2024/2025 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
2023/2024 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
Video Presentation by Scholarship Students Maria Massengill and Jane Traynor
Recorded on May 14, 2024
On Right: Jane Traynor, UHM PhD student (Japanese theater—kyogen)
On left: Maria Massengill, UHM PhD student (Japanese theatre—kabuki)
Video by Andrew Binkley
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L-R: Jane Traynor, UHM PhD student (Japanese theater—kyogen); Maria Massengill, UHM PhD student (Japanese theatre—kabuki); Eleanor Masinton, UHM undergraduate (Japanese art history); Olivia Ambo, UHM master's student (Japanese history & art); Erin Shibuya-Kubo; UHM undergraduate (Japanese chado)
2022/2023 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
Mariah Massengill, awarded SAAH Scholarship, is a Ph.D. candidate in the Theater and Dance Department with an MFA in creative writing from the University of Houston-Victoria. Her goal is to teach theatre at the university level, while writing, directing, and producing those works that have heavy contributions from various forms of East Asian classical theatre. She practices digital painting in traditional Japanese styles and plays the shamisen during her leisure time.
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Jordan Peterson, awarded SAAH Scholarship, is a Ph.D. student in Political Science recently graduated with an MA degree from the Thammasat University in Thailand. He is integrating studies in South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Japanese Art into his curriculum, with a keen focus on cultural identity and political identity. He acquired a strong interest in Asian Art from his grandfather who taught art at UH Manoa. He is taking seminars in South and Southeast Asian Art History, in Japanese Art.
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Jillian Jackson, awarded the Susan Burkhardt Scholarship, is a second year MFA graduate student of the Theater and Dance Department pursuing her passion and future career in Theatre for Young Audiences with a puppetry concentration. Born and raised in Austin, Texas, she received her BFA in Theatre from Abilene Christian University (ACU), Jillian is taking Introduction to Performing Arts of Southeast Asia and Bollywood dance.
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2021/2022 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
Scholarship recipients Mary Kim (center left) and Marina George (center rigth) with SAAH members at the East West Center, UH Manoa - Sept 3 2019. Photo Credit: Hunter Kaye
For scholarship-related inquiries, email saahscholarship@gmail.com
2021/2022 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
The Society of Asian Art of Hawai’i, Inc. is pleased to announce that scholarships have been awarded to the following recipient:
Jane Traynor is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Theater and Dance, UH Manoa. She received her B.A. and M.A. at the University of Alberta, Canada in Japanese history, art and literature from 2011-2017. From 2018-19 she earned a 2nd M.A. at Columbia University in Japanese modern and pre-modern literature. She came to UH in 2020 to study the art of Kyōgen and translated Kyōgen as her independent study.
Jane Traynor is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Theater and Dance, UH Manoa
Jane Traynor performing the kyōgen play Onigawara (The Demon-Faced Tile) at the 2019 Traditional Theatre Training Program recital in Kyoto.
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2019/2020 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
The Society of Asian Art of Hawai’i, Inc. is pleased to announce that scholarships have been awarded to each of the following two recipients:
Marina George
Marina George received the Society's Rhoda E.A. Hackler Scholarship of $1,500 from President Li Lundin for the 2019-2020 academic year.
Marina is from India where she worked as a disability rights advocate and researcher, studying the effects of government education and health policies on Inclusive Education for children with disabilities within five states, across rural and urban settings. At UH Manoa she is pursuing a Master's degree in art history in South Asia. Prior to coming to Hawaii, she did a Graduate Internship at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Mary Kim
Mary Kim received the Society's Susan Burghardt Special Award of $1,000 from Ambassador Raymond Burghardt for the 2019-2020 academic year.
The award was to help her defray the material cost of her graduation project. Mary had a solo exhibition and she invited members to the opening on Sept 8, 3-5 PM, at the Commons Gallery, Art Dept. of UH, Manoa.
Photo Credit - Hunter Kaye
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2018/2019 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
The Society of Asian Art of Hawai’i, Inc. is pleased to announce that scholarships have been awarded to each of the following three recipients:
Taylor Twadelle
Taylor Twadelle has a BA degree from the International Studies at the University of Washington. As a MA graduate student in the Art and Art History Department, she is interested in pursuing a career in critical writing and curation specializing in Asian art. Her experience includes volunteering at the Frye Museum in Seattle, interning at commercial and nonprofit art organizations in New York. She will be taking Art 688, Topics in the Art of China in Fall semester, 2018; Topics in the Art of Japan in Spring 2019.
Taylor’s presentation featured Artist Samson Young’s Multi-media installation Liquid Border
Mary Kim
Mary Kim is a MFA student of Painting and Drawing in the Art and Art History Department of UH Manoa. She paints abstract images based on inspirations from Eastern folklores and color schemes. Her medium is acrylic on canvas. She will be taking Art 483, Applied Art of Japan in Fall 2018.
One of Mary Kim’s paintings from her MFA thesis exhibition.
Bianca Rajan
Bianca Rajan is a MA graduate student in the Asian Studies Department, South East Asia, UH Manoa. She earned a dual degree in Fine Arts and International Studies from the Washington & Jefferson College, Virginia. After college, she joined the Fulbright U.S. Student Program as a Teaching Assistant in Indonesia. She wishes to advance her study in the areas of art, history, culture and politics of Southeast Asia. She will be taking Art 491, Seminar in South/Southeast Asian Art History, in Fall 2018; Art 791 Seminar in South/Southeast Asian Art History and Art 477 Art of Indonesia in Spring 2019.
A slide from Bianca’s presentation which depicts a Thai Monk performing a traditional tattoo
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THE 2017-18 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
The Society of Asian Art of Hawai’i, Inc. is pleased to announce that $2,500 has been awarded to each of the following two recipients:
Yunshan Feng, a student in Asian Theater Masters program at UH Manoa
Yuanhisn Tung, an Ethnomusicology PhD candidate at UH Manoa
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THE 2016-17 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
The Society of Asian Art of Hawai’i, Inc. is pleased to announce that $2,500 has been awarded to each of the following two recipients:
I. The Dr. Rhoda E.A. Hackler Scholarship:
Kaitlyn Patrick , an MFA candidate in Costume Design
Research topic: Traditional Japanese Theatre: Kabuki.
II. The Society of Asian Art of Hawai’i Scholarship:
Baixin Chen, BFA student at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, focusing in Sculpture
Course to study: Art of China, Intermediate Mandarin
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THE 2015-16 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
The Society of Asian Art of Hawai’i, Inc. is pleased to announce that $2,500 has been awarded to each of the following two recipients:
I. The Dr. Rhoda E.A. Hackler Scholarship:
Annie Reynolds, Ph.D. candidate of Theatre
Research topic: Balinese legong choreography, its preservation and innovation
II. The Society of Asian Art of Hawai’i Scholarship:
Kamran Samimi, Masters of Fine Arts canditate in Visual Arts
Related Coursework: Later Art of Japan