Naoki Minaki, an artist at HopeSTUDIO, weaves with a loom on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023, in San Jose, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
If you visit Joseph George Fine Wines on Meridian Avenue in San Jose, you’ll see a spinner rack displaying cloth wine bags for sale. These gift bags aren’t imported from Italy or mass produced in China; they’re made about a mile away and have an inspiring story behind them.
At HopeSTUDIO on Parkmoor Avenue, you’ll find a tight-knit group of textile artists — there are eight of them right now — weaving fabric using looms. Some of them will be chatting, others are concentrating on their job — quickly moving a shuttle back and forth while working pedals with their feet. It’s like a small town quilting circle, except this group is made up entirely of intellectually or developmentally disabled clients of Hope Services.
“There’s a sense when they walk through those doors, it’s not because they’re disabled. They take off their ‘disabled’ cape and put on their ‘artist’ cape,’ ” said HopeSTUDIO facilitator April-Marie Basuini, who ascribes super powers to each artist on their profiles on the HopeSTUDIO website.
Basuini, who has been with Hope Services for more than five years, restarted the weaving program after a previous one faltered. The clients pick out their own projects, patterns and yarn colors and work at their own pace. Some, like Naoki Minaki and Suong Vuong, are very fast weaving a couple of yards of fabric in an hour; Others, like Mary Martinez, work with their looms only a couple of days a week, spending the rest of their time on other activities.
They all show incredible enthusiasm and skill, producing textile items that wouldn’t look out of place at a high-end boutique. But Basuini says it’s about more than that, too. “I see so much about their emotional growth, building their self-esteem. Beyond that, they’re living life together here. They chat and talk about their dates and what they’re doing,” Basuini said.
After the fabric — or warp, as its called — is woven, Basuini and a group of volunteers will provide the finishing touches, sewing the fabric together and attaching zippers or drawstrings. She also dresses the looms for the artists, a time-consuming process that sometimes makes her the bottleneck for the eager weavers.
Four more weavers are expected to join the program next year, and Basuini said they received $30,000 in donated yarn, looms and other equipment last year. “There’s a huge art community out there that wants to support this,” said Basuini, who managed a quilt store for 15 years before going into the nonprofit sector.
The scarves, tote bags, makeup bags and wine bags are all available for sale, and the artists get at least 50 percent of the proceeds, with the rest going back into the program. Most of the sales had been handled through the studio — they can’t manage an online store yet — and at the San Andreas Regional Center craft fair in San Jose every year.
At least that was the case until Bert George, owner of Joseph George Fine Wines, stopped by for a tour in March. He was floored by the creativity and story behind the projects and offered to sell the wine bags at his Willow Glen store. He pays $18 a bag and sells them for the same amount, essentially providing HopeSTUDIO with free shelf space and a whole new customer base.
George says these are the only gift bags he sells, and he tells the story behind their creation to customers. But the bags tell their own story, too: A tag with the name of the artist is attached to each wine bag, a QR code label is sewn inside that connects to the HopeSTUDIO site.
“What I love about the wine bags is that you don’t have to be a very experienced weaver to make one,” Basuini said. “They all get to be an artist.”
FITTING TRIBUTE: It’s probably fair to say that Kitty Monahan, who died in July 2022 at age 89, loved San Jose’s Almaden Quicksilver County Park more than just about anyone. After all, she helped create it. So it seems right that a celebration was held Tuesday at Casa Grande in the park to make note of how the historian, preservationist and advocate is being honored in the park.
Santa Clara County has renamed Alamitos Bridge to Kathleen “Kitty” Monahan Bridge and the park’s Yellow Kid Trail to the Kitty Monahan Trail and the New Almaden Quicksilver County Park Association — of which she was a former president — dedicated a picnic table in her memory with a sweeping view of the valley.
SUPER SEND-OFF: There was a high quotient of political power at Open San Jose on Thursday night for Terry Christensen’s party celebrating his retirement as host of CreaTV’s “Valley Politics” show. The well-wishers included state Sen. Dave Cortese, Assemblymember Evan Low, Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, San Jose City Councilmembers Domingo Candelas and Sergio Jimenez, former San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and former Supervisors Rod Diridon and Ken Yeager.
Nearly everyone there seemed to have either been one of Christensen’s political science students at San Jose State or one of his some 400 guests on nearly 100 episodes of the local politics program. Of course, it was noted a few times that this is Christensen’s second retirement, following his SJSU departure.
“I will continue retiring until I get it right,” Christensen quipped.
HOLIDAY PARTY SURVEY: San Jose marketing company PRx Digital held its holiday party Thursday night at Christmas in the Park’s Park Tavern, allowing me the chance to conduct a very unscientific survey among the partygoers. I asked everyone I could to tell me their favorite holiday movie and holiday song. Frank Capra’s 1946 classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” was the runaway movie winner, beating out “Elf” and “Home Alone.” The top song was “Santa Baby,” which eked out a win over Bing Crosby’s version of “White Christmas” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas is You.”
Park Tavern is the new spot at Christmas in the Park — between the information booth and Santa’s house — that is the only place in the park serving wine and beer. Parents are welcome to bring their kids in with them, too, which makes it a convenient watering hole.
Originally published at Sal Pizarro