A bronze statue symbolizing world peace could become an Arena Green West focal point in downtown San Jose.
The San Jose City Council unanimously approved the Arts Commission’s recommendation Tuesday to accept a donation from philanthropist Diane Brandenburg for the creation and installation of Seeds of Peace. The projected cost is $3.3 million, including landscaping, according to a San Jose memo. Brandenburg will donate $2 million and the additional $1.3 million will be fundraised by project coordinator Kimberly Mulcahy. The goal is to install the peace monument by the end of 2026.
Kimberly Mulcahy is the wife of District 6 Councilmember Michael Mulcahy who recused himself from the vote.
The statue will be the first of its kind to have peace symbols from around the world, Kimberly Mulcahy said.
“It sends a really incredible, powerful message,” she told San José Spotlight. “We are one of the most diverse cities in the United States. We live pretty cohesively and collaboratively for a city that is as diverse as we are. I would argue that I want more collectiveness in some of those pockets of diversity where we come together, and we are San Joseans versus we are this or we are that. I believe that this monument gives us the ability to do that.”
Once completed, the statue will be located at Arena Green West near the SAP Center. The Sons of San Jose, a memorial commemorating those who died during the Vietnam War, and The Weavers’ Gifts, an art sculpture commemorating the indigenous Costanoan-Ohlone people, are in the same area.
Brandenburg, an artist and Bay Area native, has been a lifelong philanthropist and was a key fundraiser for the Martin Luther King Jr. Library. Her generosity also made the construction of the Children’s Discovery Museum possible.
The philanthropist, who’s spent decades advocating for the betterment of children, woke one morning and wondered what she could do to stop a world at war. The idea to create a peace monument in San Jose came to her as a step toward unity.
She wanted artist Mario Chiodo to craft a symbol for peace. Chiodo is designing an 18-foot bronze monument with a woman holding up an olive branch and a dove. Her hair, extended to create a circle around her, will be etched with 322 symbols of peace from around the world. At her feet are six children holding up the earth, representing the continents of Africa, Asia, North and South America, Australia and Europe and an animal to represent Antarctica.
“(The monument is) important because it shows we come from the same planet. It shows that we are dependent on each other. It shows our similarities,” Chiodo told San José Spotlight. “People don’t want to see the children killed by wars, so we need to take some kind of initiative. And you can only do that by awareness… like a monument about peace, to create this discussion.”
Chiodo knows what it’s like to be in community with people who didn’t look or think like him. Growing up on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland in the 1960s, he lived in a diverse neighborhood comprised of African Americans, Italians, Germans, Chinese and Mexicans where everyone looked out for each other, he said.
“None of the kids growing up knew that there were racial problems out there,” Chiodo said. “We all ate at each other’s house. We supported each other and that never left me.”
Chiodo, who has crafted sculptures for Star Wars, began creating symbols of peace after 9/11. He designed a monument for Oakland with the faces of 25 important figures who have inspired change, including Mother Teresa, Abraham Lincoln and a New York City firefighter titled “Remember Them: Champions for Humanity.” Chiodo also designed a statue of abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Thomas Garrett in Wilmington, Delaware.
Once the peace monument is complete, Kimberly Mulcahy envisions holding peace rallies at the location and having school field trips to teach students of the importance of the symbols.
“It’s way more than a piece of public art,” she said. “I think the activation that happens around it is going to be really incredible, and it allows everybody to see something in it that connects to them in addition to thinking about peace.”
Kimberly Mulcahy said Brandenburg’s life is marked by efforts to promote peace. She has been a board member of The Forgotten International, a nonprofit working to eradicate global poverty, since 2009.
“One of (Brandenburg’s) favorite statements is by Margaret Mead, ‘When will we devise a system of peace instead of war?’” she said. “That has been one of her guiding stars. I really think this is her legacy.”
Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.
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