Jacqueline Valenzuela. Cooking. Aerosol Oil Paint Stick on Canvas / Photo courtesy of Ontario Museum of History & Art
In 2009, the various community groups in the City of Ontario’s recreation centers got together and created what they dubbed the performer showcase. What was a simple affair has become an annual celebration now known as Culture Fest and it returns on May 11, 2024 from 12 to 4 pm with a block party presented by the Ontario Museum of History & Art.
Located at 225 South Euclid Avenue, the Ontario Museum of History & Art is uniquely housed in the former City Hall and is a historical landmark funded by the Works Progress Administration. Its mission is to preserve, interpret, and celebrate the history and cultural heritage of Ontario and the surrounding area. From developing exhibitions, to engaging visitors through educational experiences, and events that inspire creative action, it is an anchor to the growing downtown arts district. The Museum recently achieved accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), the highest national recognition accorded to the nation’s museums.
Photo courtesy of the Ontario Museum of History & Art
The free, family-friendly Culture Fest features the different cultural experiences that exist within Ontario’s diverse community. This year it will highlight the rich Chicanx diaspora. Participants will enjoy art installations, live music, a classic car show, hands-on art-making activities, food and beverages, live performances that express what it means to be Chicanx in the Inland Empire, and more.
By email, event coordinator, Rebecca Ustrell, talks about its fascinating history. “Culture Fest originated over 15 years ago as a showcase of community groups from the City of Ontario’s recreation centers and was called the performer showcase. It was held at the time of class registrations (before you could sign up online) so that community members could see the types of classes that they could sign up for. A few years back, it became a heritage event and was hosted by the library and Robert E. Ellingwood Model Colony History Room.”
“It’s gone through different iterations to serve the needs of the community at the time it was happening,” explains Ustrell. “Always with the aim of continuing to celebrate Ontario’s diversity, Culture Fest was created to serve as a platform to showcase the different cultural tradition of communities which reside in Ontario, California.”
Photo courtesy of the Ontario Museum of History & Art
As Culture Fest expanded, it moved to various venues to accommodate the audience which had likewise increased. Ustrell relates, “In 2019, the Community Life & Culture Agency hosted the event at Ontario Town Square, where the many cultural communities of Ontario were celebrated through an array of spectacular performances by local Ontario groups and schools including Tongan dance, Taiko drumming, Mariachi, Folklorico, and Interpretive dance. The event also hosted family arts and craft booths, and information booths from local communities such as MALO (Motivating Action Leadership Opportunity) highlighting the Tongan Community and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.”
The pandemic upended life as we know it and the world went on lockdown. Culture Fest was not hosted in 2020-2021 and – as all institutions did – the City of Ontario focused on online arts and culture experiences to continue to engage with the city’s diverse community.
Photo courtesy of the Ontario Museum of History & Art
“In 2022, Culture Fest returned. This time taking place in the Downtown Ontario Arts District at the historic old City Hall which is now the Ontario Museum of History & Art,” explains Ustrell. “The staff at City of Ontario Community Life and Culture and the Ontario Museum of History & Art partnered to it to reinvigorate the spirit of celebrating cultural diversity. It featured The Southland Symphony Orchestra, Bob Baker Marionette Theater, MALO, artist vendors, and an assemblage workshop with Dr. Patricia Jessup-Woodlin. Occurring in tandem with the city-wide Ontario Art Walk, this event attracted a wider audience at its new venue, further solidifying the impact of community.”
According to Ustrell planning Culture Fest takes between six to nine months and taps into the needs of the community for the event’s theme. Their current programming is also significant factor when deciding what to focus. In the past, it showcased the different performing arts programs within the recreation department. Last year, the theme was water, inspired by the new permanent exhibit Built on Water.
Photo courtesy of the Ontario Museum of History & Art
Continues UstrelI, “In 2023, the Museum, Arts & Culture department at the City of Ontario doubled capacity and allowed for growth in the vision of Culture Fest. With the addition of a public art installation, Culture Fest’s impact on the local art scene grew tremendously. The event thematically focused on water, in celebration of the opening of the Museum’s new permanent exhibition, Built on Water: Ontario and Inland Southern California. Additionally, the festival featured public artist Luciana Abait’s large-scale immersive video projection installation, The Glass Wall.”
“Originally presented in 2022 as a part of LUMINEX 2.0 in downtown Los Angeles, the artwork draws attention to water as a resource, and the realities and metaphors involved in the struggle to control it,” Ustrell describes. “The video was projected onto the northwest façade of the Museum. A roster of performers, varying from a Tongan performance by MALO and marionette puppetry, to a rendition of Handel’s Water Dance by the Southland Symphony’s brass quintet, was featured. High school bands with the Southern California Percussion Ensemble closed out the evening.”
Design and Build your own Front Yard Plaza / Photo courtesy of the Ontario Museum of History & Art
“The 2024 Culture Fest will highlight the rich Chicanx diaspora which has called Ontario its home for generations,” discloses Ustrell. “Whilst inviting local entertainers, artists, and organizations to partner with us, we realized that the footprint of the event had to expand to house all of the exciting activations we had in mind. We opted to reserve an entire city block to host this year’s Culture Fest, resulting in the decision to add the tagline ‘Block Party’ to the title.”
“This year’s roster of activities and entertainment is exciting, and attendance is expected to double because of the attractions planned for the day. Guests are invited to explore a classic car show hosted by colorblindshotz while sounds are provided by Bitter End Gallery and DJ Lis Bomb. Experience art installations by Briar Rosa which celebrate childhood candy and snacks, such as Takis, iconic in the Chicanx community; Jacqueline Valenzuela will present a historical timeline of custom car culture; view a claymation animation by Anthony Chacon and a stacked CRT TV video installation by Al Espinugio; and a 4ft low rider piñata created by The Piñata House will be on display,” Ustrell says further.
Classic Car Show / Photo courtesy of the Ontario Museum of History & Art
Financed entirely by the Department of Museum, Art & Culture’s operating budget, Culture Fest will also feature hands-on art-making activities like “Build Your Own Lowrider” with Jacqueline Valenzuela. “Growing Art Ontario” with Willis Salomon will contribute to a communal art installation celebrating a more art-ful community. “Build and Dream Your Front-Yard Plaza with John Kamp and James Rojas will demonstrate how residents can make the ultimate Chicanx inspired front yard with found objects. Attendees can decorate themselves with original hand-carved stamp temporary tattoos with Grafica Nocturna and take glamour shots at the Old School Photobooth by Gilbert G Photography.
Collaborations with The Cheech Center include a Build Your Crown activities inspired by artist Eloy Torrez, and the Chaffey Community Museum of Art will hold a Piñata Bust Art Raffle. Both the Ontario Museum of History & Art and Chaffey Community Museum of Art, which are admission-free and open to the public, will remain open throughout the duration of the event.
Gilbert G Photography / Photo courtesy of the Ontario Museum of History & Art
“As an agency, Community Life & Culture’s consistent driving force is to uplift, highlight, and educate visitors on the cultural communities of Ontario and Greater Southern California. We work diligently to provide opportunities for artists and purveyors of culture to thrive by collaborating with these talented individuals. Culture Fest could not exist without that collaboration, and we are honored to engage with musicians, entertainers, and artists by providing them with paid opportunities, and afford unique arts and educational experiences for visitors,” concludes Ustrell.
While showcasing the Chicanx experience, the 2024 Culture Fest in Ontario also promises to be a spectacular event full of fun and thrills for the entire family. What could be a better way to spend a beautiful spring day in Southern California!
The Kwun Shu Opera Society’s Kun Opera performance | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
To most Asians and people of Chinese descent, the dragon is the most auspicious animal symbol in the lunar calendar – the sign symbolizes power and success and brings good fortune and prosperity. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens welcomed the Year of the Dragon with a festival on February 10 and 11, 2024 from 10 am to 5 pm.
Program highlights on Feb. 10 included live music by the Han Music Ensemble (10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and 2–4 p.m.) and Chinese Kwun Opera Society (11 a.m. and 1 p.m.) in the Chinese Garden. There were also martial arts demonstrations by Shaolin Temple Cultural Center USA (East Lawn, 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.) and K-STAR Contortion and Martial Arts (Rothenberg Hall, 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.), as well as lion dancers featuring Northern Shaolim Kung Fu (12:30 and 3:30 p.m.) on the East Lawn near the Huntington Art Gallery. Additionally, mask-changing artist Wei Qi Zhong performed (11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m.) inside Haaga Hall.
Lion Dance | Photo courtesy of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
“This is one of the most beloved events of the entire year at The Huntington,” Sian Adams, Director of Strategic Initiatives, stated during a phone conversation. “There’s something for everybody; it has a lot of different food options, live music, performances, arts and crafts workshops for kids, lots of different offerings that make the day fun for a variety of ages.”
Kung Fu demonstration | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
While some events – like the lion dance – are mainstays, the organizers mix up the offerings. “We always are looking at the programming,” stated Adams. “This year we added the Kun Opera for a two-day performance in the Chinese Garden because we wanted to bring in something very artistic and special to the garden’s space itself.”
Kun Opera | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
The Kun Opera, also known as Kunqu Opera, is one of the three classic operas of the world. It is highly stylized – singers with painted faces wear elaborate costumes; hand gestures and head movements add another layer of meaning to what’s being sung. UNESCO proclaimed it as a ‘Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001.
All performances were relatively short – about 20 minutes each – held at different locations and people watched while standing. However, some performances had seating, like the Kun Opera in the Chinese Garden and the contortion and martial arts shows in Rothenberg Hall.
Floral display | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
Whether it was by design or a case of bad scheduling, some shows were presented during the same time slots. Visitors either missed a really great presentation or had to stay the entire day to catch all the performances. If the organizers planned that all along to entice people to stay longer, though, then it was brilliant! There were several shows that went on throughout the day, like the floral arrangements, the Lego display, and calligraphy writing station. The Han Music Ensemble played well-known Chinese music with traditional instruments at the Transcendent Pavilion from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 2 to 4 p.m.
Calligraphy-writing station | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
According to Adams the Lunar New Year Festival is open to all members but it’s so popular that membership tickets usually sell out on the first day they’re offered. Tickets are also available to the general public although these also go very quickly so everyone is encouraged to purchase well in advance. Advanced reservations to get in are required for non-members and members as well.
Tai Chi demonstration | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
“This annual event is part of The Huntington’s regular programming,” explained Adams. “That said, we’ve had one corporate partner which has made the Lunar New Year Festival possible for us since the beginning and that’s East West Bank. They have been our champion and a friend to the Chinese Garden at The Huntington from the earliest days. We’re truly lucky and we appreciate their friendship.”
Masked performer / Photo courtesy of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Now on its 19th year, the Lunar New Year Festival is The Huntington’s biggest event and it takes place across the institution in multiple staging spaces. It’s surprising therefore to learn that there aren’t that many people who make it happen. Adams said, “It’s a pretty lean and mean team headed by our Membership Dept. But while there are only a handful of core staff organizing it, there are about 50 volunteers on the day of the event to help ensure everything runs smoothly. We have a robust volunteer program – teen volunteers, docents, and staff sign up for the various events.”
Battlefield drums (gu) being played| Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
“The Lunar New Year Festival is a big lift for The Huntington – it’s all hands on deck for all of us here. We want everybody who comes to have a good experience and a great time. We look carefully at our programming and, just as important, our food offerings. All our restaurants are open and we also bring in external food trucks so there are lots of options to help ensure shorter lines and people aren’t waiting a long time for food. Additionally, we want to give visitors a variety of choices. These food trucks are they’re typically grouped in spaces but they’re all over The Huntington. It’s a very large campus so we want to make sure there are food available everywhere for easy access to visitors. You can be on one side and you don’t want to go all the way to the other side to find food.”
Adams added, “We make sure we offer lots of different entry points to invite people to come in and learn about other cultures and experience different traditions. Food can sometimes be an important gateway. You might try Chinese food and think ‘Oh I want to learn a little bit more.’ It makes the world a little bit smaller.”
Han Music Ensemble with traditional Chinese instruments (pipa, which is like a guitar, on the left; guzheng, a plucked zither, on the right) | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
“One of the things I want to emphasize is how proud we are to be a part of the Chinese-American community in Southern California,” declared Adams. “With the Garden and this festival, we open up The Huntington and welcome that dialogue in trying to make the world a little bit smaller by bringing east and west together. And really just connecting people and educating for the purpose of increasing understanding is important for these days and times. If you can learn a little bit more about another culture, boy doesn’t that go far!? Those are the things you carry your whole life – a little bit of understanding, a little bit of perspective.”
Photo courtesy of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
If there’s one thing that most people can connect with, it’s food. And who doesn’t like Chinese food? Dumplings, chow mein, sweet and sour pork, and orange chicken are some of the most recognizable dishes the world over. How wonderful it is to discover our shared humanity with people sitting at the same table while enjoying a delicious bowl of noodles and taking in the artistic and cultural traditions of one of the oldest civilizations on earth. At the very least, it’s a fantastic way to welcome the Year of the Dragon.
Located about 120 miles south of Pasadena, La Jolla is a wealthy seaside community with a population of approximately 50,000 or close to a third of Pasadena’s. It occupies seven miles of coastline and is home to several venerable educational foundations, including the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and University of California San Diego; historic buildings like the La Jolla Woman’s Club and La Jolla Recreational Center; renowned sports venues such as Torrey Pines Golf course and La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club.
It is also the breathtaking setting for the Annual La Jolla Concours d’Elegance, which will be held this year from April 19 to 21. Presented by LPL Financial and major sponsors Panerai, Mercedes Benz, and Sotheby’s, among others, it will showcase classic automobiles from the Roaring ’20s and Glamorous ’30s. Celebrating its 18th year, it is recognized as the premier automotive lifestyle event.
Photo courtesy of La Jolla Concours d’Elegance
Speaking by phone, event chair Michael Dorvillier talks about the event’s humble beginnings and how it evolved into one of the most prestigious classic automobile showcases in the country. He relates, “It was created 20 years ago as the La Jolla Motor Cars Classic by a group of community leaders and merchants with the primary objective of bringing business into La Jolla in the month of January when things are usually really, really quiet. Then sometime in 2011 or 2012 the original founders handed ownership of the show to the La Jolla Historical Society.”
“Incidentally, the historical society’s executive director at the time was a friend of mine and didn’t know anything about cars,” adds Dorvillier. “The founding group knew I was a car collector – I would always go to the show because it was in my own backyard. I put in a car once; it was always a fun thing for me to do. They also knew I was passionate about the community and I had relationships in the car world. I was asked to step in and be part of the committee that oversaw the event. I was at a point in my professional career when I was financially stable and I wanted to find something I could donate time and money to.”
A wealth manager offering financial services, Dorvillier has lived in La Jolla for the past 35 years. It was where he raised his kids and established his business. Buying and collecting old cars, tinkering with them and showing them, became a lifelong hobby when he bought his first car – his dad’s 1969 Camaro – which he retrofitted with fancy wheels and a modern motor.
Dorvillier continues, “I joined the committee the first year to observe and soak up as much information as I could about this event as it stood then and what its future could look like. And I realized very quickly they had this really great little car show, but it was on a concours venue at this amazing location – Ellen Browning Scripps Park. No other organization can have that entire park for a weekend to themselves, but the show had been there long enough that they kind of had that in their back pocket. However, I wasn’t going to put in my time and energy for a local car show held once a year on a Sunday; I wanted to do a proper concours. Thus, in 2013, the three-day weekend getaway called La Jolla Concours d’Elegance was born.”
Photo courtesy of La Jolla Concours d’Elegance
“When we converted it to a concours, we needed to have judges. Today we have 75 volunteer judges who are from different parts of the U.S., and six or seven of them come from overseas. They’re all specialists in the cars they judge and they want to have La Jolla on their resumé. There are, in fact, quite a few high-end concours around the world. You can go to many different ones around the globe and see world-class cars that travel from concours to concours. But what makes us stand out and garner global attention is the experience we offer. Our tagline is ‘world-class cars, world-class experience.’
And La Jolla Concours d’Elegance has certainly lived up to that claim. Dorvillier remarks, “Last year, we had 21 Duesenbergs on display. Most of them were 1 of 1 – meaning they only ever made one of them. Every single screw, wire, and leather seat was exactly what it would have been when the car was built new. The first five or six Duesenbergs in the line-up were probably worth $100-M. These are pieces of art! They’re very rare, beautiful automobiles. You don’t have to like cars to come to our show and love it and want to come back. You’re looking at art and history.”
The three-day getaway experience has an impressive array of activities with every amenity imaginable. Much thought and planning have gone into this year’s event, starting with the cover art for the posters, programs, tickets, banners, and other promotional materials. Official La Jolla Concours artist Scott Jacobs, prominent for his incredible photorealistic paintings of motorcycles and automobiles, will continue to astound as he paints the 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III from the Aaron Wiess collection.
The 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III epitomizes the luxury and engineering prowess of pre-war Rolls-Royce. This model, replacing the Phantom II, is distinguished as the only V12 Rolls-Royce until 1998’s Silver Seraph. Among the 721 V12 Phantom III chassis built from 1936 to 1939, this particular vehicle is a testament to the era’s peak in automotive luxury and design. Its heart, an aluminum-alloy V12 7.32-liter engine, is a marvel of its time, featuring a dual ignition system with two distributors and 24 spark plugs. Enhanced by Ace wheel discs for aesthetics and practicality, the car also boasts advanced features like on-board jacking and the Bijour lubrication system. Scott Jacobs’s portrayal of this iconic vehicle in his artwork not only captures its elegance and sophistication, but also serves as a tribute to the artistry and grandeur of the automotive and artistic crafts of the era.
Photo courtesy of La Jolla Concours d’Elegance
Instead of featuring a single marque, the 2024 Concours celebrates a vast range of makes and models from the transformative era of the 1920s and 1930s, including Bugatti, Duesenberg, Packard, Bentley, Rolls Royce, and more. From sleek Art Deco designs to the powerful engines found within, these vehicles will transport spectators back to a time of innovation, luxury, and boundless enthusiasm for automotive craftsmanship.
An exquisite collection of automobiles will also be on display including:
1932 Chrysler CP8 (Robert Schlesier): A marvel of engineering with only 5 surviving examples of the original 251 built. Debuting at the La Jolla Concours after extensive restoration, this car boasts a unique transmission.
1930 Ruxton (The Nethercutt Museum): Of the 96 produced, fewer than 20 survive. The Ruxton’s distinctive striped paint job highlighted its low profile.
1937 Rolls Royce Phantom III V-12 (Thrupp & Maberly): Originally commissioned by Sir Kameshwar, Maharajah of Bahadur, this vehicle was a highlight at the 2003 Pebble Beach Concours.
1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia SS (Mark Angotta): A rarity in black, among the 1,400 built, this model stands out for its stunning livery.
1955 Jaguar D-Type: Once owned by Hollywood comedian and writer Jack Douglas, this is one of only 71 ever made.
1973 250 cc Husqvarna Trials Bike: A rare find in the USA, with only 200 initially imported.
Aston Martin DB5: Celebrated as the “Most Famous Car in the World,” renowned for its iconic role in the James Bond film ‘Goldfinger.’
Fiat 1500 GT by Ghia (Kipland Howard): An extremely rare model, with only 36 imported to the USA and fewer than 50 known to survive worldwide. Its appearance at the La Jolla Concours marks its American debut.
1962 Triumph Italia 2000 Vignale (Kurt & Sharon Oblinger): Designed by Giovani Michelotti and built by Vignale, this is one of the only 328 ever produced.
Photo courtesy of La Jolla Concours d’Elegance
The world-class experience begins on Friday, April 19, with a VIP Party from 6:00 to 10:00 pm at Ellen Browning Scripps Park. Guests will immerse themselves in live music, savor artistically crafted cocktails from a hosted bar, relish gourmet delights from 20 of San Diego’s top restaurants, and participate in an exciting live auction featuring unique items.
On Saturday, April 20, guests will take part in an intimate and exclusive experience from 7:00 am to 2:00 pm. They will start the day by visiting remarkable car collections followed by a driving tour of the dramatic scenery of San Diego. A sumptuous lunch awaits them at the private venue.
Later that day, “Porsches on Prospect” goes on from 5:00 to 9:00 pm. Guests will witness 75 magnificent Porsches lining Prospect Street, and enjoy the village’s vibrant atmosphere, featuring live music, exclusive retail offers, gallery openings, restaurant specials, and much more.
On Sunday, April 21, from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, guests will get a once-in-a-lifetime chance to view over 200 spectacular and rare vehicles that will be displayed at Ellen Browning Scripps Park on the La Jolla Cove lawn along the breathtaking Pacific Coast. They will indulge in the Champagne and Honey Tasting Garden and other unique experiences throughout the day. They will enjoy live music, visit exclusive vendors, and be treated to refreshing beers and cocktails – all while surrounded by an extraordinary display of cars. Moreover, they will watch a vintage flyover along the coast!
Photo courtesy of La Jolla Concours d’Elegance
That the little La Jolla car show has gone on to the become the dazzling and sought-after weekend party is not lost on Dorvillier. He enthuses, “When I took over as chairman, I jokingly said to someone one day ‘Every time I say to my wife let’s go to this car show this weekend, her response is do we really have to go to another one of those?’ It’s usually the last thing a non-car person wants to do. So we purposefully created an experience where if the husband was the car guy and the wife was sick of going to car shows, she was going to be dragging him back next year. And we have succeeded!”
Dorvillier quickly points out that he didn’t accomplish this feat by himself – there are 24 individuals that make up the committee who share the credit. He says, “Laurel McFarlane of McFarlane Promotions is the event coordinator and she’s been involved with this show from Day One. As the event grew, I spread out the responsibilities so there are now two components: the ‘talent,’ which are the cars; and the business aspect, which encompasses fundraising and sponsors, and the parties. While I oversee the entire project, I focus on the business side and my co-chair Bob Kerner runs the talent side. He has a team underneath him that ensures everything that’s related to the cars is perfect and topnotch – finding the cars and judges, for instance. We’re very discerning when it comes to cars, we don’t take any automobile that comes in. The selection team goes through all the cars and makes sure they’re authentic and original, worthy of having on the field. The executive committee, along with the car selection committee and the chief judge, decide on the marque.”
The La Jolla Concours d’Elegance is actually a year-long endeavor. Dorvillier explains, “We start over the minute one show ends. We didn’t hold it during the pandemic, but in October of 2021 we organized a golf tournament that raised the money we needed to pay for our expenses during the two years we were off. There are costs associated with this event and we needed to generate enough revenue while we sat on the sidelines so the Historical Society wouldn’t get adversely affected.”
Photo courtesy of La Jolla Concours d’Elegance
A unique event in this year’s celebration is the Mille Miglia at La Jolla which Dorvillier is excited about. He says, “Hagerty, the largest insurance company in the car industry, owns the California Mille, which is a 1,000-mile race that started in Italy and is still held there to this day. (The iconic car racing event was begun by Counts Aymo Maggi and Franco Mazzotti in 1927). Hagerty has reinvented that race here in the United States and this year they’re starting the Mille Miglia at La Jolla at the Concours. On Monday morning, all those cars participating in that race – I believe there are about a hundred – will take off on their 1,000-mile race over five days through Southern California. All the cars are classic Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Maseratis from the ‘50s and early’60s era.”
It has been a little more than a decade since Dorvillier took the reins of what is now La Jolla Concours d’Elegance. And in that time, he has met many wealthy yet unassuming people who are just taking in the joys of seeing the most beautiful cars in one place. He marvels, “My best memories involve the people that I’ve met in the car hobby world. When you come to our event, you’re standing there looking at a Bugatti or a Duesenberg that costs anywhere from $10-M to $20-M and you’re talking to the owner. You have no idea that that person is a billionaire other than the fact that he owns that car. They’re just very down-to-earth people who are truly passionate about their hobby, which is collecting and preserving these pieces of art.”
Photo courtesy of La Jolla Concours d’Elegance
“For a long time, La Jolla was a sleepy town. But the Concours d’Elegance has livened things up for our community,” declares Dorvillier. “It has helped tourism – people usually arrive on a Thursday and stay for the weekend. Last year we were able to fill 800 hotel rooms; visitors dined in participating restaurants, shopped at clothing stores and various retail establishments, and went into museums. (There were 2,500 attendees in the Sunday events but there were several free events during the weekend so the total attendance was much higher) I’m proud to have played a small role in putting La Jolla back on the international map.”
“That said, I didn’t do this all by myself,” Dorvillier emphasizes. “Indeed it takes a village to make this happen – we have a dedicated team year-round and 250 volunteers on the weekend of the event. And I want to make sure they get the recognition they deserve.”
Dorvillier and his team have stopped at nothing to put on a once-in-a-lifetime experience. What could be more spectacular than driving down to La Jolla on a beautiful Friday morning this spring with clear blue skies above and the pristine waters of the Pacific Ocean on the horizon and then spending the weekend at the La Jolla Concours d’Elegance? It promises to be one weekend affair to remember!
Clockwise from top left: Vivian Wenli Lin, The Joy Luck Mom Club, 2023; Jennifer Ling Datchuk, Love Yourself Longtime, 2019; Charlene Liu, China Palace, 2023; Rania Ho, Roundabout, 2023; Patty Chang, Invocationsand Que Sera Sera, 2013, Andrew Thomas Huang, Kiss of the Rabbit God, 2019; Richard Fung, My Mother’s Place, 1990; Candice Lin, Lithium Sex Demons in the Factory, 2023; Ken Lum, Coming Soon, 2009 / Courtesy of USC Pacific Asia Museum
A touching experience awaits visitors to USC Pacific Asia Museum who come to see Another Beautiful Country: Moving Images By Chinese American Artists. On view from January 26 to April 21, 2024, the exhibition showcases ten artists whose work explores diverse ways immigrants and their families embody, imagine, and reciprocate intercultural experiences.
Drawing its title from the Chinese translation of America, 美國/měiguó, literally beautiful country, and the popular abbreviation for American-born Chinese (A.B.C.), this exhibition presents artworks as scenes of cross-cultural sharing. Another Beautiful Country foregrounds fluctuating ideas of nationhood and belonging as portrayed by artists who identify as Chinese American. These artists confront subject positions of being both, while neither singularly, Chinese and (nor) American, revealing the nuance and multivalence of national categorizations.
Another Beautiful Country installation | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
Another Beautiful Country is the first full exhibition that Lin curated at PAM but she’s certainly not a stranger to the museum. She explains via email. “I have had the pleasure of working with PAM on multiple programs. In 2020, I collaborated with USC students and colleagues to create an online exhibition, ‘In a Bronze Mirror: Eileen Chang’s Life and Literature,’ which showcases qipao/cheongsam from PAM’s collection. In October 2022, I organized the USC Visions & Voices event at PAM, ‘Taipei Night,’ which featured Taiwanese pop music, snacks and boba tea, as well as talks, a special print giveaway, and film screening and workshop by two of the exhibition’s included artists: University of Oregon Art and Printmaking Professor Charlene Liu and Occidental Media Arts and Culture Professor Vivian Wenli Lin.”
Putting on an exhibition typically takes time and Another Beautiful Country was several years in the making. Lin states, “I’ve been conceptualizing this project since I started my new position as Associate Professor of Critical Studies in USC’s Roski School of Art and Design in 2019. The preparation, including working with the wonderful PAM staff, fundraising (we received a major Exhibition Support Grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts), crafting didactics, promotional materials, and a beautiful publication, organizing related programming, and my favorite part – talking with the artists – has been ongoing since 2021.”
Lin is also very familiar with the artists whose artworks are being showcased. She discloses, “I had been following, teaching, curating, and/or writing about the marvelous works of most of these included artists for years. I’ve had the good fortune of getting to know many of them as colleagues and collaborators, and our discussions and further research introduced me to more artists whose works align with the exhibition’s themes. All the selected artists inhabit and contemplate subject positions of being both, while neither purely Chinese and (nor) American. Each artist creates works that I see as moving images – considered both literally as videos, projections, and costume and set-oriented installations in transnational circulation, and figuratively as emotionally evocative and addressing migration and Chinese American diasporic relations.”
Jenny Lin during exhibition opening and reception | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
Both curator and artist were active partners in choosing pieces that provoke discussion. Lin says, “Each artist is exhibiting one to three pieces/series but we made the selections together in extensive conversations. Featured artworks vary wildly in style, content, medium, and scale, with the exhibition encompassing a doormat, neon sign, prints, experimental videos, participatory documentary, large-scale projection, hybridized sculptures, and immersive installations. While vibrantly diverse, all these artworks closely relate to one another, and we’ve designed the exhibition to highlight those relations.”
Below is a sampling of artists’ works.
Patty Chang / 張怡
Invocations and Que Sera Sera, 2013
Two channel video installation, 3 Minutes, 45 seconds
Patty Chang’s “Que Sera Sera” | Photo courtesy of USC Pacific Asia Museum
Que Sera Sera features the artist singing her newborn baby to sleep. Chang gently rocks to and fro, her baby strapped to her body in a carrier – baby whimpers at first, and a tiny foot protruding from the carrier rests on the artist’s hip. Beside them lies Chang’s father in a bed with side rails; he is dying, breathing, but nearly motionless. She sings to him too: “Que Sera Sera, What Will Be Will Be.”
As in Chang’s video, wherein we encounter three generations of family members at distinct life stages, Que Sera Sera covers childhood, growing up and falling in love, and having a child of one’s own. Throughout the song, the narrator – the singer’s parent or singer-as-parent – tenderly responds to questions of what will be: “Will we have rainbows day after day? The Future’s Not Ours To See.” Both artwork and song urge us to be patient and present. With sorrow and joy, Chang inhabits a moment of intimacy with her baby and father, one drifting to sleep, the other drifting toward death.
Written by US composers Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, who often co-wrote songs for movies, “Que Sera Sera” became popularized by Doris Day, who belted the song as a secret signal to her kidnapped son, in Alfred Hitchcok’s 1955 film, The Man Who Knew Too Much. The song’s title, “Que Sera Sera,” which has since become a popular US phrase to express “what will be will is grammatically incorrect in the languages it assimilates (in Spanish it would be “lo que será, será,” in Italian “quel che sarà sarà”), a reminder of the imperfections of translation and language acquisition. Yet even if imperfectly, we learn new languages – studying in schools, speaking the words of a place we have migrated to, learning the native tongues of our parents, or grandparents; Chang’s son now speaks with her mother, his grandmother, in pǔtōng huà.
In Invocations, we catch a glimpse of Chang’s baby being rolled up, in stroller, to his grandmother. She embraces her grandson, she in paisley trousers, he in striped onesie and green leggings. Baby cries; grandmother exclaims, “Jīntiān nǐ zěnme chǎo!” (Today you are so noisy!). In the rest of Invocations, we see Chang’s mother’s hands, holding and swiping through a list of invocations that appear on a tablet. Her voice, soothing and steady, reads in accented English: “Invocation of loss of balance / Invocation of falling / Invocation of motor control / Invocation of envy / Invocation of incontinence / Invocation of caregiving / Invocation of catheter / Invocation of daily life / Invocation of isolation / Invocation of shame / Invocation of guilt / Invocation of longing…” The list of invocations related to growing older, disease, medical treatments, desire, everyday life, and ideas, at once quotidian and dreamy, reads like a poem.
List of Invocations, 2017 Letterpress print
Echoed in a print, List of Invocations hangs nearby the video installation. Light grey text in a clinical font appears on white paper; the lightness of the words, as well as their structural repetition, mimics life’s fleeting nature. Chang’s invocations are practical, magical, ethical, and perhaps, ultimately futile, albeit still worthwhile, as all states, emotions, and things shall pass; “what will be will be.” Chang’s Invocations and Que Sera Sera stand as offerings of familial intimacies and vulnerabilities, tenderly reminding us of life’s cruel and beautiful cycles.
Jennifer Ling Datchuk / 玲
Love Yourself Long Time, 2019
Doormat
Jennifer Ling Datchuk’s ‘Love Yourself Longtime’ /
Photo courtesy of USC Pacific Asia Museum
and
Love Yourself Long Time, 2021
Mirrored acrylic and neon
Love Yourself Long Time (2019) takes form in two artworks: a glowing custom-made neon, mirrored sign and a red doormat, nearly identical to those meant to be stepped on, elevated in the exhibition via the museological standard of placing art objects upon pedestals. The phrase, Love Yourself Long Time, illuminated in neon on the sign (with yourself lighting up letter by letter) and embossed in golden English letters and Chinese characters on the doormat, references a scene in director Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 film Full Metal Jacket, in which two US soldiers stationed in Vietnam negotiate with a Vietnamese sex worker, who advertises: “Me love you long time.” Datchuk twists the line, which has circulated widely throughout American popular culture. Asserting agency, she turns the grammatically incorrect offer of the subjugated, exoticized sex worker into a positive affirmation encouraging self-love.
Two Week Wait (2021) is a sculpture reflecting on female health and safety, as well as the common Covid-19 quarantine period. Constructed like a shimmering alter with Chinoiserie, famille rose porcelain candlesticks stacked upon its steps, Two Week Wait acknowledges ways in which people in North America and Western Europe often look to Eastern symbols and rituals for spiritual fulfilment. Simultaneously, the artwork sparks varied emotions that may accompany pregnancy, shared across the globe: exuberance, joy, fear, terror, sorrow, trepidation, regret, excitement, anticipation.
The title, Two Week Wait, refers to the typical time of waiting between ovulation and menstruation, in other words the time it takes to confirm pregnancy. Women internationally, including in the United States and People’s Republic of China, have long struggled and continue struggling for bodily autonomy and reproductive rights.
(Jennifer Ling Datchuk will be giving an artist talk in the galleries with Ken Lum at PAM on Saturday, January 27 at 1pm)
Rania Ho / 何颖宜
Roundabout, 2023
Single channel video, 14 Minutes, 29 seconds
Rania Ho’s ‘Roundabout’ / Photo courtesy of USC Pacific Asia Museum
Roundabout features US-born, China and US-based artist Rania Ho walking in circles in a demolition site in her video projection. A fade-in technique makes the artist appear and disappear as she walks in large concentric circles, her body attached to string, stanchion, and ball bearing, creating a fulcrum point. As Ho steadily walks each circumference, she sprays the ground from a hose attached to a fluorescent green water pack she wears on her back. The spray emits a hum and leaves a ghostly residue that slowly begins evaporating over the course of the video. The gesture, along with Ho’s uniform-like black clothing and industrial hose, recalls decontamination processes used in China following the initial outbreak of Covid-19.
Those who live or have spent time in China may also be reminded of the poetic practice of people, usually elderly, writing calligraphy in water on the stone pathways of parks. For others, Ho’s overlapping circles resemble the logo of the Olympics, held in summer 2008 and winter 2022 in Beijing, where Ho made the video. As the artist describes in her writing about the piece, the demolition site, Luoge Zhuang Village of Shunyi District, used to be filled with artists’ studios (she herself had a studio on the outskirts of the village), which were hastily demolished in 2021, supposedly to make way for Olympics-related construction that never came to be.
The fixed camera surveys the demolition site, with its cracked surface and rubble, below a smoggy sky and deciduous trees, sans leaves. Ho’s body, dwarfed by the site and her circumambulation – at once like a Buddhist ritual and Sisyphean task – persist on infinite loop, a quiet mourning for the fallen studios on the outskirts of Beijing.
You Kinda Had to Be There (Motel Cali), 2005/2023
Single channel video, 6 minutes, 30 seconds, edited from 24 hours
Visitors encounter a very different, comical, high-spirited representation of Beijing’s art scene in the mid-aughts in Ho’s You Kinda Had To Be There (2023). This project, tucked behind a curtain, consists of a karaoke-inspired video installation with a shimmering tinsel backdrop, headphones, and microphones for museum goers who fancy singing along. The video features artists singing or performing in various ways The Eagle’s “Hotel California,” a common karaoke song that most all of us love to hate. Ho created this 6 minute, 30 second video (the duration of the actual song) by editing footage of a 24-hour participatory event she organized in 2005. For the original event, part of Complete Art Experience Project (CAEP/联合现场地计划), a city-wide art initiative in Beijing, Ho invited artists and other community members to sing “Hotel California.”
The creative, offkey renditions by many of Beijing’s most active artists of the day collectively compose a kind of time capsule of a free reeling art world, set amidst the frenetic pace of intense urban development. Ho’s moving images of artist friends, goofing off and singing “Hotel California,” especially when juxtaposed against the solitude of her post-Covid-19 Roundabout, wherein the only other creature to appear is a dog we later hear barking, stresses the vitality of friendship, chosen family, and playful communal gatherings.
(Rania Ho will be giving an artist talk with Simon Leung at PAM on Wednesday, April 3 at 6pm)
Andrew Thomas Huang /黃卓寧
Kiss of the Rabbit God, 2019
Single channel video, 14 minutes, 29 seconds
and
Rabbit God Statue, 2019
Mixed media with adornments by Tanya Melendez
Andrew Thomas Huang’s ‘Kiss of the Rabbit God’ / Photo courtesy of USC Pacific Asia Museum
Kiss of the Rabbit God is a fairy tale of queer love. The protagonist, a young Chinese American man named Matt, played by actor Teddy Lee, feels trapped working in his parents’ Chinese restaurant (filmed on location in LA’s Chinatown), until he meets the deity, Tu’er Shen (Rabbit God), in human form, played by actor Jeff Chen.
The two young men embark on a loving, celestial sequence that allows Matt to embrace his gay identity through self-discovery and by entering into a mystical Chinese legend. Accompanying Huang’s short film stands Huang’s Rabbit God Statue, which the artist recently showed in another exhibition of Kiss of the Rabbit God in Hong Kong. Kiss of the Rabbit God’s setting nods to Huang’s own family’s 40-year history running a Cantonese restaurant in southern California.
Vivian Wenli Lin / 林雯莉
The Joy Luck Mom Club: Untold Narratives of Migration, 2023
Single channel video, 10 minutes
Vivian Wenli Lin’s “The Joy Luck Club: Untold Narratives of Migration | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
The Joy Luck Mom Club: Untold Narratives of Migration is a mixed-methods participatory, interview and observation-based video project. In turning to lost and untold narratives of migration that have been kept silent or hidden away, Lin centers the diasporic identities that were excluded in mainstream representations of the immigrant narrative.
Inspired by the film The Joy Luck Club (1994) based on the novel by Amy Tan and directed by Wayne Wang – a film considered to be a dominant representation of the Asian American immigration narrative, the project attempts to contribute to the untold/unheard/silenced and forgotten narratives of women’s migration. Immigrant stories are often centered on generational trauma as a result of the self-sacrificing Asian mother.
The narratives shared via The Joy Luck Mom Club: Untold Narratives of Migration attempt to decenter the “Asian American” immigration story, through the use of participatory media making methods, to gather transnational stories between Asia/America, blurring the lines between how these histories of migration can be remembered as fact or fiction, memory or truth. Lin offers an opportunity for museum visitors to share their own “joy luck mom club” moments; a flier with QR code and instructions is available near the video.
(Vivian Wenli Lin will be holding a related workshop, “The Joy Luck Mom Club – Participatory Video,” on Saturday, March 23 from 11:30am-2pm)
Ken Lum /林蔭庭
Coming Soon, 2009/2023
C-print reproduced on vinyl
Ken Lum’s ‘Coming Soon’ / Photo courtesy of USC Pacific Asia Museum
The print, facing outward from a museum window, resembles a family photograph of a mixed-race European-Asian couple and their biracial daughter. This picture of a seemingly benign nuclear family, paired with the text Coming Soon in both English and Chinese characters, resembles an advertisement for a Hollywood movie or global fashion brand, though without slick styling or airbrushed perfection. The image counters historical anti-miscegenation laws and parodies superficial corporate diversity campaigns. Simultaneously, for those in the know,
Coming Soon reminds us of the ability of images to deceive and the importance of questioning our assumptions; Lum divulged to me that the people in the photograph are not in fact a family, but three strangers the artist met in Beijing.
(Ken Lum will be giving an artist talk in the galleries with Jennifer Ling Datchuk at PAM on Saturday, January 27 at 1pm)
Lin has consciously and mindfully put together an extraordinary show. Another Beautiful Country is an impressive collection of thought-provoking artwork that invites a response and reaction from its audience.
She expresses magnificently what she wishes the exhibition engenders. “I hope people will spend time with each artwork, absorbing the multivalent presentations of Chinese American experiences and identities, which collectively unravel grand historical narratives, nationalist myths, and essentializing stereotypes. I hope people visiting the exhibition will come away with admiration for these artists’ fantastic works and the unique, nuanced ways they portray Chinese American relations. Ultimately, I hope the exhibition will inspire visitors to reflect on their own familial stories of migration and imagine belonging in another beautiful country, a place where generous, cross-cultural relations flourish.”
Emmanuel Romano, “Construction Workers: Solidarity in Action,” 1940, oil on board, 48-by-36-by-1.75 inches. | Courtesy of the Collection of Sandra and Bram Dijkstra
From Dec. 2 through Mach 18, “Art for the People: WPA-Era Paintings from the Dijkstra Collection” will be on view in the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art at The Huntington. Featuring 19 remarkable works drawn from the collection of Sandra and Bram Dijkstra, the exhibition is a collaboration between the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, the Oceanside Museum of Art in Oceanside, and The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino.
The exhibition highlights federal Works Progress Administration artists of the 1930s and early 1940s who were employed by the government to help stimulate the post-Depression economy. More than 10,000 artists participated, creating works that represented the nation and its people, and seeking to express fundamental human concerns, basic democratic principles and the plight of the dispossessed.
“Art for the People” and its companion catalog feature paintings from across the United States, with strong representation by California artists, artists of color, women artists, and Jewish artists who have generally been omitted from the WPA-era narrative. Some of the paintings are often described as American Expressionism or American Scene, depicting both urban and rural subjects and focusing on the lives of average Americans.
Helen Forbes, “A Vale in Death Valley,” 1939, oil on canvas, 34-by-40-by-1.75 inches. | Courtesy of the Collection of Sandra and Bram Dijkstra
The Huntington’s presentation of “Art for the People” is the third and last stop for the traveling exhibition, which originated at the Crocker Art Museum, where it ran from Jan. 29 to May 7, 2023. It was on view at the Oceanside Museum of Art from June 24 until Nov. 5. Shown differently at each venue, the installation at The Huntington showcases paintings by 18 artists, including paintings that were given to The Huntington by the Dijkstras, such as “Soldier,” a major work by African American artist Charles White. White, who became an important figure in what was known as the Chicago Black Renaissance, made the painting in 1944 after he had been drafted into the U.S. Army.
Dennis Carr, Virginia Steele Scott chief curator of American Art at The Huntington, speaks to me about the exhibition and how the collaboration with the two other museums came about.
“If memory serves, it started with a conversation between Scott Shields at the Crocker Museum and Sandy and Bram Dijsktra, who expressed their interest in presenting publicly this part of their collections,” Carr starts. “Once the Crocker Museum was enthusiastic about it, they reached out to other venues, including The Huntington. We were especially interested given the strength of our American paintings collection in the early 20th century — specifically around the WPA period — as well as the strength of The Huntington Library in collecting material like this. So we felt it was a natural fit for the institution.”
Carr explains, “Both the Oceanside Museum and the Crocker Museum displayed all 40 paintings. We didn’t have the space available at The Huntington but we chose what we felt were highlights of the collection and focusing on California artists, artists of color, and women artists.”
Charles White, “Soldier,” 1944, tempera on masonite, 30-by-25 inches. | Courtesy of The Huntington/Sandra and Bram Dijkstra/The Charles White Archives
“There’s one from The Huntington’s permanent collection which was donated by Bram and Sandy Dijkstra in 2013,” Carr continues, referring to ‘Soldier’ by White. “In my opinion, it’s one of the most striking paintings in the American Art collection. Charles White was a black artist who moved from the East Coast and eventually settled in Altadena and became a very important painter in Los Angeles in the mid-20th century. This is a vital early work by him and we’re so proud to have it in The Huntington’s permanent collection. But we thought it was important to include the Charles White painting in this show because it’s of the era and it’s by a very local artist. It’s been on view in our gallery ever since they donated it in 2013 and it’s nice to see it join other works from the Dijkstra’s private collection in the exhibition.”
Carr adds, “Miki Hayakawa was a Japanese-born artist who immigrated to California as a young girl and there’s a delightful painting by her called ‘The View from my Window’ from 1935. It shows the scene from her apartment in San Francisco looking at Coit Tower in the distance. There’s also a painting by Sueo Serisawa, another Japanese-born artist who lived in California during World War II but had to leave the Coast and eventually settled in Chicago and New York. The work that’s represented in the show is from 1945. There are works by other women artists like Helen Forbes who depicted a wonderful aspect of the California landscape.”
Miki Hayakawa, From My Window, 1935, oil on canvas, 28-by-28 inches. | Courtesy of the Collection of Sandra and Bram Dijkstra
“What the exhibition shows is not just an East Coast view of art in the period but across the United States and the development of different regional schools on the East Coast, in the Midwest and on the West Coast — where different artists were showing different aspects of American life. The focus of the Dijkstra collection on mostly underrepresented and under-recognized artists presents a much broader and more diverse vision of this era,” Carr emphasizes.
Interestingly, while “Art for the People” is on view, The Huntington will be opening a show in February about Sargent Claude Johnson, another WPA-era painter.
“Sargent Claude Johnson was a black sculptor based in the Bay Area who was also supported by the WPA in the 1930s and early 1940s,” says Carr. “I believe he was one of only three black supervisors of the WPA nationwide. He was a very distinguished artist and was very proud of the fact that he was a supervisor in the WPA. He led large-scale projects for architectural installations in a number of venues in San Francisco and Berkeley. For Johnson, the program allowed him to work on a bigger scale with larger teams of artists. It definitely supported him as an artist during this difficult time period, and I think it allowed him to expand his creativity.”
Sueo Serisawa, Portrait of My Daughter, 1945, oil on canvas, 20-by-14-by-1.75 inches. | Courtesy of the Collection of Sandra and Bram Dijkstra
I ask what the significance of WPA-era paintings in American art is, and Carr replies, “They present a very diverse look at the American scene in two extremely important decades in the development of American art — the 1930s and 1940s. It was a very challenging time for artists, financially and socially, but it was also a time of significant governmental support for the arts. It kept many of them alive and working, and it allowed many artists to work on a larger scale than they had ever before. Likewise, it was a time of great flourishing of the arts in the United States and the seed for that was planted not just by the government but by the people who participated in this program. That resulted in a number of murals created for post offices, government buildings, and public spaces like schools and classrooms. It also produced a larger network of artists who were also being supported by the program and I think that it helped in the advancement of communities of artists across the United States.”
As for the visitor takeaway, Carr opines, “It’s a profound and striking view of a bleak period in American history and it looks at ways that visual artists were responding to this moment across the United States. I think there will be many names of artists that our public is not familiar with but should be, because the works are stunning and powerful, and they speak with the clarity and an emotional quality that really capture the era. Sometimes art can feel esoteric to some audiences, but this art speaks with the simplicity and directness that people can relate to. I think that the show itself and the works within it will be a surprise for many.”
“Moreover, it’s interesting to look back in an era when there was the largest governmental program for the support of the arts ever created until then or since. We can reflect on what that meant in that moment and how the arts remained so relevant in American culture and what the government’s role could be or should be to support that,” Carr concludes.
Betye Saar, ‘Drifting Toward Twilight,’ 2023 (installation view) | Photo by Joshua White / JWPictures.com. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
A newly commissioned, site-specific installation by renowned Pasadena artist Betye Saar opened to the public on Saturday, November 11, 2023 at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Called ‘Drifting Toward Twilight’ it will be on view for two years at the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art, after which it will become part of the institution’s American art collection.
The large scale artwork – a 17-foot vintage wooden canoe and found objects, including antlers, birdcages, and natural materials Saar harvested from The Huntington’s 207-acre grounds – is the focus of an immersive exhibition ‘Betye Saar: Drifting Toward Twilight.’ It is co-curated by Yinshi Lerman-Tan, The Huntington’s Bradford and Christine Mishler Associate Curator of American Art, and Sóla Saar Agustsson, Saar’s granddaughter and the Huntington Art Museum’s special programs and digitization coordinator.
During the press preview on Friday, November 10, Dennis Carr, Virginia Steele Scott Chief Curator of American Art, remarks, “Betye Saar is one of the most important artists of our time. Her compelling voice has echoed in Los Angeles for many, many decades. But she grew up in Pasadena and has fond memories of walking in the Huntington’s gardens.”
Yinshi Lerman-Tan | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
Co-curators Lerman-Tan and Agustsson alternately talk about the installation. Lerman-Tan divulges that Saar specifically chose this location for the installation because it’s like a secret room. She explains, “It has a ‘cocoon-like environment.’ The walls are painted in an oceanic blue gradient, featuring a poem by Saar and phases of the moon. Shifting lighting effects in the gallery emulate phases of daylight to twilight, evening to night, and night to dawn. Inside the monumental canoe, Saar positions mysterious ‘passengers,’ including antlers in metal birdcages, children’s chairs, and architectural elements – all drawn from the artist’s ever-evolving collection of found objects. The space beneath the canoe will be illuminated by a cool neon glow, highlighting plant material foraged by the artist from The Huntington’s gardens.”
“Saar’s work evokes mysticism and the occult, as well as the human relationship to nature and the cosmos,” Lerman-Tan describes. “An immersive, watery space containing a canoe that is part vessel and part dreamscape, the installation gestures to the ancestral and mythological journeys, and the constant cycles of the natural world.”
Betye Saar with ‘Drifting Toward Twilight,’ 2023 (installation view) | Photo by Joshua White / JWPictures.com. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Besides her role as co-curator, Agustsson was instrumental in making this installation and exhibition a reality. Speaking by phone a week before the exhibition opening, she discloses, “I worked as an assistant to Christina Nielsen (Hannah and Russell Kully Director of the Art Museum) when I first came to The Huntington about two years ago. She happens to be a huge fan of Betye’s and wanted to do an exhibition with her. A few ideas floated around but I remembered that when I was working for Betye a few years ago, she had bought this vintage canoe and had started collecting antlers and natural materials for an assemblage. She’s done canoe installations in the past so this was a notion that has been marinating. I thought that The Huntington Gardens would be the perfect home for the canoe because the concept was to incorporate natural materials. Then Betye came up with the idea of foraging and using plant materials from the Huntington garden.”
Interviewed via email, Saar recounts her collaboration with the Huntington’s Art Museum and Botanical Gardens to realize this endeavor. “I visited the Huntington in the spring of 2022 and met with Christina Nielsen and my granddaughter Sóla Saar Agustsson and the idea of a project came up. Then some of the Huntington curators came to visit my studio and saw the canoe. I submitted a sketch and then made a scale model of the room and the canoe. It all just came together after that.”
“I have used canoes in some of my previous installations,” explains Saar. “To me it represents an element of indigenous people who used them, and the connection to nature. But I also really enjoy the shape of the canoe. The flow of it visually and how when you are in a canoe you feel like you are gliding. I acquired this particular canoe a few years ago and it was sitting in my garage waiting to become art. The Huntington commission made it take shape.”
In a short documentary film – produced for the exhibition and is being shown at an adjacent room – Saar explains her concept for the installation, “A canoe is an object of Early America as a means of transportation and I added the wood burrows to make it look vintage. There are three cages that make you think of slavery, of being taken care of and having certain things but you’re still caged – caged freedom in a way.”
The companion film also includes a footage of her foraging natural materials at the Huntington garden. Saar recollects, “I think it was back in April when I came to gather materials from the garden. There had been a series of storms and many of the trees had limbs break or had to be trimmed. I picked up what Mother Nature started.”
As she picks up discarded branches, she gets ideas about how to use them and asks an assistant to hand her her notebook. Saar expounds, “I am an assemblage artist and am inspired by the materials I find at flea markets and estate sales, or things people give me. Sometimes I’ll think ‘Oh this old red box needs to sit on a red table’ or something. But I also am inspired by things I see as I travel or images in my dreams and I’ll make a sketch of it. I always have a little sketchbook in my purse and a bigger art kit and sketchbook when I travel. Sometimes the sketch becomes an assemblage, sometimes it stays a sketch.”
Betye Saar, ‘Drifting Toward Twilight,’ 2023 (installation view) | Photo by Joshua White / JWPictures. com. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Saar had a very clear idea about the ambience she wanted to produce and she kept close tabs on its progress. She relates, “I’ve been back and forth to The Huntington many times these past months. I was selecting the wall colors, choosing the lighting effects, etc. until it all came together to create the right mood. I wanted to feel immersed in the room.”
Agustsson says she worked very closely with Lerman-Tan to ensure they carried out what her grandmother envisioned. The inter-generational component of this exhibition will extend to the catalogue to be published in the summer of 2024. Agustsson will write a Q&A piece that covers Saar’s life and her career. It focuses specifically on her childhood growing up in Pasadena and her visits to The Huntington as a child and teenager, gardening practice, and an interview about the new canoe installation.
It will have a Director’s foreword by Christina Nielsen, followed by a short essay by Ishmael Scott Reed, an American poet, novelist, playwright, and longtime friend of Saar, as well as a re-publication of an archival interview he did with Saar in the 1970s. Lerman-Tan and Tiffany E. Barber, assistant professor of African American art at UCLA, will be contributing essays.
I ask Agustsson what it was like to work on a project with someone she knows so well, and she replies, “I’ve worked with her in the past for years so that helped me capture her vision and facilitate dialogue between her and the museum. I realize that this is a very special and personal project given her upbringing in Pasadena so I wanted to establish that particular connection.”
“For me, I found it to be really inspiring and meaningful especially getting to interview her and learning more about her,” Agustsson says further. “Even though I’ve grown up with her, there are things I continue to discover about her. I learned that she liked tap dancing when she was a teenager. I had no idea, I never heard that before! She’s 97, she’s had so many amazing experiences, and she’s done different kinds of art work in various media – costume design, designing greeting cards, printmaking, collage, immersive installations like this one, and she was a seamstress. It doesn’t surprise me that she also did tap dancing.”
Saar is the matriarch of a close-knit family of artists, as Agustsson’s account of her grandmother’s influence in her childhood years and present life as an adult attests to. “Betye has three daughters and six grandchildren. We were always drawing and doing art as youngsters. But even now, we have themed family parties and we’re all very supportive of each other. In a way Betye working in diverse mediums – assemblage, printmaking, collage, design, painting – was passed down. Two of her daughters, Alison and my mother Lezley, are artists and her other daughter Tracye is a writer and her studio manager. Alison does printmaking and sculpture, my mom does painting, collage, and assemblage.”
Betye Saar and Sóla Saar Agustsson | Photo courtesy of Sóla Saar Agustsson
“I’m not really a visual artist but I do collages and dollhouses, which is like assemblage in a way. My cousin does printmaking and ceramics,” continues Agustsson. “My grandfather, Betye’s husband, Richard Saar was a ceramicist and my other cousin does set design, which relates to Betye being a costume designer. We like to go to flea markets together and are on the lookout to get each other certain things. My grandmother would also give me a lot of advice about art.”
Collecting found objects to create art is something Saar began doing since she was four or five years old. She says that whenever they moved to a new house, she would look through the previous owners’ trash to see what they threw away.
It’s no wonder then that assemblage spoke to her. Saar reminisces, “In the 1970s I saw the work of Joseph Cornell, right here at the Pasadena Art Museum in fact. I was inspired by how he took ordinary objects and made them into art. He made art that was beautiful and clever and had a sense of humor. It made me want to do that too.”
I inquire if there’s one artwork she created that means more to her than the rest, which one is the most memorable piece she made and why. Saar answers, “I don’t really have a favorite but I have a few works of art that I like because the viewer is invited to make an offering. Mti (1973) and Mojotech (1987). I like involving the public and getting them to experience my work in different ways. It’s also very interesting to see what people leave as an offering. Sometimes it’s a gum wrapper or money or ticket stubs. But sometimes people will leave a drawing they made on site or return later with a photograph or poem. I keep all of these items and feel they have a special power from people connecting to my work.”
That tangible takeaway is something Saar hopes for. She says, “As an artist, one tries to elicit an emotion from the viewer. This can be a tricky thing because I want people to feel what they feel but not dictate it. I hope that people come and see my exhibition in the gallery and then go out and find their own inspiration in the gardens. That’s what I did.”
Betye Saar, ‘Drifting Toward Twilight,’ 2023 (installation view) | Photo by Joshua White / JWPictures.com. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
When I ask Agustsson what she wants viewers to take away, she replies, “It’s meditative and I think she wanted to convey that emotion. It mimics floating in a body of water looking at the twilight and the moon; it has a very cosmic feeling. With all the turmoil going on in the world and in life, the room feels like a reprieve. I don’t get caught up in thinking about its meaning in terms of words. It’s refreshing to walk away with just an emotional response to it. And that’s very much integral in her process of creating – getting across an emotion – and intuition is a lot of what guides her.”
Agustsson adds, “I just hope that visitors and aspiring artists will relate to her method in harvesting and assembling the work where she demonstrates you can make art out of everyday objects and things you find on the ground. And that they get inspiration after seeing the film, watching her work in the creative process with so much enthusiasm at 97 years old.”
Finally, I ask Saar what it means for her to have her installation become part of The Huntington’s permanent collection and she says, “Well, being from Pasadena it means a great deal to me. I came to the gardens as a child and now here I am as an adult, a 97-year old, with my art in this amazing museum. It’s truly an honor that my work is now part of the legacy of The Huntington.”
‘Betye Saar: Drifting Toward Twilight’ represents a homecoming for Saar. Without a doubt, Pasadenans will be proud of her significance in this community and celebrate her iconic status in Black feminist and American art.
But the installation will profoundly affect all visitors. As they step inside the room, they will at once be enveloped in its warm embrace. And as they read Saar’s poem painted on the wall, ‘The moon keeps vigil as a lone canoe drifts in a sea of tranquility seeking serenity in the twilight,’ they will feel transported to a calm and peaceful place.
“Plumb Line” 48 x 72 oil on panel | Photo courtesy of Heather Horton
Canadian-born painter Heather Horton has been an artist all her life; she received her Master’s degree in Illustration from Sheridan College. But it was only when she joined Abbozzo Gallery in 2004 that she began exhibiting her works regularly. She has held solo and group shows over the years and her recent solo exhibition “Love Story” was held in Toronto, Ontario in September 2020.
In 2019, Horton met her future husband Joss Whedon in Los Angeles. When they decided to leave Ontario for warmer climes, they relocated to the United States in 2021. Then the couple moved to California on L.A.’s west side – Santa Monica – before eventually settling down in Pasadena in May last year. She discloses, “We had heard great things about the city, and we have been so delighted with our decision to move here. Lots of greenery, interesting architecture, an active art scene, and we appreciate that it has a serenity to it that we find inspiring. We look forward to exploring the city more as time goes by!”
Heather Horton | Courtesy Photo
And it’s here that Horton continues to practice her craft – taking photos of friends underwater in their pool and using the pictures as the basis for the oil paintings in this exhibition. Her 16th solo show “Immersion,” will be on display at Whimsy Pasadena in Old Town through Sunday, October 22. She will be painting live onsite at the gallery on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (October 19, 20, and 21) from 11am to 5pm to let the public in on her creative process and talk to visitors about her journey.
“Immersion” is an autobiographical journey of resilience. It investigates the internal complexities within simple moments: exploring trauma, womanhood, deep pain, and deeper gratitude. The exhibition introduces over 30 new oil paintings, which breathe new life into Horton’s renowned water series. It transports us beneath the surface into a twilight fantasia of luminous tranquility. Within these artworks, fabric, flesh, and liquid merge and nearly dissolve into one another, all bathed in the spellbinding interplay of wild and languid light from above.
“Madrona” 24 x 36 oil on panel | Photo courtesy of Heather Horton
Additionally, “Immersion” chronicles the evolution of Heather’s relationship with her own body, a journey that has traversed years of battling anorexia and depression, ultimately culminating in newfound confidence and grace, despite the challenges posed by major spinal surgery last spring.
Having endured a tumultuous childhood, Horton has long used art as a way of finding order in a life marked by subtle chaos. Her troubled past instilled in her a strong sense of self-reliance and a heightened awareness of emotions and movement. Her portraits and figures reflect a sense of fragility, often showing subjects who avert their gaze, are depicted from behind, or appear with their heads just above a surface we can’t quite grasp.
Horton’s art captures the world with a sense of wonder that avoids becoming overly sentimental or prescriptive. Instead, she encourages viewers to embark on their own journeys and find their own interpretations.
“The Chameleon” 30 x 30 oil on panel | Photo courtesy of Heather Horton
“I’m hoping that the viewers might be moved by the work, on a small level, or from a deeper place, as there are themes of floating, immersion but also surgery, health challenges, transitions, and introspection within,” states Horton. “If viewers see the work and are glad they did, or it moves them to reach out to someone they love and tell them so, or write a letter to a friend or someone in need, that would be amazing to me. Just showing the work to friends and people in the community and beyond brings a great feeling of peace and great emotion. After so much work, and surgery, and challenges, but also excitement, I’m excited to enjoy a bit of repose, reconnect and take a few deep breaths before submerging again into new worlds.”
After the exhibition ends, a portfolio of “Immersion” is set to be immortalized on the moon as a part of Samuel Peralta’s visionary Lunar Codex time capsule project. Horton’s artistic expressions reflect the experiences of countless women today, and her legacy is destined to span generations in these time capsules immortalized on the moon. It is such a fitting outcome for a painter whose works should live on beyond earth for eons to come.
During the press opening held on Friday, October 13, Karen Lawrence, president of The Huntington expressed her gratitude for the generosity of the Yokoi family who gifted their ancestral home to the beloved institution.
Karen Lawrence, president of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
Lawrence remarks about this exceptional new destination at The Huntington. “This restored residential compound is truly a masterpiece and it offers a glimpse of life in rural Japan some 300 years ago. It’s the only example of this kind of architecture in the U.S. and its presence here wouldn’t have been possible without the generosity of the Yokoi family.”
“In Japan, the house was disassembled, restored, disassembled again, and shipped to us at The Huntington,” Lawrence adds. “Once the components of the house arrived, it was up to The Huntington to rebuild and provide context, including recreating the landscape and gatehouse.”
A signage at the house shows the Yokoi family crest. | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
It’s only fitting for the Shōya House to join the distinctive house Henry E. Huntington bought from Pasadena businessman George Turner Marsh that has been at the Japanese Garden, which has such a fascinating history. The Huntington’s information kit gives the following chronology.
The building of the Japanese Garden began in 1911 and was completed in 1912. The garden, which is currently 12 acres, was inspired by the widespread Western fascination with Asian culture in the early 1900s. Henry E. Huntington purchased many of the garden’s plants and ornamental fixtures, as well as the Japanese House, from a failed commercial tea garden in Pasadena, located at the northeast corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and California Boulevard. When The Huntington opened to the public in 1928, the Japanese Garden became a major draw for visitors. Features such as the bell tower and bridge were newly built for the garden by Japanese American craftspeople.
Robert Hori, Gardens Cultural Director and Programs Director. | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
By World War II, staffing shortages – including those resulting from the incarceration of Japanese American employees – and the political climate led to the closure of parts of the Japanese Garden, and the Japanese House fell into disrepair. In the 1950s, members of the San Marino League helped support the refurbishment of the buildings and surrounding landscape.
In 1968, The Huntington expanded the Japanese Garden to include a bonsai collection, which now numbers in the hundreds, and a rock garden, the Zen Court. Since 1990, The Huntington has served as the Southern California site for the Golden State Bonsai Federation.
The ceremonial teahouse, called Seifū-an (the Arbor of Pure Breeze), was built in Kyoto in the 1960s and donated to The Huntington by the Pasadena Buddhist Temple. In 2010, the teahouse made a return trip to Japan for restoration, overseen by Kyoto-based architect Yoshiaki Nakamura (whose father built the original structure). It was then shipped back to San Marino and reassembled.
In 2011, a team of architects with backgrounds in historic renovation, horticulturists, landscape architects, engineers, and Japanese craftsmen undertook a yearlong, large-scale restoration of the historic core of the garden. The project included repairs to the central pond system and water infrastructure, along with increasing pathway accessibility and renovating the original faux bois (false wood) ornamental trellises.
A view of the house from the side. | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
The Japanese Garden continues to be a popular attraction to this day. However, as Lawrence points out, “What was missing was a traditional Japanese residence that could demonstrate the important historical relationship between the Japanese people, their culture, and the landscape. The iconic Japanese house in the original garden provides the idea of a Japanese residence but it wasn’t really lived in.”
Lawrence clarifies, “The shōya house is completely different. It’s an exquisite example of a village leader’s residence where rural village life can be explored through the lens of 18th century architecture and farming practices. The residence was occupied by one family, generation after generation, over the course of three centuries. Mr. Yokoi is the 19th generation to own the house.”
The tile work on the roof. | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
“Today it provides us with a rich aesthetic experience of the beauty of Japanese building art and many insights into what it means to live sustainably on the land,” Lawrence adds. “We were fortunate to have artisans come from Japan to work alongside local architects, engineers, and construction workers to assemble the house here and recreate elements that would have surrounded it at the time when it housed a village leader or shōya. They created the wood and stonework features you see, as well as the roof tiles and plasterwork prioritizing traditions of Japanese carpentry, artisanship, and sensitivity to materials.”
Lawrence concludes by voicing her opinion that this will become a major visitor attraction in Southern California, as well as a primary resource for architects, scholars, students, teachers, and others interested in the complexities and beauty of traditional Japanese design, craftsmanship, and architectural practices. And that visitors it will appreciate the lived experience of what this meant and how it was sustained for 300 years.
Robert Hori, gardens cultural director and programs director, says, “It has really taken an entire village to build the head of a village’s house. It wasn’t just the botanical gardens, everyone at The Huntington has contributed in interpreting the house which will make a full experience for the visitors. They won’t be looking at an exhibit in a museum, they will be in that museum. They’ll be able to participate in rice planting, and see the changes of the season. This is something that exists nowhere else and can only live at The Huntington.”
The doors open so the outdoors and indoors blend seamlessly. | Photo by Joshua White / JWPictures.com. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
The construction team that undertook this project was headed by Yoshiaki Nakamura of Nakamura Sotoji Komuten, who oversaw the restoration of the teahouse in 2010. Hori discloses, “When Mr. Nakamura first came to The Huntington about 15 years ago, he toured it and he said, ‘Wow, this is something special.’ He saw the resources in the library (each year we have over a thousand scholars) and he said, ‘I want to create something that students, teachers, and researchers can explore and be inspired by.’ He wanted to bring traditional building and garden techniques here at The Huntington so they can be a primary resource for those who are not going to Japan.”
“We have also been blessed to have the partnership of many architects and professionals, including Mike Okamoto (U.S. Architect of Record),” continues Hori. “He has been a valuable partner in reassembling this house. You can imagine the challenges of bringing not just a 300-year-old house and re-erecting it, but bringing the metric system and having it meet U.S. building code. We are likewise fortunate to have Takuhiro Yamada (Hanatoyo Landscape Co. Ltd. (Kyoto, Japan) doing the landscape and really putting together the program.”
The formal garden. | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
“What we’d like to show is the beginning of landscape,” Hori expounds. “And that design starts
with the ability to control water and to move earth – and that’s exactly what a farmer is doing. We want visitors who go on a tour of the house to have the experience of being transported to 18th century Japan.”
Each time Hori gives a tour of the Shōya house, he begins at the terraced agricultural field, where he notes a whole new animal population has taken as their home. “You’ll notice the terrain is sloped – this is how many of the farms were in Japan because it’s the most efficient way to move water from uphill to downhill.”
Nicole Cavender, Telleen/Jorgensen Director of Botanical Gardens. | Photo by Brianna Chu / Hey SoCal
Throughout the tour Hori impresses on everyone how these sustainability practices were a matter of survival for farmers centuries ago. And that sustainability is one of the biggest challenges we face today globally.
And it’s an issue that Nicole Cavender, Telleen/Jorgensen Director of the Botanical Gardens, deeply cares about. She states, “I’d like to emphasize one aspect in particular that’s especially near and dear to me – we have here a model of sustainability practices. You’ll see how in this house, in this landscape, we’ve integrated and showcased the historical integration of agricultural systems, how water can be used and recycled. In the front as you come in, you see the agricultural landscape that showcases sustainable practices of using cover crop and companion planting. I’m really excited to be able to share these practices and hope to inspire people to integrate them into their own life.”
View of the private garden | Photo by Joshua White / JWPictures. com. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Without hammering our head with it, The Huntington makes a compelling argument for practicing sustainability. By restoring the Shōya house and recreating the landscape which will grow vegetables and various crops that change through the seasons – and showing how the village head and townspeople lived – we will witness for ourselves how extraordinary beautiful the outcome can be. Would that in the foreseeable future, Cavender’s hope that their efforts to persuade us to do as these villagers did in 18th century Japan come to fruition.
The exterior of the Yokoi family’s historic family home in Marugame, Japan | Photo by Hiroyuki Nakayama / The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
A 320-year old Japanese Heritage Shōya House from Marugame, Japan, has been carefully and meticulously disassembled and restored then shipped to The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California. Sited on a two-acre lot at the storied Japanese Garden, this remarkable architectural and cultural gem will open to the public on October 21, 2023.
During the Edo or Tokugawa period in Japan – between 1603 and 1867 – a single government ruled under a feudal system. It was marked by a flourishing economy and peaceful times. Samurai warriors, who were no longer necessary to protect their villages, moved to the cities to become artists, teachers, or shōya.
Successive generations of the Yokoi family served as the shōya of a small farming community near Marugame, a city in Japan’s Kagawa prefecture. Acting as an intermediary between the government and the farmers, shōya’s duties included storing the village’s rice yield, collecting taxes, maintaining census records, and documenting town life, as well as settling disputes and enforcing the law. He also ensured that the lands remained productive by preserving seeds and organizing the planting and harvesting. The residence functioned as the local town hall and village square.
In 2016, Los Angeles residents Yohko and Akira Yokoi offered their historic family home to The Huntington. Representatives of the institution made numerous visits to the structure in Marugame and participated in study sessions with architects in Japan before developing a strategy for moving the house and reconstructing it at The Huntington.
The agricultural fields and the gatehouse | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
The Huntington raised over $10 million through private donations to accomplish the project. Since 2019, artisans from Japan have been working alongside local architects, engineers, and construction workers to assemble the structures and re-create the traditional wood and stonework features, as well as the roof tiles and plaster work, prioritizing the traditions of Japanese carpentry, artisanship, and sensitivity to materials.
Visitors to The Huntington will get to see the Japanese Heritage Shōya House, a 3,000-square-foot residence built around 1700. A remarkable example of sustainable living, the compound consists of a small garden with a pond, an irrigation canal, agricultural plots, and other elements that closely resemble the compound’s original setting.
Robert Hori, the gardens cultural director and programs director at The Huntington, generously gives me a tour of the shōya House while he talks about the project. He begins, “Visitors will first view the agricultural fields and the gatehouse. In much of Asia, rice was a staple food and farmers played a very important role. Here we have terraced rice fields on one side and a field growing a variety of crops on the other side. This will give the public a sense of the seasons, the life style of the Edo period in Japan and what the pre-modern way of life was like.”
The gatehouse | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
As we reach the gatehouse, Hori says, “This compound was open during the day for business and at night the gates were shut. The gate was built for events and also to protect the house from weather because Japan and much of Asia are susceptible to typhoons. The gatehouse was damaged in a typhoon in1970 so this structure was not original to the house; it’s a replica based on existing models from the same period in Japan and photographs.
The exterior of the house with the formal entrance | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
“Inside the gatehouse is a dirt courtyard used for several purposes including drying the crops and where community gatherings – like harvest festivals – might have taken place. The house has two entryways. The formal entrance on the left has sliding panels, and was originally for samurai, dignitaries, and government representatives. Inside the main house, visitors will first see the front rooms, which were used for official functions. The doorway on the right, which Huntington visitors will use, was the everyday entrance for farmers and craftspeople. It has stamped earth floor. The front area consists of public rooms where business was conducted, and the back are the private quarters.”
Visitors entering the public rooms can watch a video that shows the disassembly and relocation of the house and its integration with the surroundings at The Huntington. Additionally, visitors will be able to learn about the traditional skills and tools of Japanese carpentry, such as the wood joinery that was used in constructing the house.
Visitors can watch a video about how the house was disassembled in Japan and reconstructed at The Huntington | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
Hori continues, “I was part of the team that went to Japan in 2016 to look at the house to see if we could move it, how we were going to do it, and what changes had to be made to it so it could be approved. I was there again for part of the process of taking down the house but not for the entire nine months it took to disassemble it. The crew that took it apart inspected each part for any damage, cleaned, and repaired them. The house arrived at The Huntington in January of 2020.
“Everything in the house uses traditional joinery techniques. We had several crews of carpenters, plasterers, roofers, and tilers who came from Japan to work on it. It was a two-year process which was hampered by the pandemic in March of that year. It was difficult to get people to travel so there were periods when people went back and they had to quarantine and that really slowed things down. Additionally, there weren’t that many flights.”
Clay wood fire cooking stove | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
A large clay wood fire cooking stove is the first thing visitors will see. Hori speculates that it used to cook perhaps as much as 60 cups of rice to feed the people working in the house and also during planting and harvest. These community efforts were spread out over several weeks.
In the kitchen area is a brick stove. Hori says, “We couldn’t move the one original to the house but this is the type of stove they had. The source of water for the kitchen is a well located just outside and there’s a sliding door you can open to access it.”
The day room, work space, and sleeping quarters | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
We then move to the private rooms and we take off our shoes. Hori describes, “This lower level was part of the kitchen which was the center of activity. It was probably where they dried and salted vegetables that would last the whole year. The upper level has a floor covering called tatami, mats that measure three-by-six feet. This was the family’s day room where they conducted their activities – they would eat their meals here, then they would use it as a work space after they put away their dishes. Japanese houses like this didn’t have central heating so everyone stayed close together near the fire.”
As we reach another area, Hori describes, “This was probably where they slept. It would have cabinets with futons or bedrolls, and sliding doors could close off the area at night.”
The private garden that can be accessed from the master’s room | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
In the back is the master’s room. It has a display alcove called a tokonoma where a painting, a scroll, or a flower arrangement can be hung. There’s also a door that opens out into a small private garden.
The Buddhist shrine | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
We then go into the public spaces for dignitaries and the first room we enter has two shrines – one is Shinto and the other next to it is Buddhist. Explains Hori, “They had two religious systems that co-existed and people were both Shinto and Buddhist. Everything in Shinto is considered having a spirit; they worship mountain or forest gods. Buddhism, on the other hand, goes back over 2,500 years and started in India; it spread to China, and then to Japan. Buddhism also has a cultural and writing component from China that includes language and Chinese characters. The Japanese had their own language; they had a word for mountain, which is ‘yama’ like Fujiyama. The approximation in Chinese for mountain is ‘shan’ or ‘san.’ The same concept applies to religion – they have a cosmic god and a Japanese god.”
The main room where distinguished guests were received has a tokonoma on the side; it’s similar to the one in the master’s accommodations. A shoji opens to reveal a beautiful formal garden planted with carefully shaped pines and camellias, as well as cycads – considered a symbol of luxury in 18th-century Japan. The rocks in the garden came directly from the original property and were placed in the exact same spots in relation to the house and a koi pond.
The garden and pond in the formal area | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
I ask what the condition of the house was when they went to Japan to look at it and Hori replies, “The last time it was rebuilt was in the 19th century around 1860 to 1870. It had also been modernized later – they put in electricity and flush toilets. But it hadn’t been lived in for over 30 years; the last person who resided there was the grandmother who passed away in the 1980s. And when a house is unoccupied, several things fall unto disrepair.”
About what challenges they faced after the house arrived here, Hori says, “Our first challenge was how could we construct the house so it passes the building code? We also have earthquakes in California so we had to build it to meet seismic requirements. We’d never done this before so we didn’t know if it was a viable undertaking. And, as far as I know, this is the first house of this size to be built at a public institution. This is the first Japanese house of this age and size in the United States.”
Standard houses in Japan are not this size, clarifies Hori. “Because of their responsibility, the shōya would have bigger dwellings with more amenities. A regular residence wouldn’t have this public area. The typical layout of an ordinary person’s house would have a kitchen, a dayroom/living room/dining room and a sleeping room. If you lived in the city your house might be twelve-by-twelve-square-feet. You ate, worked, and slept in the same room – something we call a studio.”
The vegetable garden in the back of the house | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
The house and the area surrounding it are models of sustainable living. Hori declares, “They probably didn’t have the word for sustainability but they had the practice in place. If they didn’t lead sustainable life styles, they wouldn’t be alive – it was a matter of survival. The keys to sustainability are reducing waste, reusing, recycling, and repairing. For example, these glass doors don’t line up exactly because they come from different parts of the house. They have been repaired and reused, thus reducing waste.”
“Growing your own food is an example of a sustainable life style,” adds Hori. “Since we are a botanical garden, we tell everyone that farming is the root of ornamental landscapes because it has to do with being able to move earth and control water. In the other gardens – the Chinese Garden or the Japanese Garden – we have ponds and streams, and they’re all part of an irrigation system.”
The pit toilet | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
As we walk to the back of the house Hori shows me a covered circular ground container and says, “Thinking about how we treat waste, we recreated a pit toilet. There’s a real lavatory inside, but having this type of toilet is one of the keys to sustainability – reducing waste. In Japan, China, and much of Asia, they use human waste for fertilizer.”
Hori also discloses that there were two storehouses on the property – one for household items and the other for rice. They haven’t been built but they have the footprint of one of the storage houses.
“Construction of the irrigation canal is underway,” Hori explains when we walk by it. “Japan gets about 100 inches of water from the rain but even in countries with an abundance of water, you have to save the water, control the water, and use it for agriculture; this is part of the agricultural system. In Japan and other Asian countries, they use gravity – they have terraced paddies and fields to move water from the top to the bottom. Using natural forces instead of electricity or a pump is conserving resources.”
The back of the house | Photo by May S. Ruiz / Hey SoCal
“What we’re recreating here is a village – a community,” Hori pronounces. “It is looking at another culture and how people in the past addressed sustainability. And it’s one of the biggest global problems we face today.”
The Yokois made a well-considered decision to endow their shōya house to The Huntington, an institution renowned for preserving historical artifacts and cultural treasures. Under its stewardship, this remnant of history will be protected for centuries to come.
And The Huntington has taken this responsibility a step further by restoring the shōya house and its surroundings to educate us and demonstrate that it’s possible to live sustainably. It’s a lesson we have to heed and practice to help save our planet and ensure not only our survival but also that of future generations.
Chapter 28 ‘Extirpation’ illustration by J.J. Dunn | Rawls says, “I’m fascinated with the idea that there are extirpated animals and it makes me wonder whether they’ll come back | Photo courtesy of M.G. Rawls
While enjoying a refreshing glass of iced tea – and maybe a sandwich – on the balcony of M.G. Rawls’s home, you may get a sighting of a black bear. Or maybe a mountain lion. A review of her security camera from the previous night’s outdoor activity might show nocturnal creatures having free run of the creek that abuts her property.
They are the inspirations for the characters that inhabit The Sorts of Pasadena Hollow, a trilogy of young adult books created by Rawls in 2019 (Sorts are people who can transform into animals). Her first book, Hannah’s Fires, at 166 pages, follows a teenager’s story as she settles into her new home in Pasadena Hollow. The second installment, Tony’s Tales, is 224 pages and focuses on Hannah’s first friend there. The last in the series is Henry’s Hopes, which is 332 pages long and has just been released on Amazon as an ebook (order it here). It chronicles the life of an elderly Tongva shaman, one of the earliest residents in the area, who also serves as mentor for the young Sorts.
Chapter 1 ‘A Red Dragonfly and Birch Beer’ illustration by J. J. Dunn | Rawls says, “This red dragonfly landed on a single upright branch of a small apple tree in my yard. His face was so expressive, I couldn’t resist including him in my story. Birch beer (non-alcoholic) was a staple of my New England childhood and later visits.” / Photo courtesy of M. G. Rawls
Rawls graciously invites me for lunch followed by a short interview for a second article about her books (read first article here). I mention that each of the three books became increasingly longer, and ask if she planned it that way or if more ideas just came to her as she wrote.
“My initial thought was always to have three books but the audience would start at 5th grade and they would mature as I went along,” Rawls replies. “At the same time, it would help me, since I was a new writer, to be able to write in a way that I was comfortable with with each book. So you can see my progression through my work – it starts out simpler, then gets more complicated. I was always hoping that the reader who liked the book in 5th grade would like the next in 6th, and so on, as they were reading. I was writing it for middle schoolers and older.”
“With the exception of a few supporting characters, the main people in Henry’s Hopes were already part of the first,” Rawls adds. “One of the comments I received from readers is that there are so many to keep track of, so I included a list and description of characters at the beginning of each book.”
Rawls kept to a fixed idea about how each book will flow. She explains, “Consistent with I told you in the first interview, the concept was the same with all three books. I created the chapter titles first and then built the story for each section. And what I wrote inspired me as I fleshed out that chapter. I pretty much stayed with the same titles I started out with; I made very little deviation from them.”
Chapter 3 ‘Till Death Do Part’ illustration by J. J. Dunn| Rawls claims, “This one is pure fantasy. Thankfully, no one I know (except for Sparkle Bitters) ever sliced off the tail of a marine iguana.” / Photo courtesy of M. G. Rawls
I then ask if she has a favorite character in her books, and Rawls responds, “You had a similar question the first time you wrote an article about The Sorts of Pasadena Hollow and my answer is: if I did, I wouldn’t say. Although each book has its own unique characters. In the first, there’s Hannah, the young adult girl with the emotional constraints within her. In the second, there’s Tony, who’s somewhat reckless; I meant for Tony’s Tales to be a boys’ book; and in the third – the adult book – there’s Henry, the Tongva spiritual leader. He wants the best for everybody but he doesn’t necessarily go about it the right way; he tends to be Machiavellian.”
“Did the idea to write a book set in your neck of the woods happen organically or was there a particular moment or instance when it occurred?” I query. Rawls replies, “The inspiration for this series came from an article in the L.A. Times – which I included in Hannah’s Fires – about an engineer who was convinced there were half-lizards living deep under the ground with a cache of gold and arranged to dig for it. I was so intrigued by that article and it motivated me to create these characters.
“Besides that, we live next to a creek and I can hear the water running – especially when the door is open at night. Most (not all) of the animal events in my books have their genesis in reality. In the first book, for example, there’s a raven who tries to steal Hannah’s bracelet and pretends he hurt his wing to try to get sympathy from her because he likes her. About 10 or 15 years ago, my husband found what he thought was an injured juvenile raven. We took it in for the night and the next morning there was such a squawking outside, it woke us up. Dozens of ravens were on our fence and across the street staring at us – it was clear what they wanted. We brought out the juvenile and he flew off unhurt. My daughter named that raven Nicky and she would look for it at her school. I later heard that ravens are very smart and will sometimes feign injury to get attention.”
“As I said during your first interview, I had been nurturing this story in my mind since we moved here in 1988. When the idea to write these books happened, all the stories that have accumulated over the years living here started coming back to me,” she continues. “In 2019, I began writing them as notes on my iPhone in the early morning and they got longer and longer. Finally I started pruning it out and thought ‘Oh, this is interesting.’ It gave me comfort – it was a world I could escape into.”
Chapter 11 ‘The Jeweled Koi’ illustration by J. J. Dunn | Rawls states, “I had a number of goldfish growing up including one named ‘Goldy’ who lived for several years until one day she jumped out and the consequences were tragic. The jewels were inspired by a book I read where the rulers kept giant kois in ponds and they attached precious jewels to their tails.” / Photo courtesy of M. G. Rawls
Unlike some popular fantasy young adult books set in dystopian worlds, the Sorts live in a utopian society. Rawls intentionally created an inclusive world where everyone is accepted. Without calling attention to it, she ensured there was representation for people of diverse race, age, and sexual orientation.
While some authors say they wish they had written something differently, Rawls stands by what she has created. “I’m fine with how they all turned out. If there was something I put in the book that sent me on a different path, I went along where that led me. That’s not to say I abandoned an idea or that I didn’t have a particular destination – I had the chapter titles to guide me – but the road wasn’t restricted.”
The ending to her third book wasn’t planned in advance. Rawls reveals in jest, “A writer I know once told me that every story needs to have an arc. Until she said that I hadn’t heard of the word. I didn’t know what it meant; I think I had to look it up because I was embarrassed. So I worked on my arc. Seriously, though, I had an idea how I wanted it to end, but not the specifics. It only came to me as I got there.”
Chapter 33 “Wedding of Sorts’ illustration by J. J. Dunn | Rawls describes, “I thought the Tongva phrase ‘My heart is with you’ was appropriate for a wedding book. J. J. Dunn based her painting on her husband’s German family book. I added the stink bug and hibiscus from my yard.” / Photo courtesy of M. G. Rawls
When I ask her to describe how she felt after completing the last book in the trilogy, Rawls simply answers, “These characters have taken a life of their own – my job is done!”
At the end of Henry’s Hopes, we find Lydia as the voice for the characters and the narrator of events we’ve been following. It comes as a surprise. And yet it’s because she isn’t a Sort – not in spite of it – that makes her the logical storyteller. As Rawls says, “The events that happen are everyday occurrences for the Sorts so they don’t find them interesting. But they’re not normal activities for Lydia so she’s fascinated by them. Being an investigative reporter, she thinks of them as a mystery to be unraveled.”
Rawls’s characters grow with her as she matures in her writing. While she starts out tentative in Hannah’s Fires, she gets more confident in Tony’s Tales, and reaches her stride in Henry’s Hopes. In the same vein, a reader slowly gains insight about them and inevitably becomes invested in Hannah, Tony, Henry, and all the Sorts in Pasadena Hollow… and feels sad that there won’t be another book to look forward to. But Rawls also leaves a huge gap where a reader can infer that events will have transpired, leaving the possibility open for her to pick up where she left off.
As with painters and other artists, authors cede control of their work once it’s out there for the public to make of it what they will. So we can imagine for ourselves milestones happening during that gap – or
A San Gabriel Valley Inquirer 