{"id":3726,"date":"2026-07-04T13:36:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T13:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3726"},"modified":"2026-07-04T13:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T13:36:27","slug":"digital-artist-rhonda-holberton-working-to-keep-women-in-the-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3726","title":{"rendered":"Digital artist Rhonda Holberton working to keep women in the picture"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cMotherboards,\u201d an exhibition on display at the San Jose Museum of Art, has a number of thought-provoking pieces that explore the often-overlooked role women have played in technology.<\/p>\n

Read more One dead, another injured in Bay Point shooting Friday morning<\/a><\/p>\n

But one of the pieces that literally stands out \u2014 its placed in the middle of the gallery floor \u2014 is \u201cCollateral Influences\u201d by digital artist Rhonda Holberton, an associate professor of digital media at San Jose State.<\/p>\n

Holberton\u2019s piece is a a 3D-printed representation of a plum tree in an aluminum frame, on which a digital replica of the tree\u2019s branches are shown on a screen. At first it looks like an old-fashioned fluoroscope, until you notice something moving along the digital \u201cbranches.\u201d They look like ants, but it is actually a representation of Ada Lovelace\u2019s 1843 computer algorithm, Note G, made for Charles Babbage\u2019s hypothetical \u201canalytical engine\u201d \u2014 and early computer that wasn\u2019t built.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking about the way technology has shifted. The idea that there\u2019s this digital signal that\u2019s being represented as this organic phenomenon was perfect for this project,\u201d Holberton said, drawing a line from missionaries planting orchards to the rise of tech companies into the valley in the 1970s where those orchards used to be.<\/p>\n

Holberton also has been working to save digital art \u2014 some of which was created in formats that are no longer readable by current technology \u2014 by \u201creauthoring\u201d it into forms that can be preserved.<\/p>\n

\u201cFemale artists working with technology were disappearing from art history because of the challenges associated with exhibiting and preserving their work,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re being written out in art history and the story of technological development. And that\u2019s the backbone of both the exhibition and the work that I produced for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMotherboards,\u201d which features the work of 16 artists, is on display through Jan. 10, 2027.<\/p>\n

But that wasn\u2019t the end of Holberton\u2019s good year. This spring, she was announced as one of five artists nationwide who was awarded a Knight Arts + Tech fellowship this year, an award she says is life-changing.<\/p>\n

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One of the others, Miguel Novelo, is also an interdisciplinary artist and researcher at San Jose State who has a show,\u00a0 \u201cInframundo,\u201d running at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art through Aug. 23. Novelo attended the San Francisco Art Institute and received his MFA from Stanford before Holberton recruited him to San Jose State.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he would be great with our students,\u201d she said. \u201cThe fact that he was the other awardee in San Jose felt so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

COMMEMORATING THE DECLARATION:<\/strong> All the big brouhaha for the United States\u2019 250th birthday wrapped up on July 4, right? Not so fast.<\/p>\n

Read more Back in action: Bay FC aims to turnaround season after World Cup break<\/a><\/p>\n

The Los Altos Daughters of the American Revolution have a special event planned for this Wednesday \u2014 July 8, which is the date in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was first read aloud. At 2:45 p.m. in Veterans Community Plaza, Los Altos and Los Altos Hill residents will commemorate that moment, joining cities in all 50 states, territories and Washington D.C. for a simultaneous reading.<\/p>\n

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Los Altos Mayor Sally Meadows, Los Altos Hills Mayor Rajiv Bhateja and other local community leaders will each read a section of the Declaration of Independence. Attendees are invited to bring a flag or wear patriotic colors at the event on the corner of State and Main streets.<\/p>\n

CULTURAL REUNION:<\/strong> Lots of us have enjoyed Cirque du Soleil shows in San Jose over the years, but James Reber \u2014 founder of the San Jose Rep and a longtime San Jose event producer \u2014 had a recent reunion with the guy who made it happen.<\/p>\n

In 1990, Reber was producing a 17-day arts extravaganza called the New World Festival, and around that time the City of San Jose was approached by the Cirque du Soleil about potentially coming to the city on its next tour. City officials didn\u2019t know what to make of it, so they sent Cirque\u2019s guy, Louis Landry, to Reber, thinking maybe Cirque would be part of the festival.<\/p>\n

Of course, a Cirque production is a standalone venture, but Reber put him in front of the right people at City Hall to finally secure a deal a few months later for the show, \u201cNouvelle Exp\u00e9rience.\u201d \u201cThe rest is history,\u201d Reber said. \u201cCirque du Soleil has performed in San Jose steadily since that 1990 launch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reber and Landy lost touch but got in contact again about 15 years ago, and Reber was able to see him on his recent trip to Quebec City. \u201cWe had not seen each other for 35 years, but the friendship remains and it was great to re-connect after all these years,\u201d he said. \u201cWe bonded during that 1990 effort to bring the Cirque to San Jose.<\/p>\n

A READING CHAMPION<\/strong>: I couldn\u2019t let this week go by without acknowledging the retirement this week of San Jose resident Farrell Podgorsek. She was the librarian for 23 years at Horace Mann Elementary School in downtown San Jose and at Hacienda Science Magnet for a few years before that. I first met her not long after I took over this column in 2005 when she recruited me as one of the community leaders to take part in a Hispanic Heritage Month read-in at Horace Mann, and I\u2019ve always thought of her as a champion of the written word.<\/p>\n

She noted that a part-time volunteer job turned into a career. In an email to her neighbors in Naglee Park, she said her biggest takeaway was that she knows she made a difference in the lives of her students by creating a space where they felt safe \u2014 whether they wanted to read in a quiet corner, use the Maker Space or even just hang out with their friends playing games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students that attended Horace Mann when I first arrived there are now adults \u2014 some married and with kids,\u201d she said in an email to her neighbors in Naglee Park. \u201cOne of my early students has a Kindergarten kiddo at Horace Mann. Our new 4th grade teacher attended Horace Mann, and another former student works in our office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Aboard Alameda\u2019s USS Hornet, 76 immigrants become U.S. citizens ahead of America\u2019s 250th birthday<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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