Full of colored photographs, featuring exhibited artworks and much more, this catalog is the ideal supplement to our outstanding exhibition, “Chromatic Constructions: Contemporary Fiber Art by Dora Hsiung”.

After taking a tour in our gallery, please come visit us in our shop to buy a copy. Catalog is also available for purchase online >>> BUY NOW.

Special Event – Intimate Dinner with Dora Hsiung, featuring special cuisine inspired by the artwork and prepared by Chef Ni of Jia Yun. Call for reservation: 415-986-1822 [$100 per person]

When: Saturday, November 14, 2009
Time: 12:00 – 1:45 PM
Where: Chinese Culture Center Gallery (3rd Floor)
Price: Free
CLICK HERE TO RSVP!

On Saturday, November 14th, 2009, Chinese-French artist and author Chen Jiang Hong will honor us with his presence, to give a lecture and painting demonstration. This event will be held at the Chinese Culture Center’s gallery, from 12:00 to 1:45pm.
Press coverage:
FREE AND OPEN TO EVERYONE!

陳江洪繪畫講座

與藝術家陳江洪面對面！

2009年11月14日星期六，法籍華裔藝術家、作家陳江洪將為我們奉獻一場以水墨畫及水彩畫為主題的現場示范講座。活動時間為中午12點至下午1點45，地點在中華文化中心畫廊。

本講座免費對公眾開放！

關于藝術家：
陳江洪，水墨及水彩畫家、插圖畫家、作家，出生於中國天津，成長在文化大革命的年代。他畢業于北京中央美術學院，之后旅法繼續深造，現居巴黎，是一名自由藝術家。多年來，陳江洪發表了多部著作，獲得全世界各地藝術評論家的一致稱贊。他受童年生活和中國傳說啟發的創作在許多國家出版，包括美國、西班牙、丹麥、墨西哥以及韓國。
陳江洪同時是一名水墨及水彩畫家，巴黎的一家日本畫廊正在展出他的作品。

本活動與舊金山法國領事館合辦。

Please make your reservations by calling (415) 986-1822 or online: click here. Tickets start $200/person. It will be held at the Chinese Culture Center Grand Ballroom.

This annual fundraising dinner benefits the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco by ensuring that we are able to bring to the community great events such as: our free exhibitions, free concerts in Chinatown, heritage tours to school children and tourists, classes in Mandarin, Chinese brush painting, calligraphy, and our “In Search of Roots” genealogy program, which provides opportunities for Chinese-American youth to explore their family roots in China. Don’t miss this opportunity to join in the celebration while supporting the Center during these tough financial times. Limited seats available, reserve today!

The Chinese Culture Center (CCC) is a heritage, arts and culture destination serving the Chinese American community, diverse citywide communities and regional, national and international visitors to San Francisco. It is a place where audiences explore, reflect upon and envision a vibrant Chinese and Chinese American culture. The CCC is the primary program site operated by the Chinese Culture Foundation of San Francisco (CCF). Founded in 1965, the CCF is a nonprofit community-based organization whose mission is to preserve, promote, and influence the course of Chinese and Chinese American culture.

The Center offers a variety of educational and cultural programs. These programs range from lectures, workshops, and classes to art exhibitions, dance and musical performances, and cultural exchanges—all of which enable members of the Chinese American community and the general public alike to gain a deeper knowledge of historical and contemporary Chinese and Chinese American culture.

Position Summary: The Outreach Coordinator serves under the direction of the Executive Director and working with Project Managers, is responsible for implementing and coordinating all community outreach and civic engagement activities of the Center.

Primary duties include:

• Assist the Executive Director and Project Managers in designing, scheduling, and implementing programs to enhance participation and strengthen the impact of our outreach efforts, with a focus on Chinatown and youth
• Establish, cultivate and manage partnerships with schools, community centers and nonprofit organizations and institutions, and other cultural associations
• Work to bring these communities to the Center’s activities
• Initiate, design, and produce outreach and promotional materials
• Staff all outreach and engagement programs of the Center
• Document all outcomes of outreach and civic engagement activities for Grants Administration

Qualifications:
- 1-year experience in outreach work (paid or volunteer)
- Bilingual Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese) and English is preferable
- Commitment to cultural and community arts
- Appreciation and/or familiarity with Chinese culture, knowledge of Chinese-American history, particularly as relates to San Francisco
- Excellent organizational and project management skills
- Strong initiative, interpersonal and communication skills, especially working with diverse communities
- Must be available Tuesday – Saturday, occasional Sundays
- Proficient in MS Office applications, Adobe Illustrator; knowledgeable in traditional and nontraditional communications forms
- Bachelor’s degree

This is a part-time position (15 – 20 hours/per week) for the duration of the grant. Compensation depending on experience; benefits package is available.

CCF is an equal opportunity employer.

To apply, please send resume and cover letter by October 20th.

HR/Outreach Coordinator
Chinese Culture Center
750 Kearny Street, 3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94108
e-mail: staffing@c-c-c.org

Held in conjunction with our tea exhibition with United Commercial Bank at the Pacific Heritage Museum, this tea ceremony will bring in a different atmosphere through drinking tea. From learning to appreciate the tea cups, smelling the tea’s fragrance to tasting the tea. Like Chinese art, it combines different disciplines. In the old literati tradition, people would gather together to recite poetry, play music, and brew tea. 12 bilingual Tea Masters will present the art of tea with Guzheng and Guqin background music played by SF Gu-Zheng Music Society. Teas will include Bao-Chung cha (made by North American Asian Art & Culture Association members) and Da-Hung-Paw. Spots are limited to 96 guests! RSVP online today!

日期: 2009年10月18日
時間: 下午2點
票價: 免費
地點: 文化中心3樓礼堂

“茶道” 是中華文化中心舉辦的品茶活動，與聯合銀行贊助的太平洋傳統博物館茶藝特展相互結合。 你會從飲茶中感覺不同的氣氛和聞到茶的香氣，如同形式多樣的中國藝術。 在傳統文化習俗里，人們在一起吟詩、品樂和泡茶。 12位雙語茶道師父將在舊金山古箏樂團古箏和古琴背景音樂中演繹茶道。 今次品茶活動用茶有北美藝文學會茶人自制的包種茶和大紅袍。 限96個席位，報名請從速!

In partnership with San Francisco State University, the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco is proud to host a lecture by Gordon H. Chang with opening remarks by Mark Johnson. The lecture is given in conjunction with the exhibition, Chromatic Constructions: Contemporary Fiber Art by Dora Hsiung. Hsiung, a contemporary Asian-American artist, has been adapting traditional yarn wrapping techniques of China and other countries for more than 30 years. The lecture is free to the public and will focus on Chinese-American Art.

In addition, Professors Gordon H. Chang, Mark Johnson, and Paul J. Karlstrom are editors of the ground-breaking book: Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970. This book is the first comprehensive study of the lives and artistic production of artists of Asian ancestry active in the United States before 1970. An introduction of the book will be included. After the lecture, there will be a short Q&A session for the audience.

The lecture is given in conjunction with the exhibition, Chromatic Constructions: Contemporary Fiber Art by Dora Hsiung. Hsiung, a contemporary Asian-American artist, has been adapting traditional yarn wrapping techniques of China and other countries for more than 30 years. Her works of art are a hybrid of traditional weaving, contemporary aesthetics, innovative off-loom weaving techniques, and striking choice of colors. On view now to January 10, 2009 are fifty of Hsiung’s wall hangings, installations and sculptures, many large-scale, will be at the Chinese Culture Center (CCC) in San Francisco as the second exhibit in its Xian Rui (Fresh and Sharp) exhibition series. The Xian Rui series is designed to bring visibility to the work of exceptional, but under-recognized Chinese artists in the US and to give viewers a renewed appreciation and fresh perspective on contemporary Chinese culture. This exhibition series is funded by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, which provides 3-year funding for 2008-2010 Xian Rui series. This exhibition is co-sponsored by the Hilton Hotel S.F. Financial District.

Abby Chen, CCC’s Program Director, will give attendees a specially curated tour of the exhibition. Following the tour, there will be an optional hands-on crafts workshop.

cost:free
RSVP: Click here

The art of Dora Hsiung at initial impact is straightforward and unabashedly decorative, yet upon analysis it proves to contain subtleties to engage the eye and the mind. Her fabric sculptures look – and are – mathematically organized. Like a well-constructed fugue, a Hsiung work alters its tone and its counterpoint subtly as it moves from side to side, from top to bottom. Now and then there is a dissonant thread, which serves to accent the harmony of the whole.

“Don’t miss: ‘Chromatic Constructions’” – Mary Eisenhart, Thursday, October 22, 2009, 96 Hours

色‧立體：熊李南琛的當代纖維藝術　
2009舊金山中華文化中心「鮮銳」展系列
2009年9月12日至2010年1月10日

熊李南琛個展是舊金山中華文化中心所推出的第二屆「鮮銳」系列，同時也是第一次以纖維為媒材的展覽，

「鮮銳」是舊金山中華文化中心的藝術家個展系列，2008年首屆「鮮銳」展系列為裝置藝術家劉北立，該系列強調「新鮮」、「敏銳」視野，展出最新或未曾發表的創作，推出卓越但尚未被廣泛認識的華人藝術家，將提供觀者對當代中華文化的全新視野。2008 – 2010「鮮銳」由Phyllis C. Wattis基金會資助。

The Xian Rui (Fresh and Sharp) exhibition series for 2008-2010 is funded by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation. Other support provided by Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, the members of Chinese Culture Center and individual supporters. 2009 Exhibition is co-sponsored by Hilton Hotel of San Francisco Financial District.

Find more images like this on Chinese Culture Center Online Gallery

Curatorial Statement

The Chinese Culture Center is proud to present the Xian Rui Artist Excellence Series. Xian Rui (translated from Mandarin as “Fresh and Sharp”) exudes the timing, content, and quality of work that the selected artists in this series aim to capture. Regardless of age, gender, and brand of technique, the featured artists’ exhibitions will ultimately showcase as both products and reflections of the evolving cross-cultural and transnational culture.

The constant goal for this progressing collection is to discover and acknowledge exceptional solo artists who would otherwise be underrepresented, under recognized, and underappreciated in our art community. Beyond such, the sheer nature of this program will challenge and push the artists, helping them hone their talents and helping us build a foundation for renewed appreciation and fresh perspective on contemporary Chinese art.

Following the overwhelmingly well-received debut of Xian Rui last year with artist Beili Liu (Lure, 2008), we are pleased to continue the series with our 2009 artist, Dora Hsiung and her showcase, Chromatic Construction. Among her fellow applicants’ entries, Dora Hsiung’s artwork not only emanated the rarely-found meticulous dedication to the fiber art and weaving discipline, but also provided a refreshing take on the art form in such a way that aesthetically and emotionally connects the artist to the viewer.

With such a practiced craft as weaving, artists young and old find great difficulty breaking away from the said and done and interpreting the art form anew. Dora Hsiung’s craft indeed does just that. Her three-dimensional artwork, between the waffle technique and an underlying variation of modular origami, utilizes the mathematical approach to construct depth, angle, and shape on the one hand, and borrows from the warmth of subtlety that one can only feel from using such materials as paper and soft yarn on the other.

Her distinct style must have inevitably taken form through her personal experience as a Shanghai-born, Brazil-emigrated, Boston resident. Her sculptures are enriched with the learned Chinese and Japanese weave craft, bold South American use of colors, and pinpoint American precision and industriousness. She brilliantly refines aggressive colors and rugged materials into smooth shapes that still burst with energy and life with a pantone-inspired range of vibrancy. Hsiung is the epitome of a global artist and we are privileged to exhibit her first ever large-scale show in the United States.

Abby Chen, Curator

****************************************

The wall hangings remind us of the colorist silkscreen prints of Viktor Vasarely, but they add the intrigue of the third dimension with its illusions of motion and vibrant gradations. In these pieces, Hsiung uses the basic element of fabric – colored wool yarn – in an original way. Not exactly woven, her strands build and interlock into forms of depth and complexity, combining formality of organization with warmth. She calls the very smallest works “waffle-weave.”

Part of the Chinese Culture Center’s “Xian Rui” (“fresh sharp”) exhibition series, Hsiung’s is the first fiber art to appear here. Director Abby Chen states, “Her works embody the diverse experience as a Chinese woman artist who has lived on multiple continents, enriching her vision and perspectives…That her works do not bear the symbols that indicate her ethnicity is what today’s Chinese artist is all about.”

A native of Shanghai, Hsiung was born Nan-son Lee in 1939. When China succumbed to Communist control, her entrepreneur father moved the family to Hong Kong for five years and then to Brazil. He saw to it that all 10 of the children attended college; Nan-son (now called Dora) received a degree in commercial art and design at the University of Illinois.

For a time after her marriage, Dora Hsiung was a silk-screen printmaker. Experimenting with off-loom weaving, Hsiung modified with wool the traditional Chinese “zong zi” – silk winding over small tetrahedron paper foldings – and also worked with the popular form of the “god’s eye” – a weaving formed on a pair of crossed sticks – producing small works that proved popular. She moved on to weaving large tapestries on a 60-inch loom, receiving commissions from corporations who found her work looked high-tech but had a softening effect on their contemporary buildings.

The largest “waffles” she produces are 40×40 inches. For larger installations, Hsiung combines a number of them. She has a double, reinforced wooden stretcher custom-built for each weaving; without reinforcement, her taut stringing would warp the plane of the square. The stretcher remains as part of the work. She has devised an apparatus that holds the frame but enables her to turn it over and over quickly. Each time she changes color she must knot the thread and hide the knot; to achieve her chromic gradations she changes color with almost every strand.

Hsiung has experimented with other shapes and forms: circles, triangles, cubes, tetrahedrons, spheres and huge mock candles. The wall hangings remain her most accessible work. Their infinite variety and consistent aesthetic make it hard to choose among them.

Article by Marty Carlock, Contributing Editor, SCULPTURE MAGAZINE

布料最基本的元素「多彩毛線」變成大膽的創作素材，在藝術家熊李南琛耐心的巧手安排下呈現規律的波動、流動的形狀與色彩。創作經歷超過三十年的熊李南琛用傳統毛線編織技術、精準地呈現溫暖的幾何圖形。舊金山中華文化中心將展出她的五十件尺幅大小不一作品，包括牆掛、裝置和雕塑，許多作品專為此次展覽而創作，並首次得到展出。展覽向公眾開放免費參觀，展期自2009年9月12日至2010年1月10日，9月11日晚上6點舉辦貴賓開幕酒會。

熊李南琛生於上海、移居巴西、現居波士頓，並在波士頓大學獲得碩士學位。項目總監陳暢表示，熊李南琛正是「鮮銳」系列尋找的藝術家，其作品包含華人女性的多種體驗，更因其跨越州際的生活經歷使她具有豐富的遠見及觀點。陳暢強調，熊的藝術靈感源於中國傳統手工藝及當代生活，而她如火純青地纖維編織技法將這些眾多紛雜的多種元素交錯結合。

當熊李南琛開始嘗試用免織機編織時，她參照中國傳統包粽子的手工藝，以絲線包在紙張做成四面體。不同的是她以毛線代替絲線，並將其放大而開始把顏色（彩）和形狀合併成織物雕塑。她很快地發展一種自稱為「威化餅編織」的技術，以線包在木架上，在編織和連結時不斷增加深度及複雜度。她將這些組織成輕微起伏的色彩，目光在顏色和形狀的不斷轉移中產生特殊的視覺效果。雕塑雜誌的特約編輯馬帝‧卡拉克（Marty Carlock）如此形容她的作品：「她的織物雕塑不只是看起來、實質上也是數學結構，就像一個設計良好的合旋，整個作品從一邊到另一邊、從上到下，巧妙地改變其色調和旋律。她有時使用一支不和諧的線，卻有加重整體和諧的作用，作品有循環的無限感和統一的美感。若要從中選擇最好的作品並不容易。」

熊李南琛經常將其「威化餅編織」合併成大型裝置（有些大到四十平方英寸），她也為每件作品製造木頭擔架，此架也成為完成品的一部分，但這只是一個漫長及複雜進程 的開始。她也設計一種儀器來舉起框架，在包線時能很快地把框架翻轉過來。每一次改變顏色時她必須將線打結、然後隱藏線頭，並且幾乎每一鍵她都要改換顏色以完成作品的色級。

中華文化中心展出的熊李南琛的作品形式多樣，有墻掛、雕塑以及裝置。50件作品中的10件是全新亮相，前所未見。

展覽還將安排兩場座談會。藝術家熊李南琛將於9月12日下午2點至3點親臨現場解說職維藝術。而2009年10月的另外一場座談會將邀請斯坦福大學美國亞裔研究中心主任張少書發言。詳情請登陸中華文化中心網站www.c-c-c.org。

中華文化中心行政總監鄧式美說：“像鮮銳這樣的系列展覽是中心為了向多元社區展示和融合當代藝術家而推出的。為了實現我們藝術與公眾結合的承諾，中心特邀斯坦福大學張少書教授來就美國華裔藝術進行一次特別演講。我們希望通過類似的活動激發整個社區更多的探討和參與，促成對不斷演變中的華裔文化新的理解。”

熊李南琛此次將在舊金山中華文化中心展出其代表作及首次公開發表作品。「色‧立體」展自2009年9月12日至2010年1月10日，舊金山中華文化中心位於肯尼街750號（希爾頓飯店三樓），開放時間：週二至週六上午10點至4點，週日中午12點至下午4點。入場免費。詳情請洽：www.c-c-c.org 或電415-986-1822。

「色‧立體」展由位於三藩市金融區的希爾頓酒店協辦。2008-2010年度鮮銳系列展覽由Phylis C. Watfis基金會贊助。同時感謝來自藝術基金、三藩酒店稅收基金、中華文化中心會員及其他個人的支持。

Roots is a year-long program in which Chinese American young adults research their family history and genealogy, learn about Chinese and Chinese American history, and travel to their ancestral villages in Guangdong province. The program begins in the spring with twice monthly meetings and field trips. The journey to China is typically about three weeks in July. The program culminates in a Chinese New Year exhibition at the Chinese Culture Center in San Francisco, where participants share what they have learned with family, friends, and community.

The age range for Roots is roughly 17 to 27. You don’t have to speak Chinese to participate and you do not need to be “pure” Chinese; many hapa and mixed race people have participated. You do need to have some ancestral roots in Guangdong (Kwangtung) province, however.

More information about the Roots program, including the application form, is on the Chinese Culture Center’s In Search of Roots website

If you know someone who might be interested in applying for Roots, please pass this information along to him or her. Also, I would be happy to respond to any questions you may have.