Honarmand and Arlene Biala, made real connections with the lives of their subjects.

It’s an amazing project that continues to tell the stories of women who have made a difference in the county, but it’s also just the tip of the iceberg. When the Womanhood initiative was started by Santa Clara County’s Office of Women’s Policy in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, its team identified 200 women from Santa Clara County to honor — and this wayfinding marker project was planned to recognize 100 of them, not just 20.

The frustrating reason is that the Womanhood project was never really funded as it was planned to be, and the pilot projects it has done — including banners in East San Jose created by artist Ruby Morales and a documentary on cannery workers made by Tricia Creason-Valencia — have been the result of strenuous fundraising campaigns.

Former San Jose Public Art Director Barbara Goldstein appeared before the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors this month to accept a commendation for Womanhood. She was joined by Amanda Rawson and Quynh-Mai Nguyen — her partners in the women-led consulting group Art Builds Community — and the Womanhood project’s advisory committee chairs, former Santa Clara County Supervisor Dianne McKenna and Packard Foundation Program Officer Tamara Alvarado.

Goldstein said the group would continue to raise money to produce the last 80 markers and expressed her hope the county would be part of the effort.

“Although we’ve finished this phase of the project and we understand that the county is in financial straits given the situation in the country, it is our plan to go forward with the project,” Goldstein said. “We would love to see the county prioritize placemaking artwork in some of the parks and buildings it goes forward with.”

Find out more about the initiative and the women honored at www.womanhoodproject.org.

BON VOYAGE: The Three Sisters Hall at San Pedro Square Market was the place to be this week — if you were leaving. The bar area at the popular downtown San Jose food hall was the site of two separate retirement parties this week for Nanci Klein, San Jose’s director of economic development and cultural affairs, and Deputy City Manager Kip Harkness.

Klein spent 29 years with the city of San Jose, most recently leading the city’s efforts to encourage business development, juggling various cultural events and managing building projects (including San Pedro Square Market). Harkness, meanwhile, put in 25 years with the city, earning a hallowed reputation as a facilitator while also being a major player in the success of the Strong Neighborhoods Initiative. It sounds like travel is the immediate future for both of them, but that should come as no surprise after spending a combined 54 years focused on San Jose.

DECADE OF GROWTH: It might seem a bit odd to have a birthday party for a sign, but plenty of people showed up Thursday to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the installation of the gateway arch to San Jose’s Little Italy at the intersection of West Julian Street and North Almaden Boulevard. It makes sense, too; Little Italy has grown dramatically in the past decade, with the addition of Poor House Bistro, the Littlest Little Italy food hall, the Little Wine House and the Museum and Cultural Center joining some of the originals like Paesano Ristorante and Henry’s Hi-Life.

Among the well-wishers were San Jose Councilman Michael Mulcahy, Helen Marchese Owen, Frank Sunseri, Little Italy San Jose President Joshua DiVincenzi Melander and Paesano Ristorante owner Pino Spatola.

THE RIGHT SHAPE: A good-sized crowd of movers and shakers braved a light rain — and sipped good champagne — Thursday at the ribbon-cutting and grand opening celebration for The Pressroom, the new restaurant and lounge at the corner of East Santa Clara Street and Almaden Avenue. Decades and decades ago, that location was home to the Times-Mercury newspaper, one of the forerunners to today’s Mercury News.

Nate LeBlanc, the business development manager for the San Jose Downtown Association, pointed out the most overlooked benefit of having a destination restaurant on that corner: It makes San Pedro Square a completed square now.

STAMP OF APPROVAL: The U.S. Postal Service may be in some trouble, but at least the workers still have a sense of humor. Lina Broydo saw a sign on the door of the post office on Miramonte Street in Los Altos that read: “Due to safe malfunction, we have no stamps. They are safe in the safe.” I guess it’s a good thing that they’re “forever” stamps.