Jingletown is having a Holiday Art Walk. Yep, that's right! Just in time for the gift-giving time of year. Buy unique presents during our Open Studios - Saturday & Sunday, December 6 & 7, 2008. You'll find everything from furniture to jewelry, mosaics to paintings, postcard art to garden art...and much much more. Everything unique! Each piece hand made! You'll also see a lot of local color and charming characters. You may even meet the "mayor" - she's always lurking about! So come on down! I'll be showing my art at 4:20 Gallery. See you there.
I recently completed a mural project that I am particularly proud to have been a part of.
Back in August I received an email from a group named YAWAV - Young Asian Women Against Violence - who had been awarded a grant by the city of San Francisco to create a mural about peace and anti-violence in their building in downtown SF. I learned while working with this group that in SF there are about 100 homicides per year but over 5,000 instances of domestic violence in that same time period. And each instance of violence can lead to a homicide. These young women committed themselves to educating other teens about the problems of violence in their community. When I first met with them, I was greeted by 6 smiling and eager teenage girls and their peer leader, Den. They laid out their ideas for an anti-violence mural and I had to catch my breath! The artist, Susanna, had come up with a very intricate drawing involving the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, a Mayan temple and the Great Wall of China as well as many other images. I knew this could not be done - not by a group of inexperienced artists and volunteers in a few months, at any rate! But I listened to their ideas about the message of the mural, gave my professional feedback and Susanna went back to her drawing board.
A gifted and intelligent artist, she came back with a perfect drawing that would be easy for the group to execute and yet told the story they wanted to tell.This is her second drawing and the one we went with. The mural is called Project Peaces and is meant to impart the feeling that the "sun" of peace and community can extinguish the "flames" of violence and hatred if all the diverse people of the world work together.
This mural was to be painted on the wall of a staircase and unfold as you walk up the stairs. As you can see it is narrow and therefore almost impossible to photograph!
The process began with the YAWAV girls and the volunteers cleaning and prepping the area. Then we drew the image onto the wall and started painting.
When one first walks in the front door, one is immediately struck by flames and words of violence with a black mosaic bird of doom looming overhead.
The "Crow" is about 18" from wingtip to wingtip and is made of black glass, with flecks of purple, on Easyboard.
As the mural's story unfolds the viewer comes upon a line of children of all ethnicities holding a hose which is dousing the flames.
The "hose" originates at the top of the stairs in a sun filled with words of love, friendship, community and peace. A mosaic dove flies from the sun.
The "Dove" is approximately 18" tall and is made of mirror on Easyboard.
The flags of many nations come together to create a large peace sign over the children.
And sprinkled throughout the mural are mosaic pieces in the shapes of hearts, flowers, rainbows and peace signs created by these multitalented young women to further support their positive message of peaceful coexistence.
Part of the girls' vision was to have mosaics be a part of their mural. So one Saturday afternoon was spent making glass marble mosaics.
All the substrate shapes had been designed and cut out by me in my home studio. After a short lesson, the girls began work and filled their pieces with trinkets of personal significance to them.
Then I took them home and grouted them. The next Saturday we adhered them to the wall. This mural and those mosaic pieces will stand for a very very long time as a tribute to their vision and hard work.
Of course, between mosaics, painting, SATs, dances and Senior Boat, sometimes they got exhausted and had to take a break!
Here is a photo of us at the opening ceremony for Project Peaces, November 21, 2008.
The young women of YAWAV are: Jenny Vuong - a lively personality who loves to share ideas Julie Youn - a strong friend who is also the life of the party Leslie Yip - a tough cookie who is always ready for a laugh Kelly Liu - a sweet joker and storyteller Kathie Huang - she's filled with spunk, wit and a willingness to help her friends Susanna Cheng - the always-happy swimmer and the mural's main artist and this is their beloved Peer Leader, Den Quinsay.
Here I am inspecting the finished product one last time after the ceremony. I wish the YAWAV girls luck in everything they do in their lives. This was definitely a memorable experience for me! Learn more about YAWAV by going to their website here.
This is a large mosaic logo I just completed for Community Youth Center in San Francisco. CYC was started in 1970 and addresses problems of violence in the Asian community as well as offering programs for job-readiness, educational enrichment and leadership building. As usual, photographing glass and mirror mosaics is very difficult and leaves a lot to be desired. This piece is made out of deep purple mirrored glass and other shades of purple stained glass. It is approximately 36" wide by 48" tall and will hang in their offices at 1038 Post Street in SF.
Alright already. Enough with Maddow Madness! Has anyone else out there become a Rachel Maddow widow besides me? It's starts at 5:55pm in my home - just as Keith Olberman's show is ending and he is on some wonderfully crazy, only half coherent, rant. From some other part of the house, my partner will come a-running. And she runs even faster if she has lost track of time and I have to actually remind her that Rachel Maddow is on. She will plop onto the couch and a totally loony starry-eyed look will cross her face. No sooner has this latest tv talking head started to tell us the news then my partner will start saying things like: "she is so cute"... or "she has such great hair"..."her eyes are so sparkly"...and "you could wear your hair like that"....or "she has nice eyebrows"! The worst: "why aren't you that smart?" And all these things are said in such a googly-eyed fashion that I wonder where my normally down-to-earth, not-impressed-by-much girlfriend of 24 years has gone! Okay so she's a Rhodes Scholar, PhD, Oxford graduate and has a red truck. I have a green truck! I can lift heavy things! And I have a good hair day once in a while myself! Drat you Maddow! I was doing just great with my girlfriend, being able to crush beer cans on my forehead. But now? Nooooooo, that just won't do anymore. Now I have to KNOW things! And even be able to make intelligent conversation! Thanks for nothing, Maddow! Darn you. Okay, maybe I'll try to get my hair to look like that. It is kinda nice looking.
Halloween is my favorite holiday. I am always at my most inspired during October and the days leading up to All Hallow's Eve. The days get chillier, the nights longer, the winds rustle the dry leaves and everything becomes a little spookier. Over the years I have created many Halloween-inspired drawings. These are all done in pencil and are all approximately 18" x 24". Enjoy!"Pumpkin Moon"
"Trick Or Treat"
"Fortune Teller"
"Three Witches"
"Skeletons" This one is a "Day of the Dead" tribute to my grandparents. In this drawing they are surrounded by the things they loved in life: my grandmother by her baking and knitting; my grandfather by his garden and his pipe.
I just finished a small commission for a neighbor.
She is a fan of dragonflies and so wanted one "tattooed" onto her house.
I made this small mosaic out of mirror and stained glass, adhered it to her stucco house and grouted it in place. Check out the symbolic meaning of dragonflies.
Jingletown is having a Holiday Art Walk. Yep, that's right! Just in time for the gift-giving time of year. Buy unique presents during our Open Studios - Saturday & Sunday, December 6 & 7, 2008. You'll find everything from furniture to jewelry, mosaics to paintings, postcard art to garden art...and much much more. Everything unique! Each piece hand made! You'll also see a lot of local color and charming characters. You may even meet the "mayor" - she's always lurking about! So come on down! I'll be showing my art at 4:20 Gallery. See you there.
