Annual Meeting - May 15, 2023

Venue: Jade Dynasty, Ala Moana Shopping Center
43 Attendees. Quorum - Yes

At 6:45 meeting called to order by President Li Lundin

Li welcomed distinguished guests Susan Chun and husband Johan Van Beke, Dan Delmonte, Jesse Haydon, Marlise Tellandar and scholarship awardees Mariah Massengill and Jordan Peterson. 
Potted flower arrangements were donated by Dr. Ernest Lee.

Minutes of May 30, 2022 annual meeting approved.

President’s report 
Li has experienced a difficult year in recruiting volunteers and finding a venue comparable to Linekona. Despite the adversities, the board and officers have kept the Society active. 

Vice President’s report 
Marina George, SAAH 2019-2020 scholarship recipient, filled in as VP from 2022-2023, is leaving for University of Pennsylvania at the end of July to start her Ph.D. program in the Art History department. 

Treasurer’s report
$$25,400.30 (General fund)
$5,027.86 (Scholarship fund)

Scholarship report
Multiple applications and inquiries for SAAH’s scholarships were received last year. Three finalists: Mariah Massengill, Ph.D. candidate at UH Theater & Dance Dept; Jordan Peterson, P.h.D. candidate of Political Science; Jillian Jackson, MA student at UH Theater & Dance Dept. Scholarship amount to each range from $2,000 - $2,500. Last student declined the 2nd portion of scholarship as she was unable to fulfill her commitment for the spring semester.

Membership report
Since the start of the Covid pandemic, about 14 members became inactive and 6 new members enrolled. New members who joined 2022-2023: Diane Chen, Charlie Lin, Allison Wong. Note: a few days after the annual meeting, Susan Chun and Johan Van Beke sent in their application to join SAAH. 

Program report
Li Lundin reports that there has been very low attendance at the Society's programs post the pandemic. She thanked Prof. Cyndy Ning for making a great effort to sponsor SAAH to use the Art Department’s Art 101 auditorium. 

New slate of executive committee unanimously voted on.

President Dr. James Langworthy
Past President Li Lundin
Vice President John Kim
Treasurer Carolyn Haik
Secretary Wayne Morioka

Current Directors (no change since 2022)

Ambassador Raymond Burghardt (2021-2024), second term
Dr. Ernest Lee (2022-2024)
Professor Cyndy Ning (2022-2024), second term
Ambassador Charles Salmon (2021-2025) second term
Roberta Sullivan (2022-2024)

Chairs appointed

Scholarship: Roberta Sullivan
Membership: Chair not appointed
Venue: Chair not appointed
Program: Li Lundin

Remarks of incoming President James Langsworthy:
He expressed the society membership’s appreciation to Li Lundin for her monumental efforts to continue and preserve the goals and purpose of the Society of Asian Art of Hawaii during the pandemic. We all owe her a deep debt of gratitude.

President Langsworthy reminded the society membership that the Society of Asian Art of Hawaii is a charitable organization and must follow IRS guidelines.

The first meeting will be in September 2023 at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. A change in venue for the meetings will be explored with the possibility of meetings at various restaurants.

Presentations by scholarship awardee Mariah Massengill who reviewed her classroom studies related to Japanese Kabuki Theater and Balinese Shadow Puppets.

Presentation by scholarship awardee Jordan Peterson whose area of study is Papua West Guinea. He notes that the art of this area of Indonesia has been partially integrated into the general fabric of Indonesian culture yet remains distinctly apart due to its importance in the political and cultural identity of the native population.

Announcements

The Society of Asian Art of Hawaii will be commemorating its 50th Anniversary in 2025/2026.

A Chinese New Year silent fundraising event is in the planning stages for next year.

Meeting adjourned followed by distribution of donated door prizes. Thank you to Mrs. Indru Watumull and Dr. Ernest Lee for donating interesting collectibles.

Respectfully yours,
Wayne Morioka 

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Minutes of the 6th Meeting of the 2022-23 Season

The meeting was held on Monday, March 6, 2023, at UH Art 101 auditorium at UH Manoa. Li Lundin called the meeting to order at 7:10 pm and introduced the speaker, Janani Lakshmanan, a doctoral student at the Mathematics department at UH Manoa and certified “Senior Performer” of Bharatanatyam. 

Janani began dancing at the age of 5. Currently, she is an instructor with Sampradaya Dance of India and has been an active member in collegiate Indian classical art groups at Emory University, Arizona State University. She has been invited to organize, write, co- direct, and perform at events promoting the welfare of underprivileged communities in India and been recognized by the Government of India’s cultural arts bureau, Doordarshan. 

Janani began her talk by teaching and explaining the pronunciation and meaning of Bharatanatyam, each syllable referring to emotions, musicality, rhythm, and performance. Then we learned about the ban of the ancient Indian classical dance by the British in 1910. It was reinstated and renamed as Bharatanatyam from Bhava-Raga-Tala-Natyam (?) in 1932 by Sadir Attam.  

She applied Rasa, the Spice of Life, to perform the Adinaye Kanna dance, in which young Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu, destroyed an evil serpent by dancing on his head, using animated/feminine/graceful hand and body gestures, eyes and facial expressions to present a dance choreographed by her guru, Smt. Nita Mallya, of Sampradaya Dance of India.  

Janani concluded the evening with a charming mini workshop curated specifically for SAAH members. Taking the legendary Hawaiian love story of Ohia and Lehua, she taught us how to express the courageous Ohia with fists and fingers….while we sat in our chairs imitating after her. As member Bron Solyom commented later, “It made us realise how demanding and difficult dance performance is.” 

Following a brief Q & A session, light refreshments were served outside Art 101 by the courtyard. 

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Minutes of the 4th Meeting of the 2022-23 Season

The meeting was held on Monday, January 9, 2023 at UH Art 101 auditorium at UH Manoa. Twenty-six members and guests attended. President Li Lundin called the meeting to order at 7:10 pm, welcoming guests. UH Mānoa professor Sai Bhatawadekar announced her South Asian Dance performance series at HoMA on Jan 21 at 7pm, a ticketed show at the HoMA Doris Duke theater.

7.20PM: Steve Marvin presents his research on Korean Hyper-realism Painting: Neither Imitation or Imitative

Stephen (Steve) Marvin began a career in corporate finance and investment banking that spanned 30 years, from 1985 to 2015 in Tokyo and Seoul in the employ of major European and Korean financial institutions and as a partner at a large hedge fund based in Hong Kong. After retiring from his investment career, he went back to school and earned an M.A. in Art History at UH Manoa in 2021.

Marvin distinguished for the audience, with several visual examples, the genres of Academic or Classical Realism, Trompe l’oeil, Photorealism, realism in pop-art, and Korean Hyper-realism. 

Photorealism, for instance, relies on a camera and a transfer of image to a canvas by mechanical means. The history of photorealism can be traced back to the invention of the camera obscura (Latin for ‘dark chamber’), a simple device that was able to project an inverted image of a real landscape or still phenomenon. The image is copied faithfully and is not altered or edited. It usually captures everyday scenes and objects, without a political, religious or ideological bent. 

Korean Hyperrealism, on the other hand, is steeped in ideology. It removes the subject from its original context and natural setting, incorporating highly realistic details with the aim to manipulate the final image. It might suggest a refocusing of the art to elevate a certain aspect of reality to such a great extent that the result is almost fantastical. 

Marvin discussed the following three realms within the art-form of Korean Hyperrealism, with visual examples for each:

• Social Commentary and Political Protest (Cho Sang-hyun, Lee Suk-ju, Kim Hong-too)

• Surrealism (Kim Jong-hak, kim Jae-hong, Ji Seok-cheol, Lee Suk-ju)

• Pure Realism (Kim Chang-young, Kim Tschang-yeul, Kim Kang-yong)

Marvin then shared details and insights into his own collection of artworks.

8.30PM: Questions and discussion between the audience and Steve Marvin

8.45PM: Event adjourned, followed by light refreshments.

Respectfully submitted,

Marina George

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Minutes of the 3rd Meeting of the 2022-23 Season

Date & time: Monday, November 7, 2022, 7 p.m.
Speaker: Tom Klobe, Emeritus Professor of Islamic art and founding director of University of Hawai’i Art Gallery, Manoa 
Topic: The Art of Display: presenting art objects with tips on living with and enjoying your collection

The meeting was held at UH Art 101 auditorium at UH Manoa.  Eighteen members and guests (Delmarie Klobe, Denise Buntin and John Lundin) attended. President Li Lundin called the meeting to order at 7:15 pm. She thanked Bill Feltz for sharing the delightful information on the new fees on campus parking beginning on January 4, 2023 - $1 per hour after 4 pm!  

Prof. Tom Klobe gave an engaging and informative lecture on the art of display that everyone greatly enjoyed and appreciated. He first laid out the Elements of Design which included

• Space

• Line

• Form/shape

• Value

• Color

• Texture/pattern

• Time/motion

He stressed the Elements that manifest a concrete reality—they can be seen sometimes even felt. Among these elements, space is paramount. Illustrating with works drawn from his book, Exhibitions: Concept, Planning and Designs, the audience enjoyed a visual feast of art and display from the chapters on The Art of Korea, Greek and Russian Icons, Chinese Snuff Bottles, A Journey through Chinese Hell, and Private Passion, in which some of Dr. Ernest Lee’s cricket cages were showcased among the items on display. It was inspiring to see how he displayed some of his own collection in an entrance closet-transformed show space.   

After understanding the elements, one must apply them to the Principles of Design, which are  

• Unity

• Repetition

• Movement

• Transition

• Opposition/contrast/tension

• Emphasis

• Balance

• Variation

• Simplicity

These principles are intangible—only sensed. They interact with the elements of design to create a sensation within the observer. 

Simplicity is the most important principle. 

The exhibition of the Art of Korea exemplified the effective use of space: groupings and placement of items in a complementary fashion, coordination of both shape and color, and exploitation of negative (empty) space to accentuate the art on display. Framing groups of items is an effective means of creating both contrast and focus.

Mixing shapes and sizes reduces monotony in a display and draws attention to individual items. Varying the spacing between items (negative space) and alternating symmetry with asymmetry in the display also function in the same way.

Organizing objects sharing some fundamental commonality (e.g., images of birds) into themes invites fresh associations and interpretations.

Three-dimensional items benefit from displays that allow viewing both the front and back (e.g., snuff bottles painted on the inside).

A strong understanding of the elements and principles of design is essential to the presentation of works of art.

A long and enthusiastic Q & A session followed suit. Light refreshments were served outside the auditorium.

Respectfully submitted,
Steven Marvin

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Minutes of the 2nd Meeting of the 2022-23 Season

Date & time: Monday, October 3, 2022, 7 p.m.
Venue: UH Manoa Art Department, Art 101 Auditorium
Attendees: 17 Guests, 9 members
The Program: Finding Dohi, screening of a documentary film
Speaker: Amber McClure, an independent documentary producer, filmmaker, and genealogist

This is the first film by Amber McClure, a 4th generation Japanese American, which traces her mother Daphane’s journey to Iwakuni, Japan, to find her ancestral roots. Amber’s own career interest and an unprecedented large family reunion were the impetus of the documentary. She is grateful for the opportunity as her production had been premiered virtually at HIFF and on US mainland due to the pandemic, and this was the first time in front of a real audience. Daphane flew in from Kauai to attend this event. Among the guests are Prof. Noelle Kahanu of American Studies and her aunty, Eric Chang, EWC Gallery director, filmmaker George Yoshio Russell along with 13 other guests. 

Daphane cannot speak or read Japanese, yet she has kept letters from her first cousin in Japan, the last of which was received sometime after World War II. Amber’s grandfather Mr. Dohi immigrated to Hawaii from in 1891 in a village in the area of Iwakuni, Yamaguchi prefecture, and settled on Kauai. It was Daphane’s dream to find her grandfather’s roots in Japan and perhaps meet relatives. Not much was known about the Dohi family in Yamaguchi and familial contacts were lost over the years. 

With copies of old family documents, Amber and Daphane travel to Yamaguchi and visited the Museum of Japanese Immigration to Hawaii. Here detailed records are kept of Japanese immigrants to Hawaii such as ship manifests, passports, etc. Obtaining some information, they approached the Iwakuni government records department seeking further information. Most critical in their search was locating the Dohi family koseki or family registry. This registry contained a detailed genealogy and names of Dohi family relatives. Also aiding her search were the records kept by local Buddhist temples. The search was a difficult and intense one, but thanks to the sincere efforts of many people in Japan in their official and unofficial capacities, a copy of the Dohi koseki was obtained. Fortunately, the Dohi name is an unusual one which made the search somewhat easier. 

Shortly thereafter, Daphane met a cousin living in Iwakuni who guided them to the Dohi family tombs where they paid their respects. A link has been reestablished with the Dohi relatives in Japan. Daphane has started taking Japanese language courses and has become involved in the various projects centered on helping the descendants of local Japanese Americans find their roots in Japan. Light refreshments were served outside Art 101. 

Respectfully submitted,

Wayne Morioka

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Minutes of the 1st Meeting of the 2022-2023 Season of the Society of Asian Art of Hawaii, Inc.

Date: Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Venue and Time: EWC Gallery, 7:00 PM
The Program: A multi-faceted celebration:

• Honoring three scholarship awardees;

• Video screening and talk on Weaving a Net(work) of Care for Ocean Collections by Curator Dr. Annie Reynolds;

• Mid-Autumn Festival moon cake tasting.

Attendees: 27 members, 3 scholarship attendees, 4 guests
7:00 PM    Meeting called to order by President Li Lundin

Guests:

Allison Wong, new Director of the Hawaii State Art Museum
Diane KW, ceramic artist (dianekw.com)
Yan Chun, entrepreneur and active member of the Chinese business community
Dr. Elizabeth Zachariah, radiologist at Tripler

Announcements:

Dr. Bill Won celebrated his 91st birthday but was unable to attend the meeting. He gave two copies of the Jul/Aug issue of Generations magazine to SAAH, in which his pioneering of neurosurgery in Hawaii and his collecting hobby were the featured story. The members of the Society send him their best wishes.

A signup sheet for procuring refreshments at future meetings was circulated among the members present, but no one signed up!

There are two potential venues for future Society meetings.  One is at Maryknoll School and the other is at the UH Manoa Art Department auditorium.  More information will be provided on the venues when meetings are scheduled.

Robyn Buntin has reopened his business with a small gallery in Chinatown across the street from the Maunakea Market.  His son Tusha has opened an independent small upstairs gallery near Ala Moana Shopping Center and Piikoi Street.

Scholarship Awardees:

Three scholarship awardees were recognized.

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 Giant Puppetry, Introduction to Performing Arts of Southeast Asia and Bollywood dance.

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 future career path focuses on melding kabuki and western theatre for western audiences.  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. Mariah practices digital painting in traditional Japanese styles and plays the shamisen.

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.

Highlights of Program presented by Dr. Annie Reynolds, Curator of the East West Center Gallery at Burns Hall

Dr. Reynolds warmly welcomed members of the Society back to the East West Center Gallery after a 2-year pandemic pause. Through major support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the East West Center created a training project that provided professional development to 20 native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders working in various museums in the Pacific region. Presented in partnership with the American Studies Program at UH Manoa, the East West Center, and the Pacific Islands Museums Association, other institutions, and individuals, this program offered training in collection care, conservation, and exhibitions.

The programs initially started with months-long virtual sessions, followed by a four week in person program hosted by the East West Center. What emerged from the program was a greater appreciation of the contributions of indigenous people in maintaining and preserving their own culture, and the realization of the importance of the interconnection between the visual and the performing arts in these cultures.  Each participant was asked to bring an object or objects that represented an aspect of his or her culture. These were the focus of an exhibition created by participants and guided by a planning team composed of museum staff and professionals representing many areas of expertise. A video documenting the program was created and shown to Society members, followed by a tour of the exhibition.

Respectfully yours,

Wayne Morioka

Secretary

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Minutes of Annual Banquet & Meeting, May 30, 2022

Venue: Maple Garden main dining room

Attendees: 27 members and 2 scholarship students (Marina George and Jane Traynor)

Quorum: Yes

6:45 pm President Li Lundin greeted members and thanked the Officers and Chairs’ teamwork as well as Dr. Ernest Lee, Vivien Stackpole and Marina George for helping with the last-minute chores. Mahalo to Dr. Gene and Cecilia Doo brought gorgeous pentas and roses from their garden to decorate the four tables, which greatly enhanced the ambience. Maple Garden chef Richard’s Beggar’s Chicken and other dishes did not disappoint. 

7:00 pm Dinner served

7: 50 Meeting was called to order. To approve the minutes of the May 3, 2019 annual meeting, a motion was made by Amb. Ray Burghardt and seconded by Vivien Stackpole. 

- President Li Lundin pointed out the major undertaking she and Kamran collaborated during the pandemic lockdown in 2020, to overhaul SAAH’s website with appealing design and coherent content while membership fees were prorated to $45. She was pleased that members stayed safe and healthy during the shutdown. 

- VP Roberta Sullivan chaired the Scholarship Committee. She reported that there was a surge of applications in 2021, making selecting process challenging.  The Committee awarded two finalists, but the one which was awarded Susan Burghardt scholarship later declined as she was moving to the mainland. (A post-meeting note: Roberta treated student-guests at April and May banquets.)

- Treasurer Carolyn reported that SAAH had $31,382.62 in the bank account and received $5,925 in  donations.  

- Membership Chair Geri distributed Renewal/Enrollment forms for members to renew or give to friends who are interested in joining SAAH. She has been conjuring ideas to expand membership. 

- Program Chair Li reported that programs restarted in January 2022 via Zoom as well as in-person. Kamran signed up on a basic Zoom program and it has been used three times since.  

8:20 Election of Officers and Directors 

Li asked members to approve the new slate by a show of hands. Officers: Li Lundin as President; Marina George (SAAH 2019-20 scholarship recipient) as Vice President; Carolyn Haik for Treasurer. Secretary: vacant. Amb. Ray Burghardt, Amb. Charlie Salmon and Dr. Cyndy Ning are willing to serve another term of 2 years as directors. Nominated new directors are Roberta Sullivan and Dr. Ernest Lee.    

Since nominees should not be involved in the election process, Vivien was tasked to ask if there were any nominations from the floor. When no other names were presented, Vivien nominated Wayne Morioka as the Secretary* and Karl Cheng as the Venue Chair. 

Although chairs are to be appointed, members voted unanimously for all the nominees. With 14 consents Li received prior to the meeting, the nominees each received 41 votes in total, far above the quorum. 

*Wayne declined but promised to be the secretary when he retires next year.  Karl Cheng declined later due to health problems. 

8:30 Scholarship Students’ Reports:

Marina George, 2019-2020 Rhoda Hackler Scholarship recipient, worked as a disability rights advocate and researcher in India in rural and urban areas. She graduated in May 2022 with an MA in Art History of South Asia. Her PowerPoint focused on the silent tears of the abused Indian women, a cohort project by women activists, including herself, to expose and raise attention of the serious human right violation; 2) the storied royal historic sculptures from South India where she is from.   

Jane Traynor, 2021-2022 SAAH Scholarship recipient, is a Ph.D. student at UH Department of Theater and Dance, she received her B.A. and M.A. at the University of Alberta, Canada in Japanese history, art, and literature. 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. Jane showed slides of the international Kyogen school in Kyoto, where foreign students learned the art form with renowned Japanese masters. One of the masters she was studying with had taught at UH School of Theater and Dance.  Jane will spend the upcoming semester year in Kyoto to do fieldwork. Li has invited her to give a talk when she returns. 

Marina and Jane both delivered outstanding and thought-provoking reports. They do us proud.  There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at 9 pm. 

Respectfully yours,

Li Lundin

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Minutes of the Sixth Meeting of the 2019-2020 Season, March 2, 2020

Monday 20 of our members met at Linekona for what may be the last meeting of the season, unless Coronavirus 19 disappears soon.  Vice President Roberta Sullivan called the meeting to order at 6:40 pm. SAAH scholarship recipient Mary Kim announced that her graduation thesis will be presented at the UH Art Gallery from 8 March to 9 April and invited the membership to attend. 

President Li Lundin announced that our SAAH scholarship funds have earned $5000 from a La Pietra furniture auction, $1,000 from our Chinese New Year banquet at Maple Garden, $2,000 from Amb. Raymond Burghardt for the Burghardt Scholarship Fund for a total of about $8,000.  After 10 years, the Hackler Fund was closed as of the end of December 2019. Three of our members presented talks on three varied subjects.

First on the agenda was our beloved Kamran Samimi, a contemporary artist, who is currently artist in residence at the Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Design and Culture for a lucky seven months. He is working on the theme of Matter and That Which Moves It, and has upcoming exhibitions scheduled to be displayed both at Shangri La and HoMA in April 2020.  Enthusiastic, articulate, and having sophisticated taste and concepts, Kamran is influenced by Zen philosophy that incorporates yin /yang, the ink paintings of Enso, the stone sculptures of Isamu Noguchi, and his early upbringing at the foot of Mauna Kea with beautiful sunsets and breezes.  His themes are light, movement, inside and outside. Being a hapa, born to a Scandinavian mother from Minnesota and an Iranian emigre father, he has spent much time considering the theme of personal identity.

The stones at the foot of Mauna Kea have helped him find his center, as they been there since the beginning of time. Kamran is able to handle various mediums with spontaneity and dexterity. His technical precision is enhanced by his philosophical approach of allowing serendipity to arise. He is concerned with the non-dualistic interconnectedness of the universal human experience to living. Nature is both physical and immaterial.  His place is no place and everywhere. There is nothing fixed. Change is reality.

Click on the image below to see a video of Kamran’s lecture:

Karl Cheng focused on his observations as a collector of Asian ceramic art. Originally from Taiwan, he descends from both Han Chinese (Hakka) and aboriginal roots, growing up during the Japanese Occupation 1895-1949.  Being a soils technician engineer, Karl has a technical approach. Calling his talk DYNAMIC STILLNESS, he related his concerns regarding the kiln firing temperatures of both Chinese and Japanese ceramic pieces. Showing us a white tsung vase he noted that the round opening signifies Heaven and the square body represents the Earth. The glaze, the clay, and the firing process all determine the result. (#1 image) A guan piece illustrated a crackled finish called golden thread with iron wire or crackling steel wire. A Junyao piece showed unexpected results due to water bubbles in the clay beneath the glaze.  Auspicious motifs such as 5-clawed Imperial dragons were not as fierce in the Qianlong period.  A signed Kangxi blue and white vase showed very few bubbles or crackling. Iranian cobalt blue was used during Yuan, Ming, and Qing.  An example of multicolor enamel glazing was an Imperial plate with a rooster motif. Lastly we were shown a Japanese Satsuma vase ornately gilded. (#2 image) Karl explained many of planned and unplanned glazing results in ceramics. The results of dynamic procedure is still and fixed in the finished fired piece.

While living in Guangzhou from 1984-1987, Li Lundin made a solo journey to visit two ancient capitals, Luoyang and Xian in 1986.  On her return south she spent 43 hours on the train but met a seismologist from whom she learned about the catastrophic Tangshan earthquake and famous geography along the way.  Her talk, LOVE'S REGRET, STOMACHACHE AND LITERATI AESTHETICS, began at the Xi’an Stone Steles Museum, where she bought stone rubbings of calligraphy. One was by Wang Xianzhi (344-386), son of the sage-calligrapher Wang Xizhi. It is a letter of loss and regrets, Si Lian Tie, to his beloved wife whom he was coerced to divorce by the daughter of Eastern Jin emperor, revealing his loving thoughts of her filled with sorrow. Xianzhi aspired to be like his father and achieved a fluid and bold style of calligraphy. But his own life story was one of deep sadness.

The 2nd rubbing (Image#3) was ON STOMACHACHE by Zhang Xu (675-750?), usually drunk, who with Huaisu were known as the two eccentric calligraphers. Starting with three legible words, the rest is wildly cursive. Interesting to note is that he self-prescribed rhubarb* soup as a quick fix of the acute stomachache. He also had a reputation for dipping his hair in the ink as brush when intoxicated. Li’s 3rd rubbing ( Image #4) was by a brilliant writer, poet, gourmet, a principled and most exiled government official, Su Dongpo (1037-1101). In cursive writing, on the aspirations of a cultured man: “While burning incense and boiling tea, he silently ponders the 13 Classics; when drinking wine he broods over the histories of the past dynasties.” Incense, tea and the pursuit of knowledge, Su Dongpo was the precursor of integral aesthetics. *Rhubarb (大黄汤), as translated by Google Translate. 

We adjourned at about 8pm and enjoyed a fantastic Middle Eastern feast that Leona Hee graciously presented. Respectfully submitted, Dierdre Lau, Secretary

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Minutes of the 5th Meeting of the 2019-2020 Season, February 3, 2020

Our Fifth meeting was a celebration of the Chinese New Year, the year of the Rat. A total of 60 people attended the banquet at Maple Garden. President Li Lundin greeted the audience and wished everyone especially those born in the year of the Rat a very prosperous and healthy year. She thanked volunteers Carolyn Haik, Kamran Samimi for tallying and collecting banquet payments and Vivien Stackpole for adorning the tables with potted water bamboo. Li also expressed appreciation to members’ donations to the banquet cost as a fundraiser. In addition, she announced that through Didi Lau’s recommendation, a lady in her neighborhood decided to let SAAH conduct a charity sale of her vintage Chinese items and keep the proceeds for scholarship funds. Li was to make assessment and send photos to members for preview.

Distinguished guests included the Doos’ guests, HoMA new director Halona Norton-Westbrook and trustee Noreen Mulliken and husband David; Dr. Lingley’s guest, UH Art Gallery’s new director, Maika Pollack; Katayamas’ guests,, Nancy Hiraoka, Paul Nagano, Susan Schotters, Sunny Lee Corey, Bill Kennedy, Felice Brault; the Fung’s guest, Letty Liu; the Solyoms’ guest marine scientist and lawyer, Dr. Philomene Verlaan from London.

Following nine courses, we were treated to a thought-provoking and most interesting presentation on contemporary art in China by Dr, Kate Lingley, Associate Professor of Art History as well as the Chair of Art Department and Art History, UH Manoa. (image 1 below） Her topic:   RUINS, TRACES, AND PATHWAYS:   CONTEMPORARY ART AND THE CHINESE CITY.   

Prof. Lingley went to China in 1988 as a high school student to study Chinese. Over the years, she has revisited Beijing and Shanghai a number of times. Seeing some of the artists in action, combined with personal experience, her talk explored some of the ways in which Chinese contemporary artists in cities have used their work to react to the dynamic social, aesthetic, political, and physical environment they live in, with special attention to Beijing and Hong Kong, including the Hong Kong anti-extradition bill demonstration. 

In Beijing, artists' villages sprang up before reconstruction as squatter settlements on demolished sites. Rong Rong recorded with his camera abandoned traces of human occupation where houses disappeared overnight. He and his Japanese wife Inri held a funeral for the demise of hutongs. (image 2) Other artists expressed themselves with public protest graffiti. In an image where artist Zhan Wang, on the left, is painting graffiti while Zhang Dali carved a profile of his bald head to indicate a building scheduled for demolition. One can see through his head/mind a view of a traditional architecture. (Image 3) The installation of baked goods by Song Dong treated all viewers to a feast while invoking a memory of the past - to eat for free is communism. (image 4) Life is like a meteor in a wild universe; life is like an unstable pile of eggs; time is money. His “Eating the City” was a poignant theme pointing to the vulnerable urban structures built and destroyed at a fast pace. The satirical part of the work is that visitors were invited to eat the installation itself. His wife, Yin Xiuzhen, a renowned fiber artist, creates miniature city models in suitcases with worn clothes collected from each country’s residents to allude to the “living out of one’s suitcase,” a common phenomenon of life today.

In Hong Kong, art has become part of the city. Yellow umbrellas everywhere are statements of peaceful protest. (image 5) Early on, the need for international recognition outweighed the opposition to protest art. A spontaneous shrine put together by protesters dedicated to the Guan Gong deity – showed him holding a yellow umbrella in the drawing by the right knee of the man, reflecting how traditional beliefs are alive and well in Hong Kong. (image 6) 

Liquid Border is a work of sound created by conceptual artist Samson Young, who recorded the sound at the border of Hong Kong and mainland China with contact microphones and hydrophones. Taiwan artist Chiu Kuo Chun focuses on religion and culture with photography and installation, incorporating traditional embroidery to reflect traces of the past.

Despite the dynamics of contemporary art, the weight of traditional Chinese art is heavy. In the 1980's literature and art focused on the Cultural Revolution but that became cliché.  Contemporary Chinese artists are not here to promote "Chineseness." They have moved away from the past! 

Prof. Lingley’s talk received an overwhelmingly eager response and many excellent questions. We concluded our celebration at about 8:45pm.

We concluded our celebration at about 8:45pm.

Respectfully submitted by Diedre Lau, Secretary

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Minutes of the 4th Meeting of the 2019-2020 Season, January 6, 2020

President Li Lundin called our fourth meeting to order at 6:40 pm at Linekona.  About 40 persons were in attendance.  We were reminded of future programs and paying dues.  She thanked the Pearls for donating the wine and Ernie Lee for bringing it to the meeting.

Guestspeaker, Prof. Cyndy Ning, is the Associate Director of the Center for Chinese Studies at UH Manoa.  She gave an enthusiastic discourse on the best known of China's Sixth generation filmmakers, Jia Zhangke. who hails from Fengyang, Shanxi.  Compared to Zhang Yimou, who covers a wide range of styles, Jia  focuses on realism with a documentary style using his camera at eye level, slow pacing, minimal dialogue, and unknown non famous actors.  His twelfth film, Ash is Purest White, deals with the effects of globalization on modern Chinese citizens.  Using a tripartite plot structure, the film starts in Datong, a very impoverished Shanxi mining town. His focus is on the marginalized people who live there.  Globalization has caused population displacement.  Infrastructure construction for modern transportation and buildings has resulted in massive upheaval in the name of One Belt One Road philosophy of Xi Jing Ping.  Jia's films are not mainstream or popular with the general public, but his nearly silent films capture details/scenes which document the rapidly changing Chinese society. Cyndy referred us to some of his films available on Amazon or You Tube.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:45pm.
Roger and Masako graciously provided the refreshment with the assistance of Darryl and Dana.

Respectfully submitted, Dierdre Lau, Secretary            

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Minutes of the 3rd Meeting of the 2019-2020 Season, November 4, 2019

Approximately 40 enthusiastic persons attended the third SAAH meeting of the year at Linekona on 4 November 2019.  Mary Ann Rogers, scholar of Chinese art history, teacher, museum adjunct, and Kaikodo gallery owner was introduced by President Li Lundin at 6:40 PM.  Mary Ann gave us a biographical account of her and her husband Howard’s evolution from Asian art scholars to dealers. Howard had studied in Taiwan at the National Palace Museum and Stanford Center in Taipei, and Mary Ann was studying MPhil in Chinese Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. They met right after as students of the world renowned Chinese art historian, James Cahill, who was an exciting and generous mentor. They worked together with him, learned and looked at a great deal of not only reproductions but the original works as well. Cahill was loved and respected in Japan and it served them well that they had been his students and therefore were looked up to by the Japanese in the field.

Initially, she worked at the Idemitsu Museum in Tokyo and resided in a rural area of Kamakura Japan with Howard. From 1980-1992 they began acquiring Chinese antiquities that were pouring into Macao and Hong Kong. The Rogers worked out of their home and began to provide museums and collectors with vetted Chinese art.  The first piece they sold was a Song Cizhou pillow to the National Museum of Korea. Thereafter, the Idemitsu Museum suggested the Rogers to form a company so that the museum can purchase Chinese antiques via them. During this time, too, the Rogers became acquainted with an eccentric German Chinese art collector, Walter Hockstadter, and formed a close friendship. They continued to pursue their scholarly interest. In 1988, they worked with the Palace Museum in Beijing and organized and wrote the catalogue for their first ever exhibition of Ming-Qing paintings to travel abroad: Masterworks of Ming-Qing Paintings in the Forbidden City. Later they worked with Sherman Lee on Circa 1492 at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. and China 5000 at the Guggenheim in New York. Their hard work and reputation helped their business grow and expand. In 1996, they purchased and renovated a five story building on the upper East side of Manhattan and opened Kaikodo NYC.

What has been the state of Chinese art in America? Among famous early Chinese art acquisitions in America are the Western Zhou (1046-771BC) thirteen piece bronze altar set at THE Met in NYC, the Zhou bronze tigers at the Freer in Boston, and the Shang bronze rhino in the Avery Brundage collection in San Francisco. Laurence Sickman (1907-1988) collected for the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City and Sherman Lee (1918-2008) collected for the Cleveland Museum. In February 2018 the Minneapolis Art Institute staged an exhibition, Power and Beauty in China's Last Dynasty.  Theater designer Robert Wilson and curator Liu Yang dramatically merged art and theater in a state of the art production. Mary Ann showed images of a Buddhist sculpture and hanging scroll MAI acquired from Kaikodo. 

Today, the Chinese art market is dominated by PRC Chinese billionaires. There are now 500 auction houses and 1600 private museums in China.  American dealers and collectors no longer can compete for the best Chinese art. There are four negative factors impacting the state of Chinese art in America.  In 2009, a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the limitations of pillage was declared. UNESCO had a convention in 2009 that declared a restriction on pre -1970 artifact imports. Archeological cultural historians opposed the import of any archeological goods. Finally, on 1 September 2019, President Donald Trump declared a 15% tariff on Chinese art goods. As the market heats up due to quantity of antiquity shrinking in America, there is less concern with authenticity and less trust. Chinese buyers and dealers stall payments, default, want a time-consuming thorough examination on merchandise, and some auction houses require bidders to post a one million dollar deposit prior to bidding. With all these added problems fewer students will be entering the field of Chinese art scholarship. Successful American Chinese contemporary artists such as Liu Dan and Li Huayi who have long established residence in America have opened studios in Beijing to be nearer the source of buyers and dealers. Some positive outcomes may be partnering of American and non-American institutions for exhibits, and purchasing of items to fill out existing collections. e.g. the Shanghai Museum purchased a Kosometsuke  (17th C Chinese ceramics for the Japanese market) from Kaikodo recently.

This talk illustrated the past and current development of the study, collecting, promotion, and market of Chinese art. The meeting was adjourned at 7:40pm.

Mahalo to Karl and Sylvia Chen for providing Chinese food:  spring rolls, pickles, pot stickers, salt and pepper pork, Singapore curry noodles; the Venue crew for their help; Karlyn and Bill Pearl for donating wine; Dr. Ernest Lee for storing and bringing the wine to the meeting. 

Respectfully submitted, Dierdre Lau, Secretary

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Minutes of the 2nd Meeting of the 2019-2020 Season, October 7, 2019 

The second meeting of the Society of Asian Art of Hawaii Inc. was attended by about thirty members on Monday 7 October 2019 at the Linekona Art School Room 101. President Li Lundin called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M. Treasurer Carolyn Haik reported that 26 members have renewed their memberships. Additional donations were $225 to the SAAH General Fund; $1000 to the Burghardt Fund from Amb. Charlie Salmon; and $1000 to the Hackler Fund from Jeffrey Hackler.  Acknowledgements to all donors are on the way. Li also mentioned that in 2024 SAAH will be fifty years old. She asked members to suggest ideas to celebrate this historic hallmark!

Li introduced guest speaker, Dr. Ned Bertz, of the History Department at UH Manoa, where his focus is Indian popular culture. He teaches a Bollywood film class and other history courses about South Asia, Africa, and the Indian Ocean. The evening's topic was "India and its Horizons:  Material Culture and Trans-Ocean Collaborations in Women's Clothing."  The Indian cotton textile industry has provided clothing for the interrelated world of the Indian Ocean.  A perfect example is the everyday colorful kanga, worn by women in East Africa. Despite colonial suppression by the British in the 18th and 19th centuries, Indian entrepreneurs continue to produce popular fashion with Arab and Swahili proverbs. The Indian trade routes have persisted from circa 500-1000 CE. From 1500-1800 East African women have been clothed in Indian printed cotton textiles from the Coromandel Coast (E) and the Malabar Coast (W)...especially from factories in Gujarat. Kanga culture emerged in the 1870's. They are rectangle cloths of 1.4-1.7 meter silk-screened with borders on four sides and Arabic and Swahili slogans and messages within the design, e.g. "I Shall Partake of My Neighbor's Coconut." Popular designs are paisley, dots and squares. Costing about US$3.50 for a pair, they have ubiquitous uses:  dresses, baby wraps, hats, skirts, wall decor, bed spreads, political messaging.  Censorship was applied at various periods to the inscriptions regarding morality of African women. Kanga were and are co-produced by a diverse group of people, who have adapted to current cultural trends.

 We were adjourned at 7:40 P.M., at which time we partook of an Indian buffet of curry, biriyani, naan, samosas, rice, chutney, fruits, cheeses, and wine provided by Vivien, Millie, Li and the Pearls.  Hats off to them!

 Respectfully submitted, Dierdre Lau, Secretary

Photo Credit - Hunter Kaye

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Minutes of the 1st Meeting of the 2019-2020 Season, September 3, 2019

 The first meeting of the Society of Asian Art of Hawaii, Inc. was held on Tuesday 3 September 2019 at the East-West Center Gallery.  President Li Lundin called the meeting to order at 7:15 pm. About 40 people attended.

Li handed out copies of SAAH Bylaws with Revisions (attached to the last page), and the latest Membership Directory. She explained the necessity of handing out the paper version instead of the digital due to internet safety concern.

 Dana Yee, Venue Co-Chair, announced that all venues have been reserved at Linekona 101 and that she has had a great response from members to provide refreshments.  The Pearls have donated 36 bottles of wine. 

 Putting her Program Chair’s hat on, Li briefed on the up and coming programs:  7 October, Dr. Ned Bertz: India and Its Horizons; 4 November, Dr. Mary Ann Rogers of Kaikodo: The State of Chinese Art in the U.S.;

6 January, 2020 Professor Cyndy Ning:  Jia Zangke, a rising star in the PRC film industry and " Ash Is Purest White"; 30 January, Thursday, Chinese New Year of the Rat or Mickey Mouse Banquet at Maple Garden - Professor Kate Lingley: “Contemporary Chinese artists and where they live and work”; 2 March, Prof. Pu Miao: “Design and theory of localized modern architecture and urbanism in China”; 6 April, Members’ Talk Story; 2 May, Annual Meeting TBA. One additional program in partnership with the Center for Chinese Studies will transpire 4 October 2019 at Moore Hall, 12 -1:130 P.M.-  Dr. Yangfeng Li: "Old Temples and Trails Along the Han River. Among CCS programs, "How Iolani School Teaches Asian Studies" will be given by member Jeffrey Hackler on 25 September, also at Moore Hall 109, 12 noon – 1:30 P.M.

 Scholarship Chair Don Hibbard announced and introduced our two scholarship recipients: Marina George received the Hackler Award of $1500. She is a MA candidate in Art History of South Asia, specializing in Museum education for the disabled. 

 Mary Kim, born in Wisconsin, parents live in Gwangju, Korea, received $1000 from the Susan Burghardt Fund for completing her MA degree. She is having a solo show at the UH Commons Gallery opening on 8 September at 3 pm.

 We are reminded to pay our annual dues and make a donation to SAAH Scholarship Fund, if possible, this month to Treasurer Carolyn Haik.

 Vice President Roberta Sullivan introduced our guest speaker, Dr. Michael Schuster, Curator of the East-West Center Gallery. He has been delivering exhibits for fifteen years and this last one is a summation, titled "Inside Out."  56 exhibits from 30 countries aspire to present Indo Pacific Asian cultures as living cultures: 1.Discovering Objects e.g. Japanese wedding kimonos. 2. Process:  enhances appreciation, e.g. contrast of historic and contemporary dyes of India, lacquer ware, photography, woodblock printing 3. Architecture and Diorama e.g. Minangkabau, Sumatra matriarchal Muslims. 4. Performance and Ritual cannot be separated e.g. Balinese dance, Tree of Life shadow puppets of Java, wedding ceremonies. By literally covering and uncovering, we can discover what is real.  By undressing Burmese gnat sculptures one can find specific genitals beneath costumes. This is a carryover from their animistic roots regarding fertility rites. The curator's work is mediated. Reversing a Ukrainian suzani, one discovers a Russian back cloth with chemical dyes. There is a move back to natural dyes.   

 Shifting focus, Dr. Schuster showed us a video comprising of two wall murals by Jean Charlot on Jefferson Hall:  Wisdom of the East and Wisdom of the West. They are juxtaposed with Semar: the clown servant, male and female, night and day, and Kayon: the Tree of Life, change, harmony.  We adjourned at 8:20 pm.  A bountiful table of refreshments were presented by John Kim and John Coghlan…,and baby Shona!

 Respectfully submitted, Dierdre Lau, Secretary

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Minutes of the Annual Meeting and Banquet, May 3, 2019 

The annual banquet and business meeting was held at the Maple Garden restaurant at 6:30 pm on Friday, May 3, 2019. Besides enjoying a delicious 9 course meal arranged by manager Richard, members elected new officers and heard brief reports by officers and the three 2018-19 SAAH scholarship students. Forty-three members and guests attended

 Candidates nominated were Li Lundin (president), Roberta Sullivan (vice-president) and three directors—James Brow, Amb. Charles Salmon and Amb. Ray Burghardt. President William Zanella asked if there were any nominations from the floor. Since no other names were presented, the members were asked to approve these nominees by acclamation. The motion was unanimously passed and congratulations were extended to the electees.

 No one volunteered to serve as secretary so this position remains vacant. Committee chairs are appointed by the officers and do not stand for election. Carolyn Haik agreed to continue to serve as Treasurer.

Scholarship student reports

Mary Kim, MFA candidate at UH Manoa, presented slides of paintings she created during the academic year. Titled, Ggot Byeol: Love of Two Stars, the series explores the bitter-sweet emotions between Nature and Man. She employed the two characters in the famous Chinese fairy tale - the Weaver Fairy and the Cowherd - as a metaphor. Her work wowed the audience with exuberant colors based on traditional Korean colors, light and a strong sense of poetry and harmony. She invited members and guests to attend the opening reception of her Solo Exhibition on Sunday, Sept. 8, 3-5 PM, at UH Art Department’s Commons Gallery. 

Taylor Twadelle, MA graduate at UH Manoa Art History Department, presented a short clip of video, Liquid Borders, by the emerging Hong Kong contemporary sound artist, Samson Young, whom she has been studying with intense interest. Young recorded the sound at the border of Hong Kong and mainland China with contact microphones and hydrophones to explore culture, identity and memory. His cutting-edge work took us to a new territory that has not been attempted.  

Bianca Rajan, MA graduate in Asian Studies at UH Manoa, reported on a fascinating Buddhist tattoo culture of Thailand.  The Sak Yant tattoos utilize magical or sacred formulas known as mantras in Sanskrit, generally called kata in Thailand, to visually represent geometrical or figurative designs, the yantra.  Yantra and mantra are at the heart of SakYant tattoos. She showed images of the monk using the long needle and ink to etch into the skin, the patterns of the Sak Yant tattoos covering the monk’s chest as well as the person being tattooed. 

All three graduate students thanked SAAH for the generous scholarships which enabled them to be a step closer to achieving their career goals.

Orchid table arrangements obtained by Vivien Stackpole were offered to attendees. The dinner meeting ended at 8:30 pm.

The next SAAH meeting will be held at the East-West Center on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019, the day after Labor Day, at 7 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Bill Zanella, Li Lundin

Heres a short video of the occasion:

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Minutes of the 4th meeting of the 2018-2019 season, Jan 7, 2019

The fourth meeting of the 2018-2019 SAAH Year was held on Jan. 7, 2018, at HMA Linekona Art School.  President William Zanella called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm.  Approximately forty members and guests were in attendance.  We were reminded to pay dues and to make reservations for our Chinese New Year banquet which will be on 3 February 2019, Sunday at 6 pm  at House of Wong at 477 Kapahulu Avenue.  Please make reservations,  $60 per person, to Treasurer Carolyn Haik.  Dr. Christian Peterson, Associate Professor and Chairman of the Archaeology Department at UHM will speak on Hongshan Society (4500-3000 BCE) in northeastern China's Liao River Valley.

Program Chair Li Lundin introduced three fellow SAAH members, who made presentations.  

First, Cecilia Doo gave a talk on Chinese painter, Qi Baishi (1864-1957) whose paintings she and husband Gene collect.    Qi was of humble beginnings and felt a closeness to nature and simple things.  He immersed himself in the 17th century Mustard Seed Painting Manual, was influenced by Wu Changshi (1844-1927), and was a prolific painter.  At forty he lived in a Buddhist temple in Beijing. Qi had showings in Japan, Paris, and Beijing. Cecilia showed a large 20th century scroll of colorful pumpkins and squash, executed in iron wire and flying white strokes and tendrils with rhythmic movement which illustrated the characteristics of Qi.

Second on the program, Chih Chen showed a Taiwan produced film about her father, Chen Chi-kwan, titled "Great Master of Architecture and Art''.  In 1951 he was invited to work for the founder of the Bauhaus School, Walter Gropius, at his firm and to teach at MIT. In the l954 he was invited by I.M. Pei to go to Taiwan to work on the Tunghai University campus in Taichung. There he designed the Luce Memorial Chapel as a simple shell hyperboloid structure, in addition to other campus buildings.  A prolific painter, Chen's works are free with no restrictions. He had a dynamic moving vision and a clever and innocent mind, which catches the expression of human enjoyment, according to the film narration.

Lastly, Millie Liu took us along on a memory tour of Myanmar, which she and husband Bill took in 2012.  They visited 18th century Mandalay with its numerous Buddhist temples and sculptures, which she illustrated with full color handouts.  She shared her white marble Mandalay-style Buddha head with its ushnisha, one of 32 body characteristics of Buddha, which is a wish granting symbol as well as a symbol of super intelligence.  Its lips were in an M over W format with a slight smile of peace and tranquility.   

The positions of the hands or mudras have specific meanings. An entire stature is often seated in a lotus position or padma. In Bodghaya, Buddha sat under the bodhi tree (ficus).  Some relics of his are of his hair, teeth, and bones.  Cuttings of the bodhi tree were brought by Mary Foster to Hawaii. Today a tree from the original bodhi tree grows in Foster Gardens in Honolulu.
The meeting was adjourned at 9 pm and guests partook of refreshments provided by Ning and Jim Langworthy.

Respectfully submitted, Dierdre Lau, co-secretary

Addenda: afterwards Milly Liu submitted the following: I mentioned that President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton opened diplomatic relations with Myanmar in 2012.  It would have been more accurate to say that President Obama refreshed relations with Myanmar by beginning the process of "restoring full diplomatic relations to Myanmar after gestures were made by the military junta and Suu Kyi towards more democratic reforms."   Thanks to our colleague Ambassador Charlie Salmon who was stationed in Myanmar for pointing this.

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Minutes of the 3rd meeting of the 2018-2019 season, Nov 5, 2018

The third meeting of the 2018-2019 SAAH year was held on 5 November 2018 at HMA School at 7pm.  There was a surprising turnout of over fifty persons!  Guests included Paul Nagano, Aisha Buntin, Tusha Buntin's wife Denise, Don Hibbard's friends - Mr. and Mrs. Louis Fung, Roberta Sullivan's friend - Geri Ferrer-Chan, and our two scholarship recipients Bianca Rajan and Mary Kim. President William Zanella welcomed the guests and announced that our Chinese New Year banquet will be held at House of Wong on Kapahulu Avenue on Sunday, February 3, 2019. Program Chair Li Lundin introduced guest speaker Tusha Buntin, who was born on the Big Island and educated in Hawaii until 12 years old when he attended school in Fukuoka Japan. After thirty years of studying Kendo and of watching and working with his parents Robyn and Judy Buntin in the family store, he has been immersed in the world of art and antiques.  He had taken the helm of the Robyn Buntin of Honolulu Gallery with his sister. Robyn and Judy moved to San Miguel Allende Mexico and are building a casa there. Aisha says the expats from Hawaii had a luau there!

Tusha shared the history of and many examples of Chinese jade:  Liu Sheng's jade suit and discs, viewed Lady Dai's 2nd C.funeral banner with paintings of discs, which represent heaven, a Hongshan jade pig dragon, a Liangzhu carved mask jade piece, a bi with the rain pattern, a bi with an eroded surface, animals and a white jadeite water caltrop (buffalo nut). Carving was done with a foot pedal, garnet powder, toad grease, and leather buffer. Two kinds of jade are nephrite, fibrous with a  6-7 hardness and jadeite, which is block construction and brittle. Maori  jade is found in South Island New Zealand and are used as weapons. e.g. heavy adzes and tools to carve canoes. The jades retain mana and gifts of bounty.  Many jades are pendants and fondling stones that are polished and held close to the human body.  Tusha had about twenty pieces displayed on a table that we could touch and hold. He says that jade pieces are not so popular currently, so now is the time to begin collecting.

We adjourned at 7:45 pm. There was a rush to examine the jade pieces. A generous refreshment table was set up by Jane and Dan Katayama.

Respectfully submitted, Dierdre Lau, co-secretary

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Minutes of the 2nd meeting of the 2018-2019 season, Oct 1 2018

The second meeting of the 2018-2019 SAAH year was held at HMA School (Linekona) on Monday, October 1. President William Zanella called the meeting to order at 7 pm. He reported that the SAAH Board had a meeting on the 2nd of September at the House of Wong restaurant on Kapahulu and that this restaurant was being considered as a venue for the Chinese New Year banquet.  He thanked member Cyndy Ning of the Center for Chinese Studies for arranging the event venue mentioned above, asked members to follow up on paying dues and making donations and introduced our one guest, baby girl Shona Kim. About thirty members were in attendance.

Guest speaker Dr. Shawn Eichman, HMA Asian Art curator, was introduced by program chair Li Lundin. He titled his talk “Daoist Subjects in Ming Ceramics.” These Chinese ceramics, mostly produced at the renown Jingdezhen kilns, were predominantly blue and white and were traded from China all the way to the Netherlands. They were and are found along the shipping routes in Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia on— land and in shipwrecked cargoes.  

Daoist themes and stories with variations of the Eight Immortals were popular subjects painted on these ceramics:  Zhongli Quan, Lu Dongbin, Li Tiequai, Liu Haichan, Han Xiangzi, Wang Chongyang. and Qiu Chuji.  Among the illustrative images were a blue and white plate of early Qing depicting an Eight Immortals' gathering in a celestial mountain-rock scene; a Rolwagen (cylindrical sleeve vase) depicting paired phoenixes supporting the chariot in its descent while a land tortoise on the sea bears the mountain in its approach; a Qianlong period painting of the Eight Immortals, the Three Stars and the Queen Mother of the West at the Turquoise Pond from the Avery Brundage Collection of San Francisco Asian Art Museum; as well as mural paintings at the Yonglegong of Yuan dynasty. 

Many rulers of China sought the “elixir of immortality” for eternal worldly life by consuming toxic cinnabar. Qin Shi Huang and three Tang emperors died of poisoning and many were buried in jade suits seeking an eternal afterlife.  Later there was a movement toward internal spiritual eternity through meditation.  Artfully painted on a great variety of ceramics including vases, chargers, cups and so forth, these Daoist themes included scenes from Xi Wang Mu's Peach Banquet to The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea. 

The meeting closed at 9:30 pm and refreshments were prepared by Masako and Roger Bellinger.

Respectfully submitted, Dierdre Lau, co-secretary

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Minutes of the 5th meeting of the 2017-2018 season, May 3 2018

The last meeting of the 2017-2018 SAAH year was held on 3 May 2018 at Jade Dynasty Restaurant in Ala Moana Center where  forty of us had an eight course Chinese dinner. President William Zanella presided and welcomed the attendees, and Vice President James Langworthy introduced the voting procedures and candidates for the next term, 2018-2019. Since there were no nominations from the floor or by email, it was moved that the slate of current officers—President Dr. William Zanella, Vice-President Dr. James Langworthy, Co-Secretaries Dierdre Lau and Sanna Deutsch, Treasurer Carolyn Haik— be elected by acclamation. The current officers were thus re-elected. Appointed chairs are:  Venue Co-Chairs Vivien Stackpole and Darryl Wong, Membership Chair Chi Chen, Program Chair Li Lundin, Scholarship Committee Chair Don Hibbard.

Since there were no nominations for Board members from either the floor or email, the following were elected by acclamation:  Diane Perushek 2017-2020, Don Hibbard 2017-2020, Ernie Lee, 2018-2019, Cindy Ning 2018-2019 and Dr. Bill Won 2017-2019.

Vivien set up a successful Silent Auction with some very attractive items:  silver Chinese minority bracelets, a Thai wax-resist shirt, a large old Taiwanese basket, two Song dynasty export storage jars, a Chinese Shui minority hand-made jacket, and orchids.  Invited by Jim Langworthy, Senator Maizie Hirono gave us a brief but warm greeting

Our two scholarship recipients each gave us a presentation of their year's endeavor. Yuanhsin Tung from Guangzhou, China gave us a discourse on Bahasa Melayu Pasar with Wayang Potchi  or Chinese Glove puppet theater, which is revered in Indonesian society and which was banned from l966-1998.  Yunshan Fen from Taiwan spoke on stylization and individualization in Xiqu or traditional Chinese Theater of which there are three kinds beginning with Ming kunqu which is slow, elegant eg.4th century Wu kingdom stories, Qing jingju with higher voices eg. Kingdom of Desire, and Cantonese Yueju, which has extremely high pitched vocalization.

A short business meeting was held with reports from the President, the Vice-President, the Treasurer, the Chairs:  Scholarship, Membership, Venue Chairs and Program Chair. 

As the meeting was concluding, program chair/past president Li reported that founding member Benji Nerio was doing his best to stay well and sent his regards.  She then made a tribute in memoriam for Betty Ecke and Coby Black, also founding members, by reciting Coby's poem composed for Betty’s painting, “Soul Song,” published in the catalog of Betty's solo exhibition at Kaikodo Gallery in New York in 2000.

 “A pearl suspended in infinity is my joy.
This moment knows no time.
I have been abandoned by my earth,
Cast adrift beyond the realm of relativity.
The universe enfolds me the beauty of pure light.
All flesh is shed
And what is left of me condenses into immortality.
I have become the tear of God.”

We adjourned at 9pm.

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Minutes of the 7th meeting of the 2017-2018 season, April 2, 2018

The 7th SAAH meeting of the season was called to order by President Bill Zanella at the East-West Center Gallery at 7:05 pm. Despite the rainy weather 49 persons were in attendance.  Guests were introduced. Indru Watumull brought Leland De Evoli, Li Lundin brought Yoko and Ken Moskowitz, Karlyn Pearl brought Cindy Ruffeanoff, and Jim Langworthy brought Veronica Huang. Eric Chang  EWC Gallery head, invited us to enjoy the current exhibit on Bhutan. The handmade sand mandala will be returned to the sea via the Hokulea. SAAH member Brady Evans has been installed as the new president of the Hawaii Printmakers Society.

President Zanella reminded us to send our reservations and checks directly to Treasurer Carolyn Haik for the upcoming annual banquet at Jade Dynasty in Ala Moana Shopping Center on Thursday 3 May, 2018. We hope to have a silent auction.  Instructions are forthcoming on how to participate. The annual election of officers will be held during the event.

Program Chair Li Lundin introduced guest speaker, Lee Siegel, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at UH Manoa, studied comparative literature at U.C. Berkeley, fine arts at Columbia U., and received his DPhil from the University of Oxford in the field of Sanskrit. He has written five novels and is the son of movie actress Noreen Nash and Hollywood physician Lee E. Siegel.  This was his first talk since retiring in 2017 after forty years of teaching:  Images, Icons in Indian Religion. He was most entertaining!

Religious experiences are evoked by images, icons, and idols.  Properly tended and cared for these become living gods.  Proper ownership involves showering with flowers, bathing, dressing, feeding, and honoring with a harem. In Puri Odisha, India, Jagannath, Lord of the Universe and a form of Shiva, has thousands of priests who bathe him (his statue), sing to him in the morning and sing to sleep, and is attended by his harem of devadasis, who perform rituals and are trained in classical dance and music. They sing the Gita Govinda, a 12th C. poem by Jayadeva, that relates the relationship of Krishna and his love for Rada, a female cow herder.

Once a year  during the hot summer Jagannath leaves his temple on a giant chariot pulled by devotees for three and a half miles. When the old Jagannath statue dies, a new embodiment is created and with secret rituals his shakti is transferred from the old statue to the new one.  Based on an astrological calendar, this is done about every fifty years. When he is reborn, he relearns the scriptures which are read to him, and he has new devadasis. Since 1988 the devadasi system has been outlawed in all of India and is slowly dying.

At 8:05 pm, we adjourned and partook of a generous table of food and drink presented by Fu Mei and Chi Chen, which included Taiwan pineapple cakes from their store in the International Market Place.

Respectfully submitted, Dierdre Lau, secretary

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Minutes of the 4th Meeting of the 2017-2018 Season, March. 8, 2018

The 6th SAAH meeting of the season was called to order by VP James Langworthy at 7:15 pm in 203 Linekona with an attendance of approximately 40 persons. Guests were introduced:  Ted and Jan Foster, Electa Sam, and Celeste Ibarra.  Program chair Li Lundin introduced the guest speaker Dr. Zoe Kwok, Assistant Curator of Asian Art at the Princeton University Art Museum in New Jersey. She has taught at Franklin Marshall College, worked at the Palace Museum in Taiwan and the Sackler Museum at Harvard, and has a BA from Wellesley College, an MA from Harvard, and a PhD from Princeton. She is the daughter of Professor Reginald Kwok of the Urban and Regional Planning Department at UH Manoa.

Beginning with the founding of the Princeton University Art Museum, we were shown images of its first home completed in 1890 and its current building which is a contemporary architectural design. The museum is the second oldest in the nation.

 Following that Dr. Kwok presented a dazzling collection of slides comprised of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Indian works of art.  Among the Chinese artifacts were a finely cast Western Zhou bronze wine vessel, a black and red lacquer container with interlocking snakes, a 3rd century decorated lacquer ear-cup with colorful glass bead décor, a Western Han ceramic tomb figure, a pair of Tang ceramic tomb guardians with gorgeous attire and a seated wood Guanyin, circa 1250. Collection paintings shown included  Li Gongnian’s Winter Evening landscape, circa 1120, 8 Views of Xiao and Xiang by Wang Hong (circa 1150), Mind Landscape of Youyu qiu he by Zhao Meng Fu, 1287, Twin Trees by the South Bank by Ni Zan, 1353, Sparrows on An Apple Branch by Qian Xuan,1368, as well as works by Shen Zhou (no date), Lan Ying (landscape in the style of Huang Gongwang, 1624), and Zhu Da (Ba Da Shangren), 1690.  Calligraphy examples shown included an excellent 7th C. Tang tracing of a Wang Xizhi’s (303-361) hand scroll Ritual to Pray for Good Harvest, a Zhu Yunming (late 15-16th C.) Arduous Road of Shu and Song of Immortals by Li Bo, a Huang Tingjian (1045-1105) Scroll for Zhang Datong and a contemporary work, Book From the Sky, by Xu Bing, 1991. 

Dr. Kwok also commented on Princeton’s famed art historian, Wen Fong, who formed both the Princeton’s and the Metropolitan’s Chinese art collection.  He did so that the two institutions’ collections would complement each other.  Fong later became the founding director of the Met’s Asian art department.

Among Japanese art shown were a Dainichi Nyorai 13-14th C., a Sumidera Heart Sutra 8th C., a pair of screens by Kano Tan’yu 1640, a Hokusai sketch, 13th C., Shotoku wood sculpture, a Heian Jizo Boddhisattva, and a Muromachi Negoro lacquer tray. Indian art included:  a composite elephant painting c. 1620-1630., a bird study c. 1800, and a contemporary work of Shahzia Sikander.  Korean works included a celadon melon ewer 12th C., and a contemporary sculpture by Yeesookyung of shards reconstructed in the Japanese manner of kintsugi.

The speaker said she working towards expanding the collection’s South and Southeast Asian works, along with those from Inner Asia. Dr. Kwok delivered an excellent survey of Asian art at PUAM. Her presentation was as enthusiastic as it was coherent and audible sans mic.

President Bill Zanella thanked all those who assisted in making the Maple Garden banquet a success. He announced that the May annual meeting will be at Jade Dynasty (probably on a weekday evening, to get a lower rate) at Ala Moana Center. Vivien Stackpole has done extensive research to find a restaurant with ample parking, good food, reasonable charges and capacity for a large number of guests, plus space for a silent auction to raise scholarship funds. The Kapiolani College culinary facility was no longer an option since the new manager said alcohol was not permitted as was a silent auction. Also the price increased considerably and an unreasonably early deposit was required. 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 pm.

Karl and Sylvia Cheng did a great job with the refreshments, and the Doos brought wine donated by the Pearls.

Fifteen returning and new members paid dues in January and February 2018 (actual renewal date is September of each year).

Donations were made to the Burghardt Fund by Mildred and William Liu ($100) and Charles Salmon ($280).  The Lius also donated $100 to the SAAH general fund.

Respectfully submitted, Dierdre Lau, secretary

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Minutes of the SAAH 2018 Ne Year Banquet - Monday, Feb 3, 2018

Maple Garden Restaurant, 909 Isenberg St., Honolulu

On Saturday evening at 5:30 PM, SAAH members and their guests began congregating for the 2018 Year of the Dog banquet held at the Maple Garden Restaurant.  Seating had been pre-assigned by Secretary Didi Lau, for the ten tables arranged in the main dining room of the restaurant, filled to capacity.  At 6:00 pm SAAH president  Bill Zanella opened the program by first thanking program chair Li Lundin, treasurer Carolyn Haik, venue chair Vivien Stackpole and webmaster Kamran Samini for their efforts in planning and bringing about the banquet. He then asked  hosts and hostesses to introduce the guests they had invited, among whom were distinguished visitors from Ceylon, Canada, New York and other distant locations, returning alumni from Punahou and the University of Hawaii, and several staff members of the Honolulu Museum of Art, including Dr. Shaun Eichman, Brady Evans, Stephen Salel and the director, Dr. Sean O'Harrow, the evening's distinguished speaker.  

After an hour long feast of great food, whose choice and preparation were overseen by Bill Won, and a wide selection of BYO wines, Bill Z regaled banqueters with anecdotes about those loyal, honest, hardworking, and perspicacious canine brothers and sisters, born in the Year of the Dog —  among them Mother Teresa and Donald Trump.  He humorously assured guests that since we were not at a Korean or Filipino restaurant there were no canine dishes on the evening’s menu. Li Lundin, program committee chair, then invited SAAH scholarship student Tung Yuan-hsin from Taiwan to perform two traditional Chinese pieces on her two-stringed instrument, the er-hu.  Video Below -

Afterwards the president formally presented Tung and Yunshan Fung, the other scholarship recipient, with the second half of their scholarship stipends. Li  then introduced Dr. Sean O'Harrow, and addressed the guests, outlining the Museum’s need for a strategic vision of the place of museums have in our culture, particularly the role that he envisions for the Honolulu Museum of Art which he characterized as a general art museum located on a remote Pacific island chain, which remarkably has collected many world-class masterpieces, especially among its Asian treasures. 

Sean recalled how important the Honolulu Academy of Arts was to him when he was a young child, enrolled in the art school, by professional parents seeking a safe haven for their son's after school activities.  Spending many hours each week freely roaming its galleries, for the art school and museum facilities were integrated in same building at that time, he came to enjoy its collections on his own terms.  What he experienced, and taught himself during those hours he was encountering ancient and modern art from international sources, influenced his life's direction. He majored in Fine Arts at Harvard; did graduate studies, veering between his passion for late medieval English art and art of the Edo period, Japan, at Cambridge University in England; and then, significantly developed the gallery and education programs at the University of Iowa Museum of Art, as its Coordinating Director. What also was crucial in his own development, was his early banking career in London.  Working with hedge fund investors, exposed him to the pivotal role of high-stake players in the art market, how their speculations influence global art trends, and how their charitable donations support artists and institutions who give added value to their own acquisitions. 

When reviewing the current precarious financial situation of local cultural institutions, Sean stressed the need for partnerships among all those representing the literary, performing, musical, visual and culinary arts to promote cultural tourism in Hawaii.  All must work together if they are to gain the support of, and funding from, various community-based associations, from elected government officials and the agencies they oversee,  and from those employed within the tourist industry.  The speaker noted that world-wide, tourist centers that offer unique contemporary or traditional cultural sites, fine collections of art or recurring festivals celebrating the arts, garner seven times more revenue per visitor than competitors who rely only on fine climate, beaches or mountains, and shopping to attract visitors and return visitors.  Yet, the latter is the basis for Hawaii's major advertising campaigns.  This despite the fact that its physical environment is increasingly endangered by global warming and by the very density of its visitor population, which overuses and overcrowds its resources, without returning high enough yield to compensate its local residents for their own losses. 

He then described his own and his staff's concerns, and their strategies for coping with future developments at the Honolulu Museum of Art.  He reported that a recent survey indicated that 82% of Hawaii's cultural consumers are likely to stay away from experiences that they feel exclude people like themselves, based on their age, their racial, ethnic, economic or social self-appraisal.  Although the permanent collection and the outreach educational programs that the Museum offers are, in fact ,based on cultural diversity, and its outreach programs strive for inclusiveness, it is still difficult to overturn long-held perceptions that art museums are elitist and exclusive.  An even greater number of those surveyed,  94%,  the director reported, say that they are likely to stay away, if they perceive that they will not be provided with something new, something relevant to issues that are attracting their interests in other multi-media. 

He reviewed a few of the ways in which he and his staff strive to make the Museum appear less threatening and more understanding of community needs.  To appeal to younger people especially, they are more fully integrating contemporary art and Hawaiian regional art into their exhibition programs.  But they also continue to display materials drawn from other cultures, past and present, to set up dialogue formats, challenging viewers to reconsider and to develop different perspectives on how art functions, in economic or socio-political global contexts that are different from their own.  What he identified as the  greatest challenge for the Museum's future is that it has inherited the stewardship of an historic art deco building, which has conservation/preservation issues of its own; it utilizes a 1907 school for its Linekona Art Center; and it is also oversees Spalding House, an historic home and garden at Makiki Heights, which formerly housed the contemporary art collection now merged with the Museum's holdings.  Each of the three facilities require personnel and financial resources to keep them operating and additional expenses are incurred when artworks are responsibly transported between them.  None can provide unrestricted spaces for experimental conceptual art events.  Moreover, the Museum also integrates its operations with the guided tours of Shangri-la, sponsored by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, and it manages two outstanding cafes.  Coordinating the functional, educational and recreational activities between these many disparate units so that their programming beneficially interact with one another and create a unified image is a unique challenge. While he feels that he and his staff, during their dialogue sessions, are asking the right questions to better serve their constituencies, this is only preliminary to their getting the right answers.   And, as he emphasized at the beginning of his talk,  innovations cannot be made in isolation.  What is most essential to the vitality of the Honolulu Museum of Art is what is crucial for the survival of all Hawaiian cultural institutions and for the well being of Hawaii's citizenry.  All must partner, must unify their efforts, to develop Hawaii into a globally competitive, but hospitable cultural tourist site, one which affirms Hawaii's own homegrown lifestyle, with its richly interwoven, indigenous and introduced, multi-cultural art traditions.

A lively exchange of questions and responses followed.  Li then distributed the Year of the Dog table decorations to those born under that sign or related signs.  Banqueters dispersed at about 8:30 pm.

Sanna Saks Deutsch, recording secretary

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Minutes of the 4th Meeting of the 2017-2018 Season Monday, January 8, 2018

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Minutes of Monday, Nov. 2, 2015 at Maple Garden Restaurant         50 attended

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Minutes of Monday, Oct. 5, 2015 at Linekona Room 101        35 attended

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Minutes, Sept. 7, 2015, Membership Meeting, Gallery, East-West Center

The first meeting of the 2015-16 program year was held at the Art Gallery of the East-West Center. Approximately 35 members were in attendance. Reports and comments were made by Dr. William Won, vice president, and Li Lundin, president. A presentation was made by Prof. Cheri Vasek, Assistant Professor of Costume Design and Technology at the University of Hawaii—Manoa.

President’s Report—Li Lundin

The president thanked Dr. Michael Schuster and Eric Chang for opening the Gallery on the Labor Day holiday and for hosting the lecture. Thanks were given to William Feltz for assistance in setting up for the evening’s meeting, and to Dr. Zanella who agreed to take minutes in lieu of secretary Susan Burkhardt, who will return to Hawaii in October. The two 2015-16 scholarship students (see below) were welcomed, as was the evening’s speaker, Dr. Vasek. Li asked that the minutes of May, 2015, annual meeting be approved. The minutes were accepted, following motions to do so and a second to the motion by, respectively, Millie Liu and Vivien Stackpole. Dan and Jane Katayama were thanked for procuring the refreshments and Dr. William and Karlyn Pearl for the generous gift of wine.

The president also mentioned that the Board of Directors and several officers and committee chairs met in mid-May and late July to review issues and set policies for the new program year. The Society has a new Aina Haina post office box: PO Box 240721, Honolulu, HI 96824. Members who had not yet paid dues were encouraged to send the membership form and dues to this address.

To educate ourselves on the requirements and responsibilities for being an Internal Revenue Service-approved non-profit organization, Li announced that the Society is now a member of HANO (Hawaii Association of Non-Profit Organizations). Treasurer Leona Hee is going to attend a HANO-sponsored workshop on Sept. 17 at Chaminade University on non-profit governance and conflict of interest issues, along with reviews on updated IRS federal tax policies, non-profit audit matters and ethical policies. HANO is a rich resource for relevant information and documents, plus occasional workshops, to assist SAAH in managing its tax-free, non-profit status.

Because of the controversial doubling of scholarship grants last program year and the lack of fund raising to support these increases, it was reported that the Society was facing a challenging budgetary situation. The Society is committed to raising additional funds to support new scholarships, while also cutting back on expenses. It was agree that the meeting budget for refreshments was reduced from $200 to $150. Also, in contrast to the last awards, the Society has granted only two scholarships this year, each in the amount of $2500 (one funded by SAAH members and the other by the Hackler Scholarship Fund).

In regards to how much money a non-profit is expected to distribute in scholarships and grants annually, Li said that the notion that 80% of SAAH funds must be given away to comply with IRS regulation needs to be corrected. Non-profits are encouraged to build reserve funds equal to two or three times the highest annual operating budget of the past 3 years. Consequently, the Society can safely put $50-80,000 in to a reserve account for rainy days. She also reminded the members that educating our youth about Asian art and is the best legacy we can contribute to the broader community.

To increase funds and the membership, a campaign to increase the number of dues paying members from the current approximately 55 to 90 will be launched. Also the Board has agreed to have two silent auctions of members’ contributed art objects, one at he annual Chinese New Year banquet and the other at the annual May banquet. Members having items to donate for the auctions are asked to contact Vivien Stackpole with a detailed description of each item along with a photo. This information will then be posted on the Society’s web page for viewing prior to the banquets. The Society’s new web site, designed and managed by Kamran Samimi is: www.saahhawaii.org

The Board is also reviewing the By-laws and attempting to update them since there appears to be two different versions, with or without amendments, in existence.

Treasurer’s Report—Leona Hee

Leona is recuperating from recent eye surgery, so the report was presented by

Dr. William Won. Currently, the total balance is $31,803.60, including the Hackler Fund. Li thanked Dr. Won for his contribution of $1000 and kudos were also given to Jane and Dan Katayama for a $500 contribution. The Katayamas were also recognized for contributing all the leis for the annual banquet meeting. Additional contributions were made by some members when they submitted their annual dues. It was noted that as of this date only 17 members had renewed their memberships and those who had not yet done so were encouraged to return the mailed membership form along with a dues payment.

Presentation of Scholarships

Checks for $2500 were presented to the two 2015-16 scholarship awardees, Anna Reynolds (introduced by Dr. Won) and Kamran Moen-Samimi (introduced by Li Lundin). For information about their qualifications and backgrounds, please see at the end of the minutes the essays each wrote for their scholarship applications.

Membership Questions

Dr. Won said that he was pleased to see everyone and was glad that the Society was “still a viable organization,” given the changes that occurred last spring, with the resignation of the previous president, vice-president and secretary. He reminded everyone that we should all do our part by operating the Society according to the By-laws and Internal Revenue Service regulations for non-profit organizations. Member Indru Watamull said she was not familiar with what had happened last spring and asked for details. Dr. Won said that he would discuss these matters privately with her and anyone else, rather than rehashing in public matters that were now in the past.

Featured Speaker—Professor Cheri Vasek

Prof. Vasek is Assistant Professor, Costume Design and Technology, University of Hawaii—Manoa. She teaches a variety of courses at beginning, intermediate and advanced levels. She has designed costumes for UHM, University of Wyoming, University of Idaho, Idaho Repertory Theatre, Washington State University, Central Washington University, University of West Virginia, The Electric Theatre Company (Pennsylvania) and The Road Company (Tennessee).

Throughout the United States, Prof. Vasek has worked as a costume craftsperson in several professional regional theatres including The Guthrie Theatre (Minneapolis) and American Conservatory Theatre (San Francisco). She was the head Costume Dyer at the Santa Fe Opera for four seasons (2003-2005 and 2008).  Prof. Vasek’s current research interest investigates Costume Designers in the Indian Film Industry. She previously talked to the Society about Bollywood attire seen in films and the fashion industry.

Her presentation, illustrated with slides, focused on how in the late 20th century, as the forces of modernization weakened the demands for traditional textiles in India, many hand crafts were considered to be “dying art.” Her talk focused on inventive transformations that have revitalized the production and marketing of traditional textiles, through cooperatives, small-scale charitable trusts, and independent fashion designers.

1. SEWA, Self-Employed Women’s Association, founded in1972 as a registered trade union to assist poor, self-employed women considered “informal” or “unprotected workers—vegetable sellers, seamstresses, milk producers, cigarette workers and incense producers. This organization started in 1999 the SEWA Bank by which women can make deposits of a minimum of 40 rupees and the capital raised could be used for micro-financing loans. These loans are quite helpful to women and the repayment rate in ninety-six percent. This group also promotes vocational and literacy training. Internet site: www.sewa.org

2. NCUI, National Cooperative Union of India, started in 104, and now having 250 million members. This organization addresses the financial inequities of agricultural workers and promotes rural development enterprises. Its successes include establishing banks, credit unions and craft cooperatives. Internet site: nciu.coop/welcome

3. Sadhna, Women’s Handicraft Enterprise, begun in 1988 in Rajasthan to help its 700 female artisan members to gain alternative incomes for the poor in cities and the countryside. This group promotes appliqué and running stitch or tanka embroidery, and runs 3 retail shops and an internet marketing website: www.sadhna.org

4. Mukti Mahili Samity Collective, set up in 1985 by Kathleen Loeks and Onma Mondai, with the goal to “Link Hands for Humanity” by helping victims of domestic violence. The group works with women producing kantha embroidery, a Bengal traditional art form, employing quilted running stitches to produce products featuring folk motifs such as the lotus, tree of life and the sun. Its 50 female members work with cotton and tussah silk, mostly recycled as thread. Their products are marketed through the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market.

5. NIFT, National Institute of Fashion Technology, begun in 1987 by the Indian Government’s Ministry of Textiles. It is now located in 15 cities throughout India and 2 more sites are being planned. Website: www.nift.ac.in

6. Hamstech Institute, Hyderbad, established in 1992, promotes traditional textiles and designs in fashion and interior design. This organization has strong connections to the film industry and many stars and models feature their products in their striking attire.

The remainder of the talk focused on individual designers and personalities, including Sabasachi Mukherjee, Sharbi Datta, Shravan Kumar Ramaswamy, Neeta Lulla and others. The craft of kalmkari, “crafting with a pen,” was also discussed.

The presentation concluded with a short tour with Prof. Vasek, questions and answers, followed by refreshments in the adjoining reception area.