2012 Open House
2012 Open House On a bright, clear October 14 afternoon CHF held its eighth open house at the Gramercy Park party room. It was attended by a convivial crowd that included devoted contributors, grant award recipients and honorees and their families.
Upon arrival, attendees were greeted with a sumptuous yet light brunch, meticulously assembled under the watchful eye of Yin Simpson. There was a hum of pleasant conversations throughout the party room as friends greeted each other and made new acquaintances with newcomers.
As the list of grant awardees indicated, CHF is continuing its reach into the wider Twin Cities arts community. Stages Theatre, a mainstream theatre based in Hopkins, received a grant for the development of a novel, Where Mountain Meets the Moon by Chinese author Grace Lin. Our Honorary Chinese Minnesotan of Note, Patricia Puffer, pointed the way towards promoting mutual understanding among all Minnesotans before even CHF was created. Her innate generosity showed through in her friendships with the first China Scholars in the 1970s.
Recipients of our Volunteer of the Year awards, Stephen Tsui and Stephen Mao, also showed their strong volunteerism. Stephen Tsui had been volunteering in the Twin Cities since his student days at Luther Seminary. Our community has been blessed with many as yet unsung heroes.
Ming Tchou. Ming’s birthday, on the fourth day of the seventh month on the Chinese lunar calendar (hence her July 4th birthday on her U.S. passport), fell on August 10 on the western calendar this year. Following a Chinese tradition of celebrating the 9th year of a decade (9 in Chinese is pronounced the same as ‘for a long time’) and therefore looking forward to another decade in a long, full life, CHF Friends feted Ming at a gala dinner at the Hotel Sofitel in Bloomington on her actual 89th birthday on August 10.
On the evening of Nov. 15, a still balmy Minnesota date, a diverse group of 50 interested viewers gathered at the party room of Gramercy Park to listen to ceramicist Gary Erickson regale us with his 8 delightful summers in Jingdezhen, porcelain city of China. Gary showed us photos of Jingdezhen now and at the turn of the last century. Surprisingly little has changed in its geography or its tradition of producing Chinese porcelain. It remains labor intensive and people driven. There were video clips of its age-old water-powered hammer mills crushing china stone, multi-person teams throwing more than 300 pounds of clay together in making sections of 15-foot tall vases, decoration factories, and a tile village producing porcelain tiles up to twelve feet long!
the beginning of all things and the way in which all things pursue their course. I also explore Yin-Yang’s complementary opposites such as the contrast of inside-outside, dark-light to reflect duality and interdependence. My interpretation of Yin-Yang becomes biographical as I consider my creativity with a life both in America and China. My symbiotic relationship with China is reflected in the interdependence of forms nestled within or balanced and perched on top of each other. These life experiences have made the work extremely personal and reflective of my growth as an international artist.’
For the Chinese portion of this exhibit, CHF Friends assembled a fine collection of silk robes, silk lanterns, fine china and porcelain, ivory and jade chopsticks, calligraphy scrolls, delicate paper cuts, as well as informative posters on traditional Chinese games such as chess and go. Under the guidance of our master designer, Yin Simpson, we created a display that was both eye-catching and informative. The Gallery was located in a high traffic area within the Government Center and the exhibit was seen by thousands of downtown workers and visitors. The Library received many positive comments about the variety and quality of the entire exhibit.