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show the immigrant experience
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and is produced by teenagers about
teenagers who are immigrants or
come from immigrant families.
“Becoming American in San
Jose,” presented by History San
Jose,is on display through June 29 at
the Pacific Hotel Gallery in History
Park,1650 Senter Road,San Jose.
Visit us at www.clickaway.com This exhibit was inspired by
Barbara Beirne’s traveling Smith-
Sunnyvale Campbell Los Altos sonian exhibit,“Becoming Amer-
ican:Teenagers & Immigration,”
408.732.4500 408.626.9400 650.964.9500 which recently made a stop at His-
472 E. El Camino Real 457 E. McGlincy Lane 4916 El Camino Real
tory Park.
Close to Fair Oaks Close to the Pruneyard By the Boardwalk restaurant
Students from six local high
We also have a store in Santa Cruz! schools took part in “Becoming
American in San Jose,”contributing
a total of 59 photographs. Partici-
pants were asked to photograph a
friend or classmate who is an immi-
A Mountain grant or a first-generation Ameri-
can,and provide a short essay writ-
ten by themselves or their subject.
View tradition The essays have a youthful feel
that captures the teenage mindset.
since 1956! One gets the sense that these
young men and women are open
books, with unlimited futures,
Steak • Seafood • Pasta hopes and dreams.Adapting to a
new culture, however, is not with-
out its hardships.
Famous for our
Hand Tossed Pizza!
• Lunch Clayden
15
% Award in 1995.
• Dinner
• Cocktails
off Continued from page 1 of section
“To Go” den says.
Adding to the desirability of her
Food only with coupon garments is the fact that produc-
Not valid with any other offers or with daily tion of Clayden’s pieces has
always been on a small scale,keep-
Dinner Specials. Not valid on holidays or
ing an emphasis on craftsmanship.
Party Trays To Go! Expires 3/28/08
Certainly, complex and unique
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artistic processes have been used
to create each Clayden design,but
Open Daily! the key concept intended for its
wearer is simple, “I want her to
feel wonderful. I want her to feel
special. I want her to feel beauti-
ful,” Marian Clayden says.
In the late ’90s,Clayden showed
her collections at Bryant Park dur-
ing New York’s Fashion Week and
was selling clothing at such high-
939 W. El Camino Real • (650) 967-5384 • www.fjlmountainview.com end retailers as Neiman Marcus
24 | Steppin’ Out | March 12, 2008
Sarah Puckitt,curator of art and
photography at History San Jose,
says the exhibit is special because of
the connection in age between the
photographers and their subjects.
She also sees similar themes in the
challenges posed to teenagers
adapting to American culture.
“Even though they’re cultural-
ly different, there’s a universal
similarity in the situations these
teens face in becoming Ameri-
can,” Puckitt says. “You have to
learn a new language, overcome
certain prejudices and balance
home life with school.”
Sanjin Mehic, 16, came to the
United States from Bosnia when
he was 4.“One of the most difficult
things to adjust to when we moved
here was the language,” he writes.
“I had to first learn it myself and
then help teach it to my parents.”
Some photos are in color;others
are black and white. A few are
taken in a studio,while many show
students in their everyday lives; a
couple are self-portraits.
Schools participating in the exhib-
it are: Andrew Hill High School,
Downtown College Prep, Notre
Dame High School, Oak Grove
High School,Overfelt High School
and Santa Teresa High School.
Supplementing the exhibit are
statistics about ethnic diversity in
Santa Clara County, as well as the
schools involved in the exhibit.For
example, at Santa Teresa High
School,28.9 percent of the student
body is Hispanic; 14.7 percent is
and Saks Fifth Avenue. Clayden
won the Absolut Golden Shears
After designing collections
until about 2005, Clayden shifted
her focus to accessories and creat-
ed a line that includes jackets,hats,
scarves and belts.
“I think her success has proved
inspirational to a lot of other fiber
artists,” Leventon says. “She has
proven that you can do it, you can
maintain your integrity as an artist
and you can be very successful and
I think that has been hugely inspi-
rational.”
In fact, she notes, Clayden was
one of the first to make wearable
art truly wearable.
As Roger Clayden says,“She’s
taking art to another level and
putting it into fashion.”
Museum admission is $5-$6.50.
Fashion show/tea tickets are $60.
Asian.
“Becoming American in San
Jose”features photos of teens who
came to the U.S.from:China,Viet-
nam, England, Lebanon, India,
Mexico, El Salvador, Argentina,
Iran, Japan, New Zealand, the
Philippines, Russia, Somalia, Sri
Lanka, Guatemala, Spain and
Bosnia. Some of the teens share
their first thoughts of America.
“My first impression was that it
was so big that I might get lost,”wrote
Marianel Enriquez,17,who was pho-
tographed by Carlota Merino.
Security, opportunity and free-
dom are the driving forces the stu-
dents cite most often as the reason
their families chose to come to
America.
Though alienation, rebellion
and angst often go with the terri-
tory of being an American teenag-
er,the exhibit’s overall message is
one of hope. Yoonji Park, 17,
writes,“School is a struggle, but I
am learning to take it day by day.I
hope to become a fashion design-
er in the future.”
Puckitt says the exhibit has been
very successful, and the museum
will likely bring it or a similar pho-
tography display back in a couple
of years. “You come away with a
sense of pride for being an Ameri-
can—what it means to them—and
should mean to all of us,” Puckitt
says of the exhibit.
Admission is free. For more
information, call 408.287.2290 or
visit www.historysanjose.org.
For more information, call
408.197.0323 or visit www.sjquilt
museum.org.
STEPPIN’ OUT STAFF
Editor
Dale Bryant
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Arts Coverage
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Mary Gottschalk
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