Cynthia Tom's piece entitled, "Location, location, location."
Photo by: J.W. Diehl
One of the longest running U.S. Asian American arts organizations representing women – The Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA) is celebrating its 20th Anniversary with a series of events and art exhibitions.
AAWAA will be hosting an art showcase entitled “Vision, Vitality and Visibility Exhibition” from Tuesday, September 22 to Sunday, October 4 at SOMArts Cultural Center located at 934 Brannan St., San Francisco.
AAWAA’s 20th Anniversary Celebration will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 26, at SOMArts Cultural Center.
AAWAA, a nonprofit organization, ensures the visibility of Asian American women artists and offers projects and programs that challenge, inspire and document its members’ works.
“Since its inception, AAWAA has promoted the artistic and organizational growth of the Asian/Pacific Islander visual and literary arts community,” says Lenore Chinn, AAWAA member, artist and activist. “Its programming is now an institution serving a diverse, intergenerational cross-section of the Asian/Pacific Islander artists’ community. As an individual artist and long-time member of AAWAA, I have experienced and benefited by the organization’s ambitious projects.”
Research scholar and published author, Laura Fantone, Ph.D. will include AAWAA in her upcoming book. “AAWAA represents a strong answer to the prevailing discourses and images of Asian women in America,” Fantone says. “Too often the Asian American experience and cultural expressions are relegated to the margins of mainstream Art and culture or reduced to past experience. By connecting different generations of artists, AAWAA bridges the past and present.”
AAWAA, a nonprofit arts organization, produces art exhibitions, publications, and readings; maintains a speakers’ bureau; and is building its archives, which will provide access to in-depth views of Asian American cultures and histories from a women’s perspective. “We not only provide professional support to emerging and seasoned artists, but also work to ensure that Asian American women artists are rightfully acknowledged by the public, by academia and by arts institutions,” says Cynthia Tom, president of the AAWAA board.
Additional 20th Anniversary events and exhibitions will take place in 2010.
More on AAWAA’s 20th Anniversary Art Exhibitions:
• A Place of Her Own, thought provoking mixed media 2D and 3D installations, several of which were featured at the de Young Museum in January 2009. Artists answer the question: If you had a place of your own, what would it be? (www.aplaceofherown.org)
• Cheers to Muses, AAWAA’s exhibition complementing the AAWAA anthology, Cheers to Muses: Contemporary Works by Asian American Women Artists, a valuable historical and pictorial resource already adopted by several universities in the Bay Area and East Coast. Artists write dedications to an Asian American woman who informs and inspires her art.
• Made In AAWAA – A grand showcase depicting AAWAA’s 20 years of milestones that illuminate what AAWAA is growing for the future.
These three exhibitions provide insights into the curatorial depth and range of artistic talents of Asian American women artists. Some of the artists include: Keiko Nelson, Rose Khor, Kathy Fuji-Oka, Susan Almazol, Tiffany Lin, Machiko Kondo Cynthia Tom, Flo Oy Wong, Shizue Siegel, Tan Khanh Cao, Priscilla Otani, Lucy Arai, Genny Lim, Clara Hsu, Maw Win Shein, Dawn Nakanishi, Naylyne Lunati, Shari Arai DeBoer, Anna XL Wong, Sue Tom, Reiko Fuji, Irene Wibawa, Pallavi Sharma, Lydia Nakashima Degarrod,
Lenore Chinn, Kay Kang, Sharon Leong, Masaoko Takahashi, Maree Wong, Janice Hom, Choppy Oshiro, Nancy Hom, Betty Kano, and Nellie Wong
Vision, Vitality and Visibility Exhibition
Tuesday, September 22, through Sunday, October 4, 2009
SOMArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA
Gallery hours: Tuesday – Friday 2 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday 12 noon – 5 p.m.
For information about AAWAA, visit www.aawaa.net or call AAWAA at 415-722-4296.
