Shao Keping’s “Floating to the Future” 1981 Woodcut print | Photo courtesy of USC Pacific Asia Museum
USC Pacific Asia Museum (USC PAM) continues its mission and vision to further intercultural understanding through the arts of Asia and the Pacific Islands with Imprinting in Time: Chinese Printmaking at the Beginning of a New Era. On view from August 11 through November 12, 2023, the exhibition looks at printmaking by Chinese artists from the 1980s to the present and analyzes the unique narrative of the medium within the contexts of cultural, academic, sociopolitical, and economic changes in recent Chinese history.
Imprinting in Time is curated by Danielle Shang, a Los Angeles based art historian and exhibition organizer. Her research focuses on the impact of globalization, urban renewal, social change, and class restructuring on art-making and the narrative of art history.
He Kun’s “Stretch” 2003 Reduction woodcut print | Courtesy Photo / USC Pacific Asia Museum
Woodcut originated in China, dating as far back as the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to 220 A.D). The first woodblock fragments were of silk printed with flowers in three colors. Much later – in the early 20th century – it became a popular art form used by Chinese progressives to advocate for social change. The New Woodcut Movement hit its stride in China from 1912 through 1949.
In an article about the history of the movement (From New Woodcut to the No Name Group: Resistance, Medium and Message in 20th Century China) New York-based artist Chang Yuchen wrote that Lu Xun was probably the most significant among these activists. He established the Morning Flower Society in 1929, which published journals that introduced foreign literature and art to Chinese audiences. Two of the volumes were dedicated to modern woodcuts – considered by Lu Xun as the most accessible and efficient means for disseminating revolutionary ideas among the masses.
The Communist Party became a powerful force during the Sino-Japanese War and Mao Zedong exerted his authority. He delivered a famous speech at the Yan’an Conference on Literature and Arts in May 1942, where he declared “Literature and art are subordinate to politics, but in their turn exert a great influence on politics” and quoted a poem by Lu Xun to support that view. Following his speech, progressive artists and writers moved to Yan’an to produce art that responded to Mao’s call. What began as a pursuit of communication, however, was reduced to serving as the Communist Party’s marketing tool.
In 1979, the Ministry of Culture restored the party memberships of artists who had been sent to labor camps and persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. One of these was Jiang Feng, who played a crucial role in the New Woodcut Movement. He was appointed director of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and later as chairman of the reconstituted Chinese Artists Association.
Yu Youhan’s “Chairman Mao in Discussion with the Peasants of Shaoshan” 2006 lithograph | Courtesy Photo / USC Pacific Asia Museum
Another suspected ‘rightist’ – Liu Xun – was released from incarceration and named head of the Beijing Municipal Artists Association. When he learned about the group of plein air painters – who later became known as the No Name Group – who managed to work under such impossible conditions, Liu Xun organized an official exhibition of their work. More than 2,700 people came to the show on the first day.
However, without the hostile conditions that kept them united in their art, the No Name Group slowly drifted apart. Some of them immigrated to other countries and some stopped painting altogether. Those who continued painting – and remained nameless – were resistant to the booming market for Chinese contemporary art just as they refused to go along with politics.
The emergence of etching, lithograph, silkscreen, and digital devices in the 1980s added new energy to the medium. Most artists included in USC PAM’s exhibition were academically trained printmakers; however, a few have established their reputations in other media and explored printmaking as an additional aesthetic in their practices.
Su Xinping’s “Fish Feast” 1998 Lithograph | Courtesy Photo / USC Pacific Asia Museum
Museum curator Rebecca Hall states, “Imprinting in Time is an exciting exhibition for USC Pacific Asia Museum to share with the public because all but a few of the artworks in the exhibition come from the museum’s permanent collection. Formed around the recently donated Charles T. Townley collection of contemporary Chinese art, Danielle Shang did an outstanding job of teasing out the strengths of the Townley collection and finding further artworks to supplement her thesis in PAM’s permanent collection, some of which have not been exhibited in many years.”
“Printmaking, particularly woodcut, is uniquely important in modern Chinese history because it was instrumental for disseminating ideologies of the nation-state to the masses from the 1930s to the 1980s,” says Shang. “It is a perfect example of hybridizing a traditional Chinese medium that has been around for centuries with modernist techniques from the West.”
The exhibition will show 60 works organized into three sections: the Modern Woodcut Movement; the Post Mao Era; and Crisis and Hope Since the 1990s.
Zhen Xu’s “School of Fish 3” 1997 Woodcut print | Courtesy Photo / USC Pacific Asia Museum
Modern Woodcut Movement
Among all the printmaking techniques, the woodblock is most significant in modern Chinese history for articulating social commentary and nationalistic sentiments. The monumental figure who initiated the movement was not a visual artist but the writer, collector, and activist Lu Xun (1881-1936). In the early 1930s, Lu introduced Käthe Kollwitz’s woodcut to Chinese artists, who immediately embraced the medium for its effectiveness in engaging a broad public. These artists began to produce prints with simplified but highly suggestive forms and figures to depict the violence, injustice, and angst that plagued Chinese society.
After Mao Zedong’s speech at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art (1942), woodcut was given singular priority, and its subjects shifted from social critiques to celebrating the bright new life under Communist control. Subsequently, the woodcut printmaking that hybridized German Expressionism, Soviet Social Realism, Chinese traditional water-based printing techniques, and folk arts’ vernacular styles was established as a major discipline in all art schools and employed largely for propaganda purposes to serve the state after the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
Xue Song’s “Coca Cola” (9/66) 2005 Serigraph | Courtesy Photo / USC Pacific Asia Museum
Post Mao Era
After 1976, while many artists continued to produce works that celebrated the socialist vision of modernity, others began to explore the notion of individuality and new graphic effects. The rise of etching, lithograph, silkscreen, and digital devices added new energy to the medium. Meanwhile, distinct regional schools emerged, notably the Great Northern Wilderness and the Yunnan School.
Contrary to earlier times when human figures and narrative themes dominated printed pictures, landscapes, and abstract compositions became popular. Some artists intentionally evoked the traditional Chinese ideal of integrating calligraphy, painting, and poetry when combining images with texts.
Shang expounds on the regional schools, the art style, and the artists who emerged during this period.
“Since the late 1970s, artists in Yunnan Province, including Zheng Xu and He Kun, turned their attention to local ethnic groups, neighboring Southeast Asian cultures and the ancient Chinese technique known as heavy color painting 工笔重彩画 that emphasizes line drawing and bold colors. Figures depicted by the Yunnan School artists are flat, geometric, semi-abstracted, and energized with bright colors, reminiscent of cubism and fauvism. Motifs incorporated into their works are derived not only from ancient Buddhist cave paintings but also from local traditional garments and decorations.”
“In the 1980s, Zheng and He among other printmakers in Yunnan began to create reduction woodcuts to produce heavy color prints,” Shang adds. “A color reduction woodcut is simply a relief print that is carved, inked, and printed multiple times using only one piece of woodblock. The entire edition must be printed at once since carving destroys the wood incrementally.
“The artists also established several workshops in the region to invite people from rural communities to make art, positioning printmaking at the intersections of arts practice, social engagement, and cultural restoration.”
Men were the dominant figures in this art form. Shang reveals, “Very few female artists were active in the history of Chinese printmaking. One extraordinary exception is Chen Haiyan (b. 1955, China), who, in her cycle of DREAM, developed a distinct style charged with raw, idiosyncratic, and expressive energy. The series narrates 20 of the artist’s dreams in monochrome woodcuts, integrating texts into images. The technique she employs to make the prints is known as touyin 透印 or ‘penetrating print.’ First, ink is rolled onto the wood block where a sheet of paper is smoothed on top. The next step is to burnish the paper with a spoon, rubbing until the ink soaks all the way through. Unlike other printing techniques, which create mirror images, touyin can be viewed from the front and the back – eliminating the need for the artist to make a preliminary, reversed design for carving. Thus, the artist’s ideas and emotions are conveyed directly to the woodblock without an intermediary step, affording her the spontaneity that attracts the viewer’s attention. She currently teaches at the China Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou.”
Sun Xun’s “Time Spy” 2016 3D Animation | Courtesy Photo / USC Pacific Asia Museum
Crisis and Hope Since the 1990s
The 1990s saw China’s rapid transformation into a hyper-consumer society. As works of art entered the market as commodities, prints failed to gain recognition as valuable cultural products. To survive, printmakers had to switch to other media, teach, or hold positions at state-sponsored cultural organizations, whose programs continued instructing conservative subjects and styles. In response to the new conditions, a few artists have moved beyond technical concerns to search for ways to advance the medium and participate in global conversations. Their practices shine a new light on printmaking.
It’s unfortunate that despite its fascinating ancestry and storied past, printmaking in China did not continue to flourish. This exhibition at USC Pacific Asia Museum may yet demonstrate that prints – which have since been relegated to being disposable merchandise – and printmaking can be rejuvenated through a fresh audience. At th
“On This Side of the World,” an East West Players presentation, held its opening day at David Henry Hwang Theater on May 14. It is a joint creation of Paulo K. Tiról, who wrote the music and lyrics, and Noam Shapiro, who directed it. Featuring an ensemble of the most accomplished Filipino actors and performers in Southern California, this world premiere marks the first time a musical about Filipino immigrants written by one himself has been staged.
With a one-way ticket to the United States and a suitcase full of stories, a woman leaves her native Philippines and flies 8,491 miles across the Pacific Ocean to build a new life in New York. Her 17-hour journey, which begins when she boards a Philippine Airlines flight in Manila, is the subject of “On This Side of the World.”
The cast performs ‘Ay! Amerika’ | Photo by Jenny Graham / East West Players
In this musical, a woman replays each story collected from immigrants who came before her – tales of overseas workers, young lovers, and gossipy church ladies; snapshots of undocumented immigrants, millennial princesses, and first-generation Americans. Running approximately two-and-a-half hours that includes a 15-minute intermission, it offers its audience insight about Filipinos as it provides great entertainment.
While I am a Filipino immigrant, I’ve been in the United States for 41 years and four decades of those years as a Pasadena resident. In all that time, I haven’t visited my native country and I feel more Pasadenan than Manileña. But the show brought back a flood of memories of my years growing up in a Manila suburb.
Michael C. Palma as Mr. Legarda performs ‘Proud’ with the cast | Photo by Jenny Graham / East West Players
One of the songs – ‘Lantern in the Window’ – sung by Cassie Simone as Kayla, is about the lantern that’s unmistakably Filipino. We call it ‘parol’ and it hangs in every window at Christmas. As poor a country as the Philippines is, Filipinos live large at Christmastime and spend a lot of money buying presents. We also usher in the holidays way earlier than most. In the U. S., Christmas season starts the day after Thanksgiving; in the Philippines, all the malls have decorations up and Christmas songs are played in September!
Of all the Filipino traditions, it’s the Christmas midnight mass I miss the most. And I’m embarrassed to say that it isn’t because of the service, but the food. As children, my two sisters and I attended ‘simbang gabi’ during Christmas week because there would be food vendors selling an assortment of rice-based sweets we call ‘kakanin.’ The aroma emanating from the food stalls surrounding the church patio was more than a small distraction – we could think of nothing else but hurrying out as soon as the priest utters ‘Go in peace’ to have some ‘bibingka,’ ‘puto,’ ‘kutchinta,’ or ‘palitaw.’ Even now, I could practically smell and savor the scrumptious food! The festive spread that my mom would have laid out on the dining table after we got back from the Christmas eve mass, or ‘misa de gallo,’ is also something that’s not easily recreated in California.
Cassie Simone as Dee-Dee (center) performs ‘Yaya’ with Zandi de Jesus (left) and Andrea Somera (right) | Photo by Jenny Graham / East West Players
The stories Tiról tells through the songs are faithful to all Filipino immigrants’ experiences and I will mention a few that stand out for me. Michael Palma’s ‘Cool Tito’ works tirelessly just so he can send money and ‘balikbayan’ boxes full of toys and the latest electronic gadgets and athletic shoes to nieces and nephews back home. He maxes out credit cards at Christmas to buy every item on the list. Never mind that he has to spend the next three months working double shift to pay off his debt and cover the finance charge it incurred.
‘Yaya’ reminds me of the shock many Filipinos feel when they first arrive in the United States and find out they have to do all the housework themselves. Cassie Simone’s portrayal as Dee-Dee, the brat who’s wailing for her ‘yaya,’ is quite hilarious.
The song ‘Ay! Amerika’ is as side-splittingly funny as it is a spot-on depiction of just how judgmental Filipinos can be. Maritess and Marivic, as portrayed by Zandi de Jesus and Cassie Simone, are models for the quintessential holier-than-thou women who gossip with glee about the ill-fated choices and misfortunes of people they knew from back home. They sing that such scandalous events can only happen in America. It’s a comical scene – the ensemble intones ‘wa-wa-wa-wa’ in prayer, and the audience when I watched the show chanted along.
Steven-Adam Agdeppa as Miggy performs ‘Rice Queens’ | Photo by Jenny Graham / East West Players
But the performance that brought the house down was Steven-Adam Agdeppa’s, ‘Rice Queens.’ The audience absolutely loved him as Miggy in drag and they demonstrated it clearly. They cheered and whistled. Someone even threw a dollar bill on the stage.
‘My Mother is an Immigrant,’ sung by Andrea Somera as Brianna, is a song that will reduce all mothers to tears. They will deeply connect with it. At the start of the song, Brianna bemoans that she doesn’t fit in at school because her mother is an immigrant; that her mother expects her to get excellent grades and makes her go to art classes and take piano lessons. And her mother thinks she’s extraordinary.
By the end of the song, Brianna is a fully grown adult and says she turned out to be ordinary. And, contrary to how she felt about her mom in the beginning, Brianna looks back with appreciation for her mother. She hopes to raise her future child with as much love as her mother has for her, that she now recognizes.
Coincidentally, my daughter’s name is also Brianna. And, while I wasn’t a tiger mom – a label that a lot of the Asian parents I know wear as a badge of honor – I admit my academic expectations when she was in school were ridiculous. I also thought she was extraordinary and now that she’s in her 20s I still think she’s a remarkable human being.
All the songs in “On This Side of the World” are noteworthy but ‘My Mother is an Immigrant’ speaks to me the most.
Andrea Somera as Brianna performs ‘My Mother is an Immigrant’ | Photo by Jenny Graham /East West Players
I interviewed Tiról and Shapiro when they were just two weeks into rehearsal and they said work in a musical never ends, that it’s ongoing. In the story I wrote, the plane was bound for Los Angeles – a 14-hour flight and 8,000 miles from the Philippines. I don’t know if they decided on that final destination because the New York skyline, which they use as backdrop, is more impressive. Or maybe they thought that since the plane originated from Ninoy Aquino International Airport it’s only fitting that the destination in America be John F. Kennedy International instead of LAX. After all, the Philippine airport is named after a slain hero and icon so only a disembarkation site bearing the moniker of an assassinated American president will do.
But whatever and however they may have deviated from their initial idea, this iteration of “On This Side of the World” is a beautifully presented, well-thought-out production. The show reflects all that is good and admirable about Filipinos and Filipino immigrants, as well as the bad and disgraceful about us. The performers are superb actors and singers who can wow any audience – and when I watched it, the majority of those in attendance were non-Filipinos. But they were fully captivated and engaged throughout and indicated their approval with a rousing applause and an enthusiastic standing ovation at the end of the show.
Tiról deserves acknowledgment and praise for blazing the trail for aspiring Filipino musical theatre writers and creators. To Shapiro we owe a debt of gratitude for taking a leap of faith when he helped Tiról get this dream project realized.
The success of “On This Side of the World” can only advance the talents of Filipino performers who have, until now, mostly played insignificant roles in Hollywood films and Broadway shows. It can only give Tiról a foothold in the performing arts and make it easier for other Filipino playwrights to get their work staged. It can only pave the way for a more equitable future for all Asians in America.
Originally published on 26 April 2023 on Hey SoCal
With a one-way ticket to the United States and a suitcase full of stories, a woman leaves her native Philippines and flies 8,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean to build a new life. Her 14-hour flight journey is the subject of “On This Side of the World” premiering at the David Henry Hwang Theater on May 11 and running through June 4, 2023. Presented by East West Players, it is the joint creation of Paulo K. Tiról, who wrote the music and lyrics, and Noam Shapiro, who directs. It features an ensemble of the most accomplished Filipino actors and performers in Southern California.
Interviewed by phone, Tiról and Shapiro graciously talk about how a simple grad school course exercise became a musical embarking on its world premiere, answer questions about their collaboration, and disclose future projects.
“I was at NYU doing my Masters in Musical Theatre Writing in 2013 and for one class, the assignment was to choose a community which would inspire songs that I would write over two years,” Tiról begins. “I chose Filipino immigrants because I was one myself. At the same time, I didn’t know any other Filipino immigrant composers writing about the Filipino immigrant experience. And I have lots of immigrant friends whose stories I could ‘steal’ to turn into songs.”
The cast of ‘On This Side of the World’ | East West Players
In this musical, a woman replays each story collected from immigrants who came before her — tales of overseas workers, young lovers, and gossipy church ladies; snapshots of undocumented immigrants, millennial princesses and first-generation Americans — which was inspired by Tiról’s own experience. (read my review here)
“After a 12-year corporate career in Manila, I decided to immigrate to the U.S. in 2011. It was scary; my life was going to change and I didn’t know what to expect. So I contacted all my immigrant friends in the U.S. and I asked them what their stories were like. I collected and wrote their stories and, on my own one-way ticket flight from Manila to Boston, which was my first city here, I replayed them. And that was the structure for the musical,” explains Tiról.
That structure, however, didn’t get assembled until Shapiro collaborated with him. In fact, this show might never have been mounted if it were not for a chance meeting.
“There was a lot of discouragement from 2013, when I first started writing the songs, to 2018,” reveals Tiról. “I had been pitching and trying to get the attention of New York Asian American theatre community, Filipino American artists, hoping to find collaborators and had no luck. It was when I met Noam in 2018 that things started to happen.”
Shapiro recalls how he met Tiról and what caught his attention, “At a presentation of new musical theatre at the Public Theater in New York City in 2018, Paulo showcased one of his songs from ‘On This Side of the World’ called ‘Light of the Home.’ It’s about three overseas workers in home healthcare services and how they have learned in Filipino culture to be a light of the home, to care for their loved ones who are family. But they made the difficult decision to come to the U.S. so they can send money to care for their families back home. The music, lyrics, and characters were unlike anything I’d ever heard. I’m not Filipino, but my mom is an immigrant so that resonated with me. I wrote in my program next to Paulo’s name ‘I got chills.’”
“He literally just sent me an email saying ‘I’d like to meet you, talk, and learn more,’ Tiról adds. “We exchanged a few emails and then had a three-hour conversation, after which he said, ‘I’d like to help you finish this show and get it produced.’ I was floored! At the time he made that pronouncement, the show was only half-written; it was really a gamble on his part.”
Noam Shapiro (left) and Paul K. Tiról (right) in residence at the Catwalk Art Institute in Catskill, New York | East West Players
And an artistic partnership was launched. “The show used to have a libretto, or spoken dialog, but we changed that,” states Shapiro. “I worked with Paulo in selecting the order of the 29 songs he wrote so that they tell a cohesive story. Together we came up with the story arc following this one woman who is coming to the U.S. to start a new job as a teacher in order to support her family. She meets five other Filipino immigrants on the plane who inspire her to reflect on all the different stories she collected prior to leaving the Philippines about other immigrants before her. She has a notebook with her where she wrote these stories and each time she meets someone, she turns to the page in her notebook that has the corresponding story and that story comes to life. And over the course of the 14-hour flight, her journey from anxiety and fear to that of optimism and hope unfolds.”
Getting a musical from development to production takes years — the process is rife with obstacles to surmount. “They cost anywhere between $6 million and $11 million to produce and you never know whether they’re going to be successful,” explains Tiról. “So many musicals on Broadway close prematurely, which is why these days most of them are restaging or tried-and-tested classics. Or the new ones are adaptations of Hollywood blockbusters, bestselling novels, or cartoons. I’m really grateful to Noam because he took a chance on this musical. And over the years we’ve been fortunate to have had organizations who’d taken a risk on it. East West Players chose to program this musical in this season. It’s challenging finding supporters and people who will back you and we’re very lucky with what we’ve found.”
“We were able to present the show in 2019 for the first time and it was called ‘A Workshop Production,” Shapiro expounds. “That means we had some costumes, sets, and lights, but not a whole production. We did the show in a tiny 65-seat upstairs theatre in downtown New York City when it was about two-thirds complete and we’ve added several songs since. A big springboard for this show after the workshop production came through the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) which has an annual festival of new musical theatre works. In 2020, we were selected out of 330 applications for this festival and we presented three songs from ‘On This Side of the World’ in a virtual format. From that opportunity, several different theaters on the West Coast — including East West Players — heard about the show, took an interest, and supported us over the last three years to bring the show to production.”
Paulo K. Tiról accompanies Diane Phelan at the annual fundraiser of the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat at Sardi’s in New York City. Dianne starred as Cinderella in ‘Into the Woods’ on Broadway, and is currently on the show’s national tour which will end in L.A. in July 2023 | East West Players
“One other challenge is that many people like a single story, follow one character as they go from A to B to C to D. And this musical is a story about stories – it’s about how stories give us strength to move forward courageously in our lives and become our fullest selves. And it took some convincing to get theaters to buy into that idea. So we’re really grateful for not only East West Players but also the NAMT. We participated in the Rhinebeck Writer’s Retreat, the Catwalk Art Institute’s summer residency, and a developmental reading at Musical Theatre West. Prior to NAMT, the show was developed by Three Hares Theater, Access Theater, and Prospect Theater Company. All these people believed in us and the show. There’s an expression that ‘it takes a village’ and that’s really true for bringing a new musical from page to stage.”
There’s a misconception that all Filipino men are with the U.S. Navy and all the women are nurses, or maids, or caregivers. And while this musical features some Filipinos as healthcare workers, it has more characters than that. “We wanted to change the belief that Filipinos are one-dimensional navy enlistees or health care workers. Apart from dispelling that notion, we also wanted to give actors more opportunity to portray characters that are three-dimensional, who are fleshed-out, interesting, and complicated,” declares Tiról.
Shapiro illustrates, “One of my favorite songs in this show is called ‘Leading Man’ and it’s about a Filipino actor who was very successful back in Manila who came to the U.S. to break into show business in Hollywood or on Broadway. But he keeps getting offered either ‘extra’ roles or non-speaking parts, or traditional Asian American characters in ‘Miss Saigon’ and ‘The King and I.’ All he wants to do is play a leading character, to play someone in a prestige drama or a lead romantic character in a comedy. This musical provides an answer to that character’s wish by giving six actors the opportunity to play comedic and dramatic roles, to sing so many different styles, to demonstrate all that they can do and, hopefully, expand the theatre canon of the roles available to AAPI actors.”
“The cast we’ve assembled are phenomenally talented, generous, and hard-working,” Tiról enthuses. “It’s not an easy show. There’s a lot of music — and it’s not easy music — but they’re pouring so much work and love into it.”
A staged reading of ‘On This Side of the World’ presented by East West Players in July 2022 | East West Players
One of the actors is Mike Palma, who is also associate artistic of Cold Tofu Improv. He describes his early childhood in L.A. “I was born and raised in Silver Lake and when I was growing up, we had a back house that we rented out. An immigrant family who had just arrived from the Philippines moved in it and lived there for about nine years. They had little kids who didn’t speak a lick of English. I was an only child who was being brought up in Tagalog by my grandparents and my mom, so I was able to use what I knew and got to expand my Tagalog vocabulary to communicate with them.”
Filipinos are a music-loving people, as Palma’s family and upbringing prove. He reminisces, “My mom was always singing in the house while she did house chores and I mimicked that. Then my uncle arrived from the Philippines and lived with us for a couple of years. He was constantly singing and playing guitar, and he would invite me to sing with him. Then, lo and behold, he joined a Filipino choir in L.A.”
Palma continues, “When I was about seven or eight years old, a really famous theatre group from the Philippines came to LA. to stage the zarzuela called ‘Walang Sugat,’ which was apparently a really big deal in Filipino theatre. It was all in Tagalog and had a cast of the most famous Filipino actors. The director was Bernardo Bernardo and the lead actress was Fides Cuyugan.
“This theatre company hired the choir, which my uncle was a part of, and I would sing the songs with him. Then I got hired when they were looking for a little boy to play one of the pivotal characters. In the role, I was accidentally shot and was rescued by the hero, the show’s lead actor. There was a pivotal song “Bayan Ko’ — I didn’t know then the levity of this song — and I sang that every single night. We toured that show all over California, at Lincoln Center in New York, and in Canada. That was the last bit of acting I did.”
It was in the 1990s when Palma consciously decided he wanted to be an actor and he explains why, “I rarely saw an Asian face on TV or in film and I would say to myself, ‘Man, I could do that!’ But I never really did anything about it. Then in 1998, I was cast in another play and my career as a ‘professional actor’ ramped up from there. I took acting classes — one of my mentors and close friend was Domingo (Dom) Magwili — who held lessons at a Japanese community center right off the 101 freeway on Vermont. And then in 2002, East West Players Theatre Group had a two-to-three-week summer conservatory. Despite the enormous cost for me back then, I enrolled. It offered several courses — dance, voice, acting, improv, tai chi. The dance instructor was Kay Cole, who originated one of the roles in Chorus Line on Broadway.”
Noam Shapiro and Paulo K Tiról at the first rehearsal for the world premiere of ‘On This Side of the World’ at East West Players in L.A. on April 23, 2023 | Photo by Gavin Pak / East West Players
In “On This Side of the World,” Palma plays the baritone roles — Abe, Tito, Miko, and Mr. Legarda — and the ensemble. He says, “Paulo’s music is so challengingly beautiful that I’m listening to it all the time, more so than the other musicals I’ve been in. The words are so deep and layered, the melodies are beautiful. This is my first time working with Paulo and it’s been a great experience.”
Palma says further, “In the span of my career, I’ve worked with down-to-earth, supportive, loving people. Paulo and Noam are so giving. Their rehearsals are very free — there’s a lot of creativity and improv. Noam is one of those directors who’ll let you find your character and your process versus someone who gives it to you. He might have an idea but he’ll let you discover it and maybe what you find expounds upon that and you both come up with something better than the original thought.”
“This musical is going to hit upon everything you grew up with — the stories that you’ve seen as a child or a young adult,” Palma concludes. “Even on day one when we heard the songs, we said ‘Oh yeah, we did that!’ or ‘We saw that.’ There were mentions of the ‘balikbayan’ boxes, chismis, people talking in church, and, of course, there’s food. If you’re Filipino, it’s going to touch all of your senses, and all the memories and experiences you have as a Filipino or as a Filipino American. But this immigrant story relates to all ethnicities and any culture so you don’t have to be Filipino. You’re going to experience all the trials and tribulations of someone who goes into another country. It’s presented in a way you’ll understand and relate to, and you’ll love it! Besides all that, the music is great!”
That sentiment is echoed by Shapiro when he talks about their hopes for this show. “Our dream is that more and more people see ‘On This Side of the World’ and are touched by these characters’ stories. Whether that is a tour, or other new and unique productions mounted in other cities, we’d be excited by those opportunities. One of our other dreams is to travel up and down several states on the West Coast with large Filipino communities, and then eventually be able to bring the show back to New York and the East Coast.”
Paulo K. Tiról and Noam Shapiro work on their musical adaptation of Jose Antonio Vargas’s memoir ‘Dear America’ while in residence at the Catwalk Art Institute in Upstate New York in May 2022 | East West Players
Tiról and Shapiro work so well together that future collaborations are sure to follow. And Tiról confirms, “We’ve already started our second project. Right around the time when Noam was wondering ‘what are we going to work on next?’ we met Filipino American journalist and activist Jose Antonio Vargas.”
“Jose expressed interest in becoming a supporter after someone shared with him the songs on ‘On This Side of the World,’” Shapiro relates. “To prepare for our meeting with him, we read the memoir ‘Dear America’ and we both turned to each other and said ‘This would make an amazing musical.’ So at the end of our conversation with him, we asked if we could adapt his memoir to a musical and he agreed!”
“It’s still in the early stages and it isn’t going to be complete for a while because we’ve been focusing on ‘On This Side of the World.’ But we got his permission in late 2021 and we have a draft of a handful of scenes and songs. It takes a long time to develop a musical but over the next two or three years, we’ll see this new musical come to light,” assures Tiról.
Audiences can likewise be assured that the music and story will reflect how all Filipinos and Filipino immigrants get through hardships. They are a people seemingly unaffected by Asian pessimism. In the face of adversity and their daily struggles, Filipinos smile and sing their troubles away. No matter how bleak their circumstances, they look forward to tomorrow — confident that the new day will bring renewed hope and ever more possibilities.
Originally published on 10 April 2023 on Hey SoCal
The third panel speakers and The Huntington’s Yinshi Lerman-Tan (far right) | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
For Asian Americans, who have been largely ignored by society, the events of the past three years that threw them headlong into the spotlight were too overwhelming to contemplate. Surely invisibility would have been preferable to being widely hated and reviled. While racial slurs and violence directed against Asians and Asian Americans didn’t happen only recently, the anti-Asian rhetoric and crimes that erupted during the pandemic were so alarming that they became the catalyst for movements, including Stop AAPI Hate.
Alice Tsay, Director of Special Projects and Institutional Planning, declared that this series of lectures was two years in the making. Indeed in the two years since The Huntington embarked on this series until it actually transpired, stories related to Asians have dominated headlines.
Simon Li | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
In his introduction and opening remarks, Simon K. C. Li, Huntington trustee, talked about the Monterey Park massacre on the eve of the Lunar New Year, and said, “Reaction among Asians who have witnessed racism is disbelief that we are capable of such violence. Another mass shooting perpetrated by the same man in Alhambra reinforced the thought. Still, it’s a reality — Asians in America live with a sense of vulnerability.”
Li then brought up two issues. The first involves the name Asian American — does it do a disservice in obscuring the wide diversity of the many Asians to reduce the knowledge and complexity that will otherwise lead to great understanding? He said in 1992 the terms Chinese American and Japanese American were much more commonly used. But it didn’t save Vincent Chin, the Chinese American beaten to death in Detroit by two bat-wielding white auto workers angry about the popularity of Japanese cars.
The other issue is about the role of representation in helping minority communities. Li said it’s a common complaint that we don’t see enough faces like ours in movies, on TV, or in government and politics in the news. But he contended that he’s seen plenty of representation for both Asian Americans and non-American Asians making their name in U.S. politics, in movies, and on television. And he wondered, “Do such talents, such contributions, such celebrity really redound to the ‘normalization’ of Asian communities in America?”
At the end of his remarks, Li asked the panelists to answer two questions and suggest new answers going forward for Asian Americans: “What does it mean to be American? Who has the right to wear that title and to share fully in the promise it implies?” (read Brianna Chu’s response article here)
Gordon Chang | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
The first panel — Historical Roots (pre-1965) — focused on the origins of Asian experience, and anti-Asian racism, in California, with presenters drawing extensively on The Huntington’s Pacific Rim collections.
Gordon Chang, whose talk ‘Beyond Promontory: Chinese Railroad Workers and the Rise of California,’ continues the story of the Chinaman as railroad builders and what happened to them after they finished the transcontinental railways. He touched on the construction of the Tehachapi Loop in 1874.
An interesting revelation was when Chang debunked the myth that the railroad workers were docile. “In March 1875, the entire workforce tunneling in the Tehachapis went on strike for higher wages just as they did in 1867. They took advantage of the monopoly they had on railroad labor and demanded for improved working conditions.”
Naomi Hirahara | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
Naomi Hirahara’s presentation was “Torri Gate Welcoming Empire: Japanese Immigrant and Nisei Cultural Workers and Pasadena Landscape and Life.” She spoke about her lived experience as a Japanese American in Pasadena. Her father, Sam Hirahara, was a gardener. She said, “Many Japanese American men after World War II were gardeners. A lot of men who were released from the detention camps found it was easy to come over — all they had to do was push a lawn mower and they were in business.”
She also talked about George Turner Marsh, a businessman from Australia who had spent several years in Japan and learned the language. “He went to San Francisco and opened an Asian arts business in the late 1800s. He installed a Japanese house in the 1893 Chicago World Fair in the area that the Japanese government funded, which one of the architectural partners of the firm Greene & Greene saw. Frank Lloyd Wright also saw it as a little boy. This was the introduction to a Japanese aesthetic that perhaps made a lasting impact among American architects.”
Jean Chen Ho talked about the Los Angeles Chinatown Massacre of 1871, the culmination of anti-Chinese sentiment leading to racially motivated violence and for which a memorial is being built.
“According to stories, in the late afternoon of October 24, 1871 a gunfire broke out between two Chinese men from rival tongs on Calle de los Negros, now Los Angeles Street, feuding over a young woman,” Ho began. A white rancher was caught in the crossfire that caused his death. A vigilante mob then gathered to exact revenge for the slain Anglo man and went on to murder 17 Chinese men and one 15-year old boy. The mob also raided a number Chinese businesses of goods and cash, and destroyed property by fire. Newspaper accounts by L.A.’s elite often demonized ‘ruffian and disreputable class’ for the massacre. But what combined these two social sets on that night was white vigilantism that enabled the massacre. This incident put the blame back on the Chinese for the violence they suffered.”
An account of this massacre that night was written 50 years later in his memoir by Robert Maclay Widney who witnessed what happened and was later the presiding judge during the trial of the rioters. But Ho questioned the credibility of his story where he painted himself a hero, “Where do we place someone like Robert Maclay Widney who had the power to narrate his own story and have its social and material integrity preserved? What about the distorted, destroyed, or otherwise absent narratives from the victims of the massacre as well as those who survived that night of violence? The work that I’m taking up now is to reckon with the speculative possibility that Asian American lives have been previously only seen visible at the very moment they were suddenly extinguished by violence. My next project — a novel — now requires the intellectual and emotional capaciousness to imagine all that cannot be verified by the archive in order to tell a story about lives that exceed the archive in their sublime and impossible beauty.”
Marci Kwon | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
Marci Kwon’s presentation centered on the Asian American Art Initiative at Stanford University, an effort to collect and preserve histories and works of Asian American artists which reflect some of the subjects discussed by the other panelists. It’s a joint effort between the Canter Art Center and Stanford Library’s Special Collections which started in 2016. It came about because when she was trying to put together a syllabus for an Asian American Art history, she couldn’t find one. Thus her challenge was to collect 1,000 pieces of artwork by AAPI artists by 2026.
The second session – Shaping the Present – covered the period from 1965 to the present.
Wendy Cheng, called her talk “Assimilating into Difference: Multiethnic and Multiracial Histories of the San Gabriel Valley.” As Li did, she began her presentation with the Monterey Park mass shooting, “In the days after the shooting, Monterey Park was listed as an Asian American hub. It was a place of possibility for Asian immigrants to make lives and build community. Indeed in 1990, it became the first majority Asian city in the Continental United States; its population is 65% Asian today. But what this characterization can sometimes gloss over, is the incredible multi-ethnic and multi-racial richness of Monterey Park’s history and present — which came about through multiple generations of shared history of struggle and place-making.”
Cheng’s map of the San Gabriel Valley | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
“In the near 70 interviews I conducted for my book ‘The Changs Next Door to the Diazes’ between 2006 to 2012, I found that those who grew up in Monterey Park and the western San Gabriel Valley developed a distinct regional consciousness about race,” disclosed Cheng. “They usually understood the particulars of each other’s identity. This region’s distinction as an Asian American place is one of its legacies — a home for immigrants and for those who are historically excluded or vilified elsewhere by those who don’t look exactly like them.”
Jane Hong spoke about “Asian American Evangelicals and Southern California Histories” and how they became an important voting bloc for the Republican Party. She attributed this to a couple of developments: the first was the diversification in U.S. population that resulted from the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Japanese Americans made up the majority of Asian Americans for much of the 20th century; Chinese Americans became the most populous by the 1980s; Filipino Americans became the second largest Asian American group in 1990; and, very recently, Indian Americans surpassed the Filipino Americans as the second largest Asian American population.
Hong’s Asian American Evangelicals pie chart | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
The second development was the marriage between white Evangelicals and the Republican Party. This can be traced to the Moral Majority, a political lobbying group formed in 1979 between Jerry Falwell Senior, the founder and president of Liberty University, and Ronald Reagan. They joined forces around a shared set of issues — opposing abortion, traditional family and marriage defined as between a man and woman, etc. And their influence grew within the Republican Party in the 1980s.
“Late 1960s and 1970s phenomenon Jesus (Free) Movement were largely young, white Americans,” Hong explained. “At the same time, Movement Activist was inspired by Asian American movement whose major tenet is ‘there’s strength in solidarity.’ So instead of calling themselves Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, it was a political act to call yourself Asian American to denote your belief, community, and shared interest. So this is what it means to be Asian American and Christian — integrating racial and individual identity.”
Oliver Wang’s topic was “The Nisei Week Cruise: Japanese American Car Culture in the 1970s and 80s.”
“So much of our car history has been written by white men so the Nikkei community has been largely forgotten or overlooked,” stated Wang. “A major goal of the exhibit is to write the Nikkei Community back into the stories and histories about how cars have transformed the cultural, economic, and social landscape of the Southland.”
Fred Jiro Fujioka featured prominently in Little Tokyo | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
“Nisei Week began in Little Tokyo in 1934 as a way to encourage cultural pride in community economic development by an emergent second generation of Japanese Americans — the Nisei — who wanted to stake out a space for themselves within a community that up to that point had been largely dominated by their Nikkei parents and their generation,” continued Wang. “It quickly grew to become an annual celebration of the Japanese American community and further anchored Little Tokyo as the center of the Nikkei community in Southern California.”
Wang reported that Nisei Week cruise began to form in the early 1970s. “By the 1980s Nisei Week Cruise became the ‘king of cruises’ and continued to grow in popularity for the next 15 years until the summer of 1988 when it was shut down. But it left a lasting impression — for the people who grew up at that time, cruise was fundamentally a social experience that connected young people with one another. To attend the cruise was to participate in a cultural experience that helped define what it meant to be young and Japanese American for an entire generation.”
Linda Trinh Vo talked about the Vietnamese population in Orange County. She stated, “I titled my talk ‘Crafting Community’ because ‘crafting’ is purposeful – it needed a skill not just ad hoc. There’s an assumption that America rescued the Vietnamese refugees and other Southeast Asians. There’s a whole other discussion we can have about America and their intervention in the war in Vietnam that led to our displacement and then led to our migration or forced migration as asylum seekers and refugees. But our argument is that we saved ourselves. We had social agency — we had to figure out a way to survive, to get out of Vietnam and get resettled in the U.S. At times, we’re looked at as passive victims rather than seen as social agents helping ourselves.
Vo’s slide of Little Saigon | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
“Today, the Vietnamese population is the largest of Asians in Orange County and also the largest population outside of Vietnam,” declared Vo. “Pre-1975 the only ones here were war or military brides, international students, and military personnel training during the Vietnam War. When the Vietnam War ended, about 120 of them were settled in Camp Pendleton, one of four U.S. camps where refugees settled. But they needed some place to live permanently so they had to find sponsors. Individuals, charities, religious organizations helped to sponsor and settle them in the city of Westminster (and later expanded to Garden Grove) which is today’s Little Saigon.”
The third session – Future Provocations – envisaged the future of Asian Americans from the perspective of the panelists’ field of expertise.
Manjusha P. Kulkarni‘s presentation was “Resistance and Resilience: Asian Americans’ Response to Hate.” She disclosed that since the beginning of the pandemic, Stop AAPI Hate received over 11,467 reports of discrimination. She said, “Policies drive much of the hate — mass deportation of Southeast Asians, programs like the China initiative, the 911 surveillance and profiling of South Asians. What that has led to is the blame game — one in five reported incidents include this kind of scapegoating, like public health which we saw during the bubonic plague where Chinese Americans were blamed for the disease. National security was blamed for the Japanese incarceration and 911 profiling. And economic insecurity and anxiety was the cause of the horrible beating of Vincent Chin.”
“As populations are growing, we begin to see ourselves as racialized,” continued Kulkarni. “Civil Rights leader and scholar Lani Guinier wrote about the social ladder when whiteness is at the top and blackness at the bottom. So where does that put Asian Americans in terms of the outsider framing, idea of perpetual foreigner.’ So where are you really from?’ are the questions we get even when we’re third, fourth, and fifth generation. And that leads to questions of loyalty — are we actually Americans?”
Kulkarni then discussed civic engagement, “Since 2020, we are more enthusiastic about voting than we ever had; we see that we play a role in the margin of victory. So it’s absolutely critical that we vote; and engage civically — write to your congressperson, go to meetings at city hall, and run for office. We need more representation across our land if we are to have a powerful voice. I want to leave you with this quote from Grace Lee Boggs, ‘You cannot change any society unless you take responsibility for it, unless you see yourself as belonging to it and responsible for changing it.’”
Jimenez’s installation at Coachella | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
Artist Jimenez Lai showed some photos of the work he’s done over the years. He represented Taiwan at the Venice Biennalle; his works have been displayed at museums and public events, including Coachella. One of his installations in front of City Hall, at Grand Park, is a collaboration with a musician and they conceived a structure like an oversized instrument. They embedded an amplifier so people could whisper their sorrows into it which then get distorted into nonsense — a confession booth of sorts.
Karin Wang spoke about “Asian Americans: Racialization & Privilege.” She began with a slide on Anti-Asian Hate which mirrored Kulkarni’s visual on the number of hate incidents. “What’s interesting is that at the same time that we were being racialized and targeted for violence and hate, Asian Americans are also occupying important spaces of privilege in two professions — Law and Medicine,” she declared. “We need to recognize where we have power and privilege. Lawyers are among the most powerful members of our society — not just lawyer lawyers, but judges, elected officials, people running government agencies.”
AAPI’s reports of discrimination against Asian Americans | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
Wang added, “There are a lot of stereotypes about Asians, one of them being that they are mostly in Medicine. And it is another sector that’s economically and socially advantaged in our society. There are improvements in the number of people of color in medicine on the national level but the majority of doctors are white; the next largest group is Asian and Pacific Islanders; Latinos and blacks are two populations that are underrepresented. It is becoming more racially diverse over time, although it is actually Asian Americans who are taking up a lot of that space.”
“Asian Americans are obviously not white and have never been viewed as white. Yet, we do have some privilege here as a community. So what is the provocation for the future as we move forward as Asian Americans? How are we going to think of ourselves in terms of where we fit in the American racial landscape? What are we going to do to use our positions of privilege in these places where we have it, and advance racial justice and equity not just for Asian Americans but for other communities of color as well,” Wang asked in conclusion.
The last speaker was Jeff Chang, who started his presentation by saying, “I was provoked by what Simon Li asked us to examine. The first: what is the desirability of being called Asian American especially given the anti-Asian violence we’re living through? And, second, the role of representation. We know that there is representation, but we also recognize that we are nowhere near what the culture industry calls for, which is to create narrative plenitude – the diversity of stories out there.”
“Can we create a narrative of Asian American that can take us to the next 50 years? Chang asked. “Narrative plenitude doesn’t just seem like a call to the white-dominated culture industries and social institutions. But it seems also for us to make better sense of the full diversity of our stories. But at the same time, violence is bringing us all back together. But it’s not that the violence makes us all Chinese, the violence makes us all Asian American. So when we say ‘Stop Asian hate, stop anti-Asian violence!’ we can call this a negative narrative. We’re saying ‘Stop, no more of this!’ But this narrative also has its limits. There’s a danger that we actually lose people to the fears. Is there a positive narrative of Asian American that can bring us together?”
Chang ended his presentation by yet posing these questions: “How do we form this new narrative that’s not just saying ‘No,’ but what can we all say ‘Yes’ to? How do we recognize the harms being perpetrated against us and not re-harm others because of that? But how does that help us think about what we might move to that can lift us all up together?”
Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
This symposium resonated deeply with me. As an Asian American, I related with the experiences some of the panelists described. I’ve lived here for 41 years and, every once in a while, I’m still asked where I’m from. I usually respond “I’m from Pasadena but originally from the Philippines.” Sometimes, though, I turn what might otherwise be an awkward exchange into a subtle teachable moment about the Philippines and Filipinos, and our historical ties to the United States.
As to Simon Li’s parting questions, there are as many answers as there are perspectives. And here’s mine: those of us who aren’t Americans by birthright but who legally immigrated to this country to build better futures also have the right to be called Americans. Most of us rose above our circumstances not in spite of being ‘foreigners’ but because of it. Most of us were born and raised in places of poverty and hardship and we were taught that education and industry were the means to success.
Because we didn’t come from places of wealth and abundance, we didn’t take for granted the opportunities that were available to us, as most immigrant accounts attest to. The possibilities became seemingly limitless and within reach because we were willing to work hard for them. Failure wasn’t an option — we wanted to ensure that our children didn’t go through the struggles we had to endure.
But being American comes with responsibility. We have to give back to the country we now call home by engaging with our community and actively seeking out how we can contribute to society. In areas where we have influence, we have to advocate for all people of color and use our voices to speak for those who can’t. At the very least, sharing our stories might help others understand that while we don’t look like them, we have similar hopes and dreams, and are striving for the same happy outcomes.
Originally published on 17 March 2023 on Hey SoCal
On March 12, Joann’s Art Space at 1745 Orlando Rd. in San Marino opened a solo exhibition featuring the artwork of Jim Barry, the Visual Art Director at California Institute of Technology (Caltech). His pieces are available for purchase and can be viewed by appointment only until April 11, 2023, by calling (626) 999-1777.
The invitation to Barry’s solo exhibition | Photo courtesy of Joann’s Art Space
Called “An Art Walk on the Silk Road,” the exhibition features 79 silk paintings divided by themes: Science, Dance, Landscape, and Africa. In the landscapes are a number of pieces of Chinese scholar, viewing stones, and bonsai or pénjǐng.
In Science, he shows “Scientist’s Dream” a desktop room temperature detector for dark matter. It uses an interferometer for calibration and gas inside a chamber. Detection of dark matter is evident by the purple sparks in the chamber. This dream is just that, though — far beyond today’s technology.
‘Scientist’s Dream’ | Photo by Sean Yang / Joann’s Art Space
The poster features the LIGO project for detecting black hole collisions, a depiction of project teams, noise the machine needs to filter, and the global human history of observatories with examples from China, Korea, England, Egypt, Peru, etc.
The dance pictures feature hip-hop dancers Barry sketched while they developed their routines.
A long time Caltech academic, Barry has been teaching classes at Caltech since 1987 – the year students changed the Hollywood sign to read ‘Caltech’ for a day. His courses include Silk Painting, some Silkscreen, and Drawing and Painting with Figure Drawing. He has also been instrumental in creating new virtual reality tools and interactive spaces with Santiago Lombeyda at the Center for Data-Driven Discovery (CDDD).
Because his grandmother was a painter, visual art had been his passion at an early age. He didn’t think of it seriously as a future career, however, and instead, he pursued a Bachelor’s degree that related to his interest in African life and culture. He received BA degrees in Cultural Anthropology, focusing on Africa and Black Studies with an emphasis on Race Relations, from the University of California Santa Barbara.
‘Resting Dancers’ | Photo by Sean Yang / Joann’s Art Space
Graciously agreeing to be interviewed by email and phone, Barry answers questions about how painting and teaching became his twin vocations. He relates, “I decided to go to West Africa after college. I was already interested in African life and culture; being able to explore many areas deepened my knowledge and led to more specific destinations such as Oualata, Mauritania, and the Dogon Country in Mali. I applied to graduate school to study Sociology at the University of Ibadan and I was accepted two years later, but had problems getting a visa.”
Barry continues, “So I went to Senegal. I arrived during an important ‘flowering’ of modern Senegalese painting driven in part by the President, Leopold Senghor, who was a well-known writer and poet. I met Senegalese artists and found my chosen medium, batik on cotton, was sought after but not well established. I shared a studio with the artist/painter, Aissa Dione — who’s now a textile artist — on the island of Goréé. My art started to sell and I traveled out to other countries putting up exhibits, leaving them to travel to small villages and interesting historic cultural centers often in remote areas.”
“That was what I’ve always wanted to do and I abandoned my plan to attend graduate school,” Barry discloses. “I remained in Senegal for four months, then spent two months in Gambia working in a batik cooperative, Gena Bess. I returned to Dakar for the larger Senegalese art community and market. After some time I began further travels to Mauritania and Mali and did shows with the cooperation of French and American cultural centers. The work I showed included Batik, Etchings, Watercolors, and pencil sketches.”
“Due to my interest in Anthropology, I learned greetings in the different languages I encountered. It was easy to make friends while I was traveling alone on public transportation. People far into the countryside respected the occupation of an artist and it was not unusual to get good advice from people who might have never entered a museum,” says Barry.
Jim Barry explains ‘Gurunsi Kitchen’ | Photo by Sean Yang / Joann’s Art Space
In 1981 Barry returned to the United States, and while visiting the Armory Center for the Arts he was invited to teach there. “It went really well; I was apparently good at teaching!” he marvels. “That eventually led to a job at Polytechnic School (Caltech’s sister school) a few years later, teaching a Perspective course for sixth graders. Then Caltech conducted a search for a teacher when the institution was seeking to reintroduce its Visual Art program after a long hiatus and I got the part-time job while still working as a teacher at Poly.”
While he held two teaching posts, though, he continued to paint. He held several exhibitions during return trips to West Africa.
Barry started silk painting after three decades of doing batik. “I refined and invented so many techniques that everything became highly complex. I felt I had painted myself into a corner,” he jokes.
“At an international Batik Conference in Boston, I was introduced to silk painting from Japan at a level I could appreciate and learn from,” Barry explains. “By transitioning I left behind the more toxic chemicals I had been working with on cotton since Africa. My silk painting has little in common with traditional Chinese artwork in that dye thickeners are not used. In many cases, it is closer to wet-on-wet watercolor but can be scaled larger.”
Large and small paintings at the exhibition | Photo by Sean Yang / Joann’s Art Space
Asked to describe his process, Barry replies, “Some pictures start with sketches from my daily sketchbook, transition to more drawings, then quick watercolors in preparation for a final large piece. Others begin with a color abstract that gets drawn into with the gutta resist (like wax), then more color, more gutta, etc., until I have achieved my goal or occasionally give up. There is no erasure in silk painting.”
“I like to paint and design both in the studio and in plein air,” explains Barry. “Taking photographs is rarely helpful to me. I will take them for information, but they are seldom used.” As to his painting style, he says, “I prefer to get my lines ‘right’ but enjoy playing with color. I rarely paint a blue sky in that it conveys no emotion.”
Gurunsi Backyard | Photo by Sean Yang / Joann’s Art Space
All of Barry’s paintings are done for the purpose of selling them and he doesn’t have a favorite painting that he never plans to sell.
Barry divulges, “While in Dakar, I had a complex painting of a flying turtle over Africa inspired by a mask statue. I made hand-colored etchings of it and tried to keep the original. Someone bought one of the etchings, and when I mentioned that I had the batik, he wanted that. I insisted it was not for sale; if it were, the price would be a certain multiple of the etching. Though he still wanted it at that, I would not sell. Later in the day, he returned saying he would make it ‘hard on me’ and offered me double. I sold it immediately! Then I asked what he did. It turns out he helps install airports in Africa.”
For someone who has neither a degree in painting nor teaching, Barry has definitely succeeded in both endeavors. And no matter how having a full-time job keeps him busy most days, he always finds the opportunity and time for his passion. As he pronounces, “Perhaps it’s an obsession. Painting is like a sport; one learns mostly by practicing and thinking about it on the field.” Spoken like a philosopher too.
Originally published on 10 March 2023 on Hey SoCal
Masters of Taste returns to the Rose Bowl on April 2, 2023, commemorating its sixth year raising funds for Union Station Homeless Services. About 100 restaurateurs and beverage company owners come together for this event, and from 3 to 7 p.m. they serve food and drinks to approximately 3,000 attendees.
Homelessness has always been heartbreaking. But it becomes deadly when severe weather adds to homeless people’s plight. During winter, there’s a race to make sure they are housed before temperatures dip to near freezing. From November through March 1. Pasadena had over 27 inches of rain, rendering the homeless population in worse circumstances.
An L.A. Times article published on Feb. 23, 2023, reported that “Homeless services providers were struggling with shortages of shelter space Thursday as a rare winter storm raised the danger level for thousands of people living outdoors, with a forecast of three days of rain, freezing temperatures, blizzard-strength wind and low-elevation snow.”
On March 1, 2023, Masters of Taste held its media night (read Brianna Chu’s article about what to expect at the event) in the locker room of the Rose Bowl. As always, there’s excitement among the individuals behind this annual event and the people covering it. But there’s also a sense of great urgency to support Union Station in their relentless work of providing shelter for the homeless population who are now, more than ever, in dire need.
Masters of Taste founder Rob Levy | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
Masters of Taste is the brainchild of Rob and Leslie Levy, owners of The Raymond 1886 in Pasadena and Knox & Dobson. He recalls what drew him to this endeavor, “This goes way back in my childhood. My oldest friend in the world started an organization in Chicago called ‘Inspiration Café,’ delivering sandwiches to the homeless when she was working as a cop. Then she ended up opening a restaurant for the homeless where they could come in, order off the menu, be served with dignity, and leave with no check to pay. If they were a good client, they were invited to work there and learn a trade. That grew into something huge, with multiple restaurants and cafes, cookbooks, and job training. She did this for 20 years and never took a paycheck — she did it for the love of it. She worked as a massage therapist to pay the bills while she grew this multimillion-dollar organization. It gives me shivers just thinking about her and what she has accomplished — she’s quite a remarkable individual and the most positive person you could ever meet in your life.”
“When the former CEO of Union Station asked me to be on the board, I immediately agreed,” continues Levy. “Then we thought we had to change the way we raise funds — we had been to one too many galas where nobody wanted to go, but got dressed up and went anyway because we felt obligated to. We figured we needed to create an amazing event where people aren’t thinking it’s a charity affair and Leslie came up with this idea of getting other chefs to gather for a cause. And what better place to do it than on the field of the Rose Bowl. Thus, Masters of Taste was born.
“We reached out to other chefs that we had done events with over the years and also through Lawrence Moore, of Lawrence Moore and Associates (one of the original founders, Moore is the person responsible for getting media coverage for Masters of Taste). When we explained what we were trying to accomplish, everyone agreed to participate. And they were absolutely thrilled when they learned that it was going to be at the Rose Bowl field. The first year that we did Masters of Taste, participants were incredulous when we told them to be on the field for the load-in because events are usually held only at the perimeter. One guy serving for a brewery had played football in college and played on the Rose Bowl field; it was his first time back there since. He actually got teary-eyed at the recollection because now he was there for a reason other than football.
“That same year, a spontaneous line dancing broke out on the field — DJs played music and in the middle of everything, there must have been 100 people line dancing. It was a delightful occurrence that was totally unanticipated. That was when we knew we were on to something.
“Then we had one year when it rained which, unbelievably, made it an even better event. Nobody left — 3,000 people on the field and they all stayed through the rain. It was the most memorable year we had. We set out to create an event that was like having a great Sunday afternoon out and it has taken on a life of its own. People want to do good — helping other people is now a movement.”
Ann Miskey, Union Station CEO | Photo by Meg Gifford / Hey SoCal
Anne Miskey, CEO of Union Station, reminds that while this annual spring festival at the Rose Bowl is the foremost food event in L.A., it serves a more important role — Masters of Taste celebrates the heart that’s in Los Angeles.
“The work we do is hard; we know homelessness is a major crisis here — there are so many vulnerable people on our streets and we work tirelessly at Union Station,” Miskey states during the media preview. “But we truly could not do it alone. And what you are doing by being here and supporting Masters of Taste is incredibly inspiring and helps us keep going because it shows that people do care, that people do want to make a difference. And I cannot tell you how much of a difference you make. We’re all enjoying the food and the wine but at the heart of that is giving back.”
“We work with thousands of people every year and sometimes it becomes this massive homelessness issue,” Miskey says further. “But it makes a difference if we put names and faces to it. So I want to tell you a little bit about Jose. He is a 74-year old gentleman from Puerto Rico. He had a job and was just living a normal life there and then he got very ill with heart problems during the major hurricane. Puerto Rico was in shambles; he was desperately ill and he couldn’t get help, so he came to Los Angeles for medical services. After his heart surgery, he was told that the hospital didn’t take his insurance and he left the hospital with a huge debt. He then lived in his car and struggled to survive. And then COVID hit. During that time everyone was being told to stay home to stay safe — and he didn’t have a home. Union Station stepped in with Project Room Key; we took some hotels where we were able to put people in.”
“My staff happened to meet Jose in his car and brought him into a warm hotel room, with his own bathroom, and three healthy meals a day,” adds Miskey. “But more than just a room, a bathroom, and food, he had people surrounding him who cared and wanted to make a difference in his life. After we worked with him and got to know him, we got him an apartment. He now lives in his own apartment — he has a living room, a kitchen, and a bedroom.”
One of the things Union Station staff does is to pay a visit to the people they’ve helped house to interview them and capture some of their stories. Miskey relates, “Jose went out and bought a gift for our staff because he said, ‘My mama taught me to never have someone come to your home without giving them something to take back with them.’ So here’s a man who had nothing and he’s making sure that he’s giving back to us. If you see Jose now, you see a man with smiles on his face and his life is back together again.”
Miskey concludes, “As you eat these amazing food and drink these amazing beverages, remember what you’re doing. You’re helping people like Jose, Quintana, and Mary — people who have lives and families but who, for health reasons and other circumstances, had ended up on the street. It’s a fun event and we all enjoy it, but behind it is saving people’s lives. And for that, I thank each and every one of you. I want you to leave tonight knowing that your heart and compassion are making a huge, huge difference.”
Host chefs Michael and Kwini Reed of Poppy + Rose and Poppy & Seed will continue the Masters of Taste’s tradition of making a difference through successful fundraising for Union Station.
Preview of what attendees will enjoy at Masters of Taste 2023 | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
Michael is a classically trained chef and restaurateur, who has spent 19 years as a chef for restaurants across New York and Los Angeles. Born and raised in Oxnard, California, Michael grew up around the barbecue and the smell of fresh, home-made pies. His family cooked every day, pulling ingredients straight from the garden which went on to inspire his passion for food and hospitality.
Kwini is a Southern California native, wife, mother, and entrepreneur. She comes from a large family that values community, generosity, and a strong work ethic – traits that have helped her succeed in her career and personal endeavors. A graduate of California State University, Fullerton with a Bachelor of Science in marketing, she has over a decade of experience in business, finance, and human resource management, having worked at companies throughout LA, including The Standard Hotel, Band of Gypsies, and Brandy Melville USA.
The Reeds are the co-owners of two Los Angeles restaurants, Poppy + Rose of Downtown and Anaheim’s Poppy & Seed. Additionally, they run an upscale catering company, Root of All Food. As if their culinary accomplishments aren’t enough, they’re also in the process of developing a nonprofit to help convey the importance and potential of food to younger generations by coordinating lessons with local chefs, internship programs, and more.
Attendees at this year’s Masters of Taste are assured of having a fantastic time. As Vanda Asapahu, last year’s Masters of Taste host chef, declares “Kwini and Michael are inspiring human beings and together they make a dynamic team.”
So put on your party hat and get ready to eat and drink to your heart’s content as you help Union Station celebrate its 50th anniversary at the 50-yard line at the Rose for Bowl for Masters of Taste 2023! See you there!
Originally published on 1 February 2023 on Hey SoCal
Avid bike riders will have the chance to participate in the 45th Annual L.A. Chinatown Firecracker Run (LACFR) to be held on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 18 and 19, 2023. One of the largest and oldest running races in the U.S., this year’s event incorporates a 40-mile bike ride through Pasadena which starts and ends at the Chinatown Plaza on Broadway. The bike ride route includes Linda Vista Avenue, Woodbury Road, New York Drive, Huntington Drive, Sierra Madre Boulevard, Mission Road, Altadena Drive, among other streets in the San Gabriel Valley. More information is available at firecracker10k.org/bike.
If you’re not a bike-riding enthusiast, though, there are still events you can join, like a 5K or 10K run/walk; even children and dogs can be part of the fun with the 1K kiddie and PAW’er dog run/walk. Registration is open on RaceJoy App and the fee is $30 to $65; participants can attend in person or virtually.
Each registered participant receives a commemorative 2023 Firecracker race bib, exclusive collectible finisher’s medal, limited edition commemorative t-shirt, goody bag, and much more. Additionally, participants and their guests will enjoy the Lunar New Year Celebration in the heart of historic Chinatown with an opening ceremony filled with lion dancers and the traditional lighting of 100,000 firecrackers. The Firecracker post-race expo includes vendors and booths as well as a new Chalk Art Festival and Boba Garden.
L.A. Chinatown Firecracker Run | Photo courtesy of L.A. Chinatown Firecracker Run
An article in the Belmont High School Alumni News in 2022 chronicles LACFR’s humble beginnings in 1978 when Belmont High School (Home of the Sentinels) alumnus Edmund Soohoo (class of 1966) and Helen Young, founding member of the Echo Park Lotus Festival, put their heads together to figure out what else they could to do celebrate the Lunar New Year besides the Golden Dragon Parade already being held annually. She suggested a marathon or a bike race but he thought Chinatown’s streets are probably too hilly for a full marathon, but a 10K would probably work. So he ran with the idea; he started researching and asking who could help organize such an event.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that it took a village to get the first event off the ground — as the Alumni News article recounts. Soohoo contacted a colleague, Fred Honda, who was head of municipal sports for Recreation and Parks; Honda introduced Soohoo to Bob Burke, director of the LAPD Police Olympics, a runner on the their long-distance relay team, and a founding member of the California Police Athletic Federation Board of Directors. Burke (1932-2015) then connected Soohoo to Andy Bakjian and Mel Schlossman (1925-1980). Bakjian (1914-1986) was the head track coach at Jefferson High School and led his team to the 1964 CIF California State Meet team title. He later became the Commissioner of Officials for the So Cal Association of the AAU in 1969, and he chaired the panel that selected the officials to work the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in L.A. Schlossman taught at Fairfax High School and coordinated cross country and track and field events for LAUSD. The four of them began organizing the first Firecracker 10K.
After a year of planning, Soohoo and his crew were ready to launch the race. To spread the word about the new run, volunteers made and distributed leaflets, putting them on car windshields and handing them out to participants at local runs and small races. Wilbur Woo (1916-2012), president of Chinatown’s Cathay Bank, gave Soohoo his personal check to cover the cost of the first t-shirt order.
L.A. Chinatown Firecracker Kiddie Run | Photo courtesy of L.A. Chinatown Firecracker Run
For that initial 10K in 1979, just over 1,000 runners lined up at Chinatown’s Central Plaza. Over the years, additional events were added to encourage participants of all ages and interests. Today, Firecracker events include a 5K run/walk, a bike ride, a kiddie run, and a PAW’er dog walk. Participation has grown to nearly 10,000. The event is no longer just a local one; every year, Firecracker L.A.-sponsored events attract hundreds of newcomers to Chinatown.
LACFR volunteers continue to donate their time and energy to organize and stage events and programs that promote healthy lifestyles, fitness, cultural awareness; support education; and encourage community participation. Through registration fees, donations, and sponsorships, they have endowed over one million dollars to the community. They support local elementary schools by supplementing academic, music, and physical fitness programs.
This year’s sponsors include ABC Laboratories, Young Engineering & Manufacturing, Inc., Longo Toyota Lexus, Payden & Rygel, CXN Freight Systems, Inc., Phoenix-PDQ, Inc., RSM, ZWIFT, LANDSEA, Assam Beverages, Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles Chinatown Corp., RMJ Property, AEC Consultants, Inc., VCA Engineers, Inc., The Wonderful Company, Angel City Brewery, Canton Food Co., LA Central City Optimist, City of Los Angeles, The Lab @Chinatown, GoGo Squeez, Asian Pacific Community Fund, Bicycle Angels, among others.
Interviewed by email, LACFR’s secretary and founding board member Edmund Soohoo talks about the organization’s initial membership to its present day goals. While Belmont High School’s 2022 student population is made up of 87 percent Hispanic and LatinoAmericans, with Asian Americans making up the second largest group at 7 percent, he clarifies, “At the time of the organization’s founding the student body was more diverse — with whites, Japanese, African Americans, Chinese, Italians. The initial committee grew to include Latinos, whites and Japanese as well. We were friends of friends. All of us belonged to community organizations that included members from other races and cultures, as well as their other community advocates supporting each other.”
Asked if promoting a healthy lifestyle was the common thread that connected the founders or if they were all friends outside of this event, Soohoo responds. “Yes and no. Yes, many were friends outside of the event and/or became friends because of their work together. They all strived to coordinate an event our community could be proud of; to share our culture and traditions; and attract people to visit our community — Chinatown. It was always to coordinate the best events possible and share any proceeds with our communities.”
The Firecracker Run attracted attention from the beginning. Soohoo states, “The event drew a wide, diverse audience from day one. It was an opportunity for the greater running community to experience running in a historic community through the scenic and hilly route in Elysian Park.”
L.A. Chinatown Firecracker PAW’er Dog Walk | Photo courtesy of L.A. Chinatown Firecracker Run
In time, what started as a 10K run expanded to what it is today. Soohoo explains, “The kiddie run came about organically. We grew as our runners started families and wanted to involve their children as well. The PAW’er walk came about much later, as many of our committee members had pets, dogs, and thought it would be a good addition to support healthy lifestyles.”
And soon, the event also attracted some corporate sponsors. “There was not a specific turning point, more the evolution and growth of our participant base — size matters. And social media is critical, as well as bringing on board a person dedicated to supporting corporate sponsorships,” Soohoo declares.
As for food attractions being part of the event, Soohoo states, “There have always been simple refreshments for the participants; however, we support local business so we want our participants and spectators to patronize our local restaurants and eateries.”
Having witnessed the evolution of the event, Soohoo recalls some of the memorable high points in its 45-year history, “Highlights include the VIPS who have joined us to start the races; working through some rainy weekends; 100s of volunteers working together; growing the event to nearly 10,000 participants; listening to the drumbeats of the lion dancers; popping of the firecrackers; the roar of the runners; and knowing you did it again — for the runners and our Chinatown community; donating money to the schools and community organizations; and knowing your efforts made a difference.”
Are all the founding members still actively involved and do their children continue the legacy? Soohoo discloses that until late 2021, there were two founding members still actively involved but there’s only one now. Their children aren’t currently involved but they had been in the past.
Soohoo anticipates a bright future notwithstanding, “Each generation — including millennials and Gen Zs — finds their way to events that promote healthy lifestyles, in historic communities, that are authentic with real people from the community and fun for the entire family. Through more marketing, social media, and building upon our assets, we will expand this event. And allowing the next generation to take responsibility to grow Firecracker in their own creative ways!”
It’s heartwarming how a simple idea that a handful of Sentinels conceived came to blossom into such a hugely successful event. Being fit and healthy has never been more fun!
Originally published on 23 January 2023 on Hey SoCal
Evan LeGrande Wilson, who founded LeGrande Studios, Inc. over 30 years ago, has built a flourishing practice of creating decorative and fine artworks. His commissioned works have graced the homes of various celebrities and notable personalities like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Barry Bonds, and Roy Disney, Jr. among others; major institutions including L.A. County Libraries, NASA, Forest Lawn; and several historic churches, hotels, and theaters.
On Dec. 9, 2022, Wilson opened his solo exhibition of cityscapes, landscapes, and portraits at Joann’s Art Space at 1745 Orlando Road in Pasadena. His pieces are available for purchase and can be viewed by appointment only until Feb. 28, 2023 by calling (626) 999-1777. One morning, during a break from the huge winter storm, he graciously agrees to meet for an interview and walkthrough.
Wilson discloses that his painting career began even while he was taking a political science degree at UCLA. He declares, “I had absolutely no interest in political science; I just wanted a degree. While I was in college, I worked for a company that did painting in beautiful homes in Beverly Hills, Bel Air, and other exclusive areas. I worked on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays and I went to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. At first, I worked on glazes and then little by little I got the opportunity to paint something more specific — it could be clouds and skies, flowers or butterflies, etc. It wasn’t [until] after I finished college, though, that I realized I enjoyed painting. So I took some classes at Otis College of Art and Design, then I studied in Europe to improve my artistic abilities.”
Evan LeGrande Wilson with two of his favorite paintings | Photo by courtesy of Joann’s Art Space
Like writers, painters paint what they know. For Wilson, the place where he grew up in rural Utah called Huntington, which then had a population 100 people, holds a special place in his heart and he recently painted a landscape of the farms there. He did another painting for his mother of the area close to where she was raised and where she had gone to school. “She had a graduating class of seven students,” he says.
Travel is a fount of learning and inspiration for many of us, but more so for artists who appreciate what they see and then weave that into their craft. Among the paintings in Wilson’s exhibition are his experiences in Europe. In fact, the source of one of his favorite paintings — “Reflections from Ĉesky Krumlov” — was the Czech Republic. He explains, “I was there taking photos and observing the light at different times of the day and I captured this idea and painted it in oil in the studio. It was actually used as background in a rom-com movie called ‘The Wedding Year’ a couple of years ago.”
“Gréve Generalé” | Photo courtesy of Joann’s Art Space
Wilson points to another piece and says, “This was in Paris when there was a train strike and people, including me, were stuck waiting for the next train. The father has fallen asleep and she’s looking up at the sign to check when the train is going to arrive. I changed the background completely. This is what I call a genre painting as opposed to a portrait, a landscape, or a still life — it captures a moment in time.”
There are two pieces of a winter scene in The Netherlands; another is a still life painted in Belgium — “I was with a friend and we just set some things on the table and I started drawing the rough shapes,” Wilson recalls.
“Ancient Prague” | Photo courtesy of Joann’s Art Space
“This painting is that of an ancient deteriorating historic building in Prague in the Czech Republic,” Wilson states. “I put a vase there — something brighter — to give a contrast to the old weathered wood and as a focal point to look at.”
“Evening Skyline” | Photo courtesy of Joann’s Art Space
The local scenery also serves as a well of creativity. Wilson reveals, “I often drive around L.A. just to look for interesting views and this one is a cityscape at night; that line of palm trees is near Dodger Stadium. I like the color palettes here going into the shadow tones that aren’t necessarily burnt or raw umber but you see violets. It’s like a study on how you see color as it diminishes as the sun goes down. This won a Best in Show on two different group exhibitions.”
A painting that elicits a lot of positive feedback is called “Sunrise.” Wilson states, “It’s heartwarming and beautiful — it’s meant to evoke that feeling when we go out in the morning as the sun is coming up. There were important paint theory decisions I had to make when I was doing this. One is that I brought the horizon line low which allowed me to strié the sky and create all these layers of color. I also moved the trees to the side because the rays of the sun are coming this way so the position of trees is counterbalanced by the direction of the light.”
“Sunrise” | Photo courtesy of Joann’s Art Space
“And going back to color theory, colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel look really good together — they’re called complementary colors for a reason,” Wilson explains further. “That’s why several people responded to this piece during the show. Sometimes we react to things even when we don’t know why we like them. If the trees or the horizon line were right in the center, we’d still like the painting but it wouldn’t have the same effect in our brain, it wouldn’t look as interesting.”
“Castle Green” | Photo courtesy of Joann’s Art Space
Wilson likes painting trees and remarks about one such piece, “This is another tree in an interesting setting. For this, I set up my easel in the park across from Castle Green in Pasadena. It’s a small scene with the Castle Green architecture in the background; I changed the foreground a little bit. I love the way that palm tree came out and it’s one of my absolute favorite paintings.”
“Radiant” | Photo courtesy of Joann’s Art Space
Friends and family also feature in some of his works. “This one, called ‘Radiant,’ has won a Best in Show award,” Wilson says. “This was painted in preparation for a mural that I was selected to paint; the full size painting is in the La Crescenta Library. The model is my niece; I set her up in the studio, moved some lighting around and I took pictures. It’s also one of my favorite paintings; I think it came out really nicely.”
“Warrior” | Photo courtesy of Joann’s Art Space
Pointing to the next piece, Wilson says, “This is a fun painting of my son. I painted him with a bloody nose because I thought that would make it more interesting. There’s a favorite Norwegian painter of mine named Odd Nerdrum who painted self-portraits and there’s one of him with a bloody nose, which I find fascinating. I think it depicts life and vulnerability. In this particular instance, my son was getting to that age where he’s going from being a boy into becoming an adult. And men go through this phase when they can play sports, or go into the mountains, whereas as a child he’s fearful and dependent on someone else for protection. It’s a transitional point when they’re proud of the fact that they can take care of themselves. This one gets mixed reviews. When I showed it in a group exhibition I told one woman that I punched my son to make his nose bleed; she was terrified and she wouldn’t speak to me. And then I told her I was joking.”
“Easter Sunday” | Photo courtesy of Joann’s Art Space
Wilson tends to put some things in a painting that weren’t originally there (like the blue vase in the “Ancient Prague”), as he did for a piece called “Easter Sunday.” He explains, “The people in this painting haven’t even met each other. This piece started out being about these two women chatting. I liked the idea of expanding the scene and making it about an activity, like a Sunday afternoon barbecue with the family. This is my brother on the left and my nephew on the right, and neither one of them has met the two women. In this scene, the red hair is counterbalanced by the guitar and the blue of the sky with her blue shirt. And the vegetable tray coming at you on the foreground isn’t taking away from the conversation that’s going on between the women. All the elements in the painting support that focus.”
“Finding Oneself” | Photo courtesy of Joann’s Art Space
Neither is Wilson shy to approach people he doesn’t know. He relates, “This one is a successful exercise in perspective. Again this is one of those situations where I was driving around and taking photos of something that would work well in a painting. I had in mind a piece about finding yourself and I came across this guy on the campus of Pasadena City College and I asked him to pose for me. He was with a group traveling from somewhere in the Midwest, maybe Oklahoma, and they were just resting on the lawn.”
Likewise, LeGrande Studios is known for decorative arts projects and some of them have been featured in acclaimed publications, including Architectural Digest. Wilson says, “A large portion of my business is what I call site-specific decorative painting where someone will ask me to redesign a room — paint the walls or the ceiling, or paint architectural elements that fit a certain look: maybe it’s a color palette, a design, or a period in a historic home. We work out all the details beforehand and also as we move through the project. Sometimes the commission comes through an interior designer, an architect, or even a friend who tells me ‘I want you to meet with this client.’ Many times I wouldn’t know who I’m painting for, only to find out later that it was a princess from Saudi Arabia.”
Evan LeGrande Wilson in a space arranged to look like his atelier| Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
One can’t help but wonder if his middle name is something he made up and Wilson assures that it isn’t. “LeGrande is really the middle name my parents gave me and the only reason I use it professionally is because there is another older gentleman who’s also an artist — a very good artist — named Evan Wilson. And early on I didn’t want to be confused with him. So I used LeGrande also for my business; it’s not about me feeling grand or big.”
Asked what kind of a painter he is, Wilson replies, “I’m a versatile painter and it’s one of the things I’m most proud of; I’m not just a portrait, or landscape, or genre painter. I like painting a lot of different things. I look for meaning in my work. Each one of us has a gesture we put out into the world — whether we’re writing a song, making a bouquet of flowers to give to someone. And what I want is to be a painter that puts interesting things out there into the world based on my experience and what I like. If I try to do something that everyone will love then I’m not going to succeed. When I paint on canvas, it has to be interesting to me, first and foremost, and if it’s interesting to me, hopefully others will find it interesting as well.”
“Evening Waves” | Photo courtesy of Joann’s Art Space
Is he then making a statement? “It can be said that I’m making a statement,” Wilson says. “However, I’m not a political painter. I have strong opinions about some issues — like the environment, or health care, or the government — but that’s not what I paint. I paint to make a statement of beauty: this is what I find interesting in a beautiful way. Because beauty is only a part of the human experience. I have paintings that make statements about youth and beauty; and I find beauty in painting old people who are far past their prime or in the old tree which has been around for several hundred years. My statements are sometimes hidden and sometimes overt. But, at the end of the day, it’s about what I find interesting. And that sometimes changes through time.”
Lastly, I ask if there’s something he wants to add, and he quickly states, “I just want to say thank you to anyone who takes the time to sit in front of the painting and appreciate it because a lot of work goes into these paintings. It’s an art form. It’s not the most important art form in the world, it’s only part of the human experience — but appreciation of it enhances our life. It’s made by hand, it’s a craft that I have worked on for years and so I’m glad when people take notice. I do it for myself but I also do it as a business and for the enjoyment of others.”
Originally published on 14 January 2023 on Hey SoCal
Mr. Yunioshi is a character in the 1961 movie ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s,’ which was adapted from Truman Capote’s novella of the same title. Mickey Rooney, wearing heavy make-up and mouth fittings, depicted Mr. Yunioshi as a clumsy Japanese photographer who bumped into furniture and lamps. Rooney’s interpretation – a ludicrous caricature – has since become the topic of much critical commentary.
In retrospect, it was a monumental mistake to cast Rooney as an Asian man. However, it can be argued that during the Golden Age of Hollywood, representation hadn’t entered our collective consciousness and movie studios hired mainly known ‘stars.’ In 1957 Yul Brynner played King Mongkut of Thailand on stage and later in the film adaptation of ‘The King and I.’ Katherine Hepburn was cast as an Asian Woman in the 1944 drama ‘Dragon Seed;’ Luise Rainer even won an Academy Award for her role in yellowface in the 1937 film ‘The Good Earth.’ That didn’t make it right, of course, but it was the reality at that time.
A reversal of that situation is what’s in store in ‘Mr. Yunioshi.’ We’ll have the chance to see for ourselves how an Asian American playwright and actor imagined what Rooney was thinking to arrive at his depiction of the character when the play opens at the Sierra Madre Playhouse on Jan. 27. and runs through Feb. 5, ‘Mr. Yunioshi was written by J. Elijah Cho who also performs the titular role.
J. Elijah Cho in ‘Mr. Yunioshi’ | Photo by Rob Slaven / Sierra Madre Playhouse
Interviewing an Asian American actor who plays the role of a white man portraying an Asian character is such a thrill for an Asian American like me who has called Pasadena home for 40 years! By email Cho informs me that his parents were both in the Air Force (now retired) so he and his brother moved around a lot when they were growing up. He knew acting was his calling the first time he saw Ke Huy Quan in ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’ as Short Round and in ‘The Goonies’ as Data. “Quan continues to inspire me as an actor!” Cho enthusiastically declares.
When Cho graduated from high school on a military base in Korea, one of his aunts gave him a copy of Stephen King’s ‘On Writing.’ King’s book was what motivated him to write plays that he could ultimately perform himself when he went on to study Theatre Performance at the University of South Florida.
Cho’s role as Wonderboy AMC’s original series ‘Halt and Catch Fire’ was his introduction to American audiences. He says, “’Halt and Catch Fire’ is, to date, my biggest acting credit, and I’m so grateful to have been a part of a show that I am also a huge fan of. I auditioned for that through my agent in Tampa and we filmed in Atlanta. What I’m best known for right now is this YouTube video from Jubilee Media, ‘Do All Asian-Americans Think Alike?’ I’ve been recognized a few times for that, which is weird and fun. I’m hoping soon I’ll be known for Mr. Yunioshi!”
Asked when he wrote ‘Mr. Yunioshi’ and what prompted him to, he replies, “I wrote Mr. Yunioshi after my time on ‘Halt …’ was over but I had the idea before then. The play was written as sort of a humorous but heartfelt response to a local theater gatekeeper and also the limited roles and opportunities specifically for Asian American actors. I hope someday other Asian actors will see and want to do the show for their communities. I think Mickey Rooney is the most pointed to example of yellowface in cinema and people have protested screenings of ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ because of his scenes. I don’t think of myself as an agitator, but I thought it was a subject that a lot of people (myself included) felt strong feelings about and that maybe humor and empathy could be used to help us navigate a way through it.”
Cho adds, “I think it can be hard for an actor to navigate what roles they choose because they have very little say in the opportunities they are given. I think writing helps but it comes with its own set of responsibilities. I believe an actor’s responsibility is to live truthfully under imaginary circumstances. And it certainly helps when you’re given a bit of control over those circumstances.”
J. Elijah Cho in ‘Mr. Yunioshi’ | Photo by Rob Slaven / Sierra Madre Playhouse
As to the audience takeaway, Cho says, “Empathy! I think that’s the big thing I hope audiences take from Mr. Yunioshi. I also hope they laugh and that they can leave some things behind, if that makes sense? I’ve had a few people tell me they thought I’d be angrier, but I don’t want to hate Mickey Rooney. I mean, I’ll make fun of him, but I think audiences can tell if it’s mean. And I don’t want to put more meanness out there.”
Mr. Yunioshi has been performed in New York and Australia so I ask if Australian audiences react similarly as those in New York and if the Edinburgh Fringe is next. Cho states, “The New York Fringe in 2016 was the first draft of the show and was still very tongue-in-cheek. My friend, Joe Wagner, directed me for the Hollywood Fringe and helped ground my performance and really find the comitragic character of Mickey Rooney. A tape of the Hollywood performance played online in Sydney during the lockdown, so unfortunately I didn’t get to see the audience reaction in Australia! And oh gosh, Edinburgh! I would love to do it at some point but we’ll have to see when!”
While having acting credentials on a television series and being on YouTube are helpful in furthering his career, they don’t necessarily result in getting the roles he wants. Cho explains, “I have a lot more experience on stage and I think that provides a degree of comfort. And I’m grateful for any opportunity to perform so I love being on set. Lately, I’ve been trying to remind myself that the type of credits I have hasn’t been as integral to finding collaborators as just staying busy and putting myself out there and I think that’s what really opens doors.”
I ask him how he prepares for Mr. Yunioshi and if the role gets easier now that he’s performed it a few times, he responds, “It’s a solo performance, so it’s only me on stage the entire time; and that’s challenging in a lot of ways. I’ve performed it a lot now and I feel like each show has prepared me a bit more mentally and emotionally for the next. It has gotten easier and while it is exhausting, I’m always so excited to perform it for people!”
J. Elijah Cho in ‘Mr. Yunioshi’ | Photo by Rob Slaven / Sierra Madre Playhouse
So what’s next for him? Cho says, “I’m writing a few new things – a horror comedy pilot and a horror screenplay among them… I’ve also got a few things for stage that are in the works. The next thing for me will be a sketch show at the Pack Theater with my team, Surprise B*tch! (or Surprise Beach, if we think there will be children present but it’s a late enough show that I think we’re okay…).”
Lastly, I ask him if there’s anything he wants me to include in the article that I had omitted to bring up. He says, “I’m always anxious that I’ve forgotten to express gratitude to all of the people that have helped with the show, so real quick: Thank you, Mom, Dad, Josh, Aunt Susie, Ari & David Stidham, Sierra Madre Playhouse, Hollywood Fringe, Joe Wagner, Jack Holloway, and you and your readers! I hope you can come see Mr. Yunioshi at Sierra Madre Playhouse, January 27 – February 5!”
While Mr. Yunioshi is a comedy, at the core it examines thought-provoking questions: Should actors have the opportunity to play ANY role? Could there ever have been a ‘right’ way to play it? What compels an actor to play a character that they really shouldn’t be playing?
Mr. Yunioshi is what Cho imagined informed (however ill it was) Rooney’s acting choice in his portrayal of a fictional Asian character. He treated his subject with kindness and compassion – he showed that Rooney’s intent was simply to make the audience laugh. And many people did when the film was first released. But we have since evolved as a society and we now recognize that insensitivity is no laughing matter.
Originally published on 6 December 2022 on Hey SoCal
The Scholart Selection, an art space located at the San Gabriel Mission District, held its inaugural show from Nov. 18 to 20 – in time for the holiday shopping season – with an exhibition and sale of hats, glassware, and ceramic items made by Pasadena artist Cissy Li. Also featured were vintage costume jewelry from the showroom owner’s private collection.
A former haute couture runway model, Li graced the catwalk for Europe’s renowned fashion houses. She followed that illustrious career with yet another artistic endeavor – artisanal milliner (read related article here) – creating bespoke headwear for friends. Then she expanded into making glass and ceramic art ware, which she displayed at her spring show this year (read my article here).
Plates with an over glaze of famous oil paintings and 22K gold band | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
According to Li, she wasn’t asked to make anything special for Scholart Selection’s maiden event. She says, “Cindy [the art space’s founder] trusted me to come up with something and told me not to work too hard; she reassured me that we had enough items to show. So I made 16 plates for the gallery opening – they are one layer of clear glass with an over glaze of famous oil paintings and 22K gold band.”
That confidence in Li’s ability is high praise from someone she hasn’t known very long. She discloses that they met through a friend they both know. “I then invited Cindy to my friend Yenfu Guo’s exhibition called GAME at Seasons LA. After some lengthy and wonderful conversations, we became friends. I invited her to my workshop to show her how to make glass art work. She was very interested and, maybe impressed, so she asked me to be her new art space’s first guest artist. I was so thrilled!”
Cissy Li (at left) and Cindy Wang (right) | Photo by Lingxue Hao / The Scholart Selection
It isn’t the first time that Li has partnered with a gallery and she absolutely enjoys the experience. She enthuses, “This is a wonderful way to show people your ability! And I had a great time working with Cindy. I learned so much from her – she is so smart and hands-on – and I would love to collaborate with her again!
Li’s recollection about how they became acquainted is echoed by Cindy Wang, Scholart Selection’s founder, who graciously speaks with us during the showroom’s opening. Scholart’s Space Manager Dodonna Jen acts as interpreter to facilitate the interview.
Wang relates, “We met at a friend’s party about six months ago and we hit it off. I’ve met a lot of artists in my life and I felt I connected with Cissy as one artist to another. I saw her work and how passionate she is about her art. I also admire how meticulous she is in keeping her workshop neat and organized.”
The decision to ask Li to be her first guest artist wasn’t an impulse but a deliberate choice. Wang explains, “Cissy is a dear friend of mine and I have a great understanding of her creative process. Since our opening exhibition is a three-day event amidst the holidays, the hand-crafted hats, ceramics, and glassware with their beautiful colors are very fitting to share with everyone during the Christmas season. I truly commend Cissy for her dedication and hard work and all the hours she puts in to perfect each and every piece of her art.”
Vintage costume jewelry and hats | Photo by Lingxue Hao / The Scholart Selection
Vintage costume jewelry pieces accompanied the magnificent Cissy Li creations. They were from Wang’s private collection gathered from her travels in Europe and were available for purchase. However, the cameos were only on display because she’s loathed to part with them. She states, “There’s so much history and stories behind the cameos and I’m not ready to give them up just yet.” Perhaps one day.
While at first glance, the vintage jewelry is reminiscent of Old Hollywood glamour, Wang didn’t necessarily pick from that particular era, fashion, or style. She sees the value of the costume jewelry based on their beauty, quality, and workmanship.
Cameos in Cindy Wang’s collection | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
Wang reiterates, “That’s why I call the space Scholart Selection – the art pieces we exhibit, from jewelry to ceramics, have been selected to reflect the best of artists’ work. What I’m sharing with people are what I personally picked, not random items.”
Because she was born and raised in Beijing – which has a long and storied art and culture history – Wang was drawn to the arts early on. She reveals, “I majored in interior design and also studied advertising at university. After graduating, I started a media company. My husband and I have an extensive range of art collections, including traditional Chinese ceramics, calligraphy and paintings; Japanese wood-block art; and numerous antique and vintage cameos. The Scholart Selection is not my first art space. I’ve owned an antique shop for several years in Beijing that showcases all kinds of art.”
“When I’m not working on an exhibition, I enjoy creating content for my art channel, as well as traveling to various countries to visit local galleries and artists’ studios or even antique shops,” adds Wang. “I always believe that the best way to learn is to see and experience.”
Wang had been living in the United States for three years when she founded the company in 2012 as a channel for art. She originally called it The Scholar but eventually renamed it Scholart (a portmanteau for scholar and art) Selection. It then became obvious that she needed a space for her to realize her desire to share the knowledge she gained and learned through the years.
While she is an Arcadia resident, she chose to open her showroom in San Gabriel. She says, “The San Gabriel Mission area is a historical landmark and when I saw it, I knew it was the perfect place for an art space!”
Cindy Wang (at left) and Dodonna Jen (right) | Photo by Lingxue Hao / The Scholart Selection
Discovering the perfect space to open its doors to the public took some time and doing, though. Dodonna Jen explains, “Cindy found this space in September last year and there had been a lot of back and forth with the landlord and property manager. We leased the spot in February then went through extensive planning and renovations. All the renovations were completed in August so we literally just moved in.”
And Wang and her team hit the ground running. After Li’s show, Scholart Selection will welcome in December the next artist – A Japanese American artist who will share his experience growing up in Los Angeles through his artwork.
“Our current plan is to hold eight to ten exhibitions for 2023,” Wang divulges. “We are now lining up both local and international artists. Our regular exhibitions run about a month long while smaller shows and pop-up events go on for about a few days.
“Whatever the scale of the exhibition, The Scholart Selection always encourages everyone to walk into the art space and feel the spectacular visual gratification that makes you want to keep coming back to experience art in person, as well as relax, muse, and have a good time,” asserts Wang.
Determining whom to invite to exhibit their artwork at Scholart Selection involves analyzing the artist’s oeuvre. Wang declares, “First of all, when we look into an artist, it’s not only my personal understanding of them but also our entire team’s evaluation. We see their artwork, the style and the story that they wish to tell. Of course, the initiative for us to work with an artist is the artist’s perception, with sensitivity to the current culture and society. The process of collaborating with artists and selecting the artworks is always the most fun part. Working with artists always brings me into contact with a wealth of outlook on the world.”
Beautiful glassware in striking colors | Photo by Lingxue Hao / The Scholart Selection
“We are not limited to a certain art form, because art has no boundaries,” Wang clarifies. “This is also the reason why The Scholart Selection does not categorize itself as a gallery but, instead, as an art space. We welcome various art forms, such as movies, music, photography, and different ways of artistic expression. We would love to devote ourselves to creating opportunities for talented artists.”
That Wang asked Cissy Li as their inaugural artist demonstrates her and Scholart Selection’s commitment to that mission, along with showcasing only the best in their field. And the reception from guests did not disappoint.
“We put in a lot of time and effort for this event – from decorating to designing and from invitations to coordination.” Wang concludes, “We wanted to give our guests a welcoming and warm experience. It was definitely successful; we were overwhelmed!”
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Wang and Li created an event people enjoyed going to because they curated pieces to mirror their kindred spirit and passion for art. The exhibition set the benchmark for Scholart Selection’s upcoming shows. It’s a tough act to follow, but Wang is sure to invite only consummate professionals like her who can top that feat time and time again.
A San Gabriel Valley Inquirer 