Artist Interview // PRISCILLA YU

Priscilla Yu is a multi-disciplinary artist and illustrator based in Vancouver, BC Canada. Her work is a combination of visually-learned geometry and perspective, intuitive colour decisions, and personal narratives.

Photograph of artist by Shannyn Higgins

Priscilla Yu is one of the artists in the Journey-scapes art exhibition at the Gene Siskel in conjunction with the FAAIM 21st Annual Asian American Showcase April 1st through 14th, 2016. We asked her a few questions about her work and artistic journey!

What/Who inspires you?

Priscilla Yu: I'm inspired by a lot. I'm inspired by nature; the geometry, the beauty, and the systems within it, and I'm inspired by other creative people. I'm inspired by all the artists, illustrators, designers, musicians, and actors around me who are also pursuing their craft.  

Treasure Hunt, images courtesy of the artist.

What are you working on right now?

Priscilla Yu: For a long time, people were always telling me that my paintings would look good on clothing, or that I should do something involved with fashion. So right now, I am working on a personal project, creating a series of clothing inspired by a series of of paintings. Each piece of clothing will be inspired by an aspect from the world within the paintings. I'm still at the experimenting stage with producing these items. I've been experimenting with dye-sublimation printing on polyester. It's kind of fun making the kind of clothing that the beings in my paintings wear, for actual people.

Glass Castle and the Obelisk Storm, images courtesy of the artist.

How would you describe your artistic journey?

Priscilla Yu: My artistic journey has been simultaneously thrilling, satisfying, and bumpy. It's always been really exciting to see what can come out of my brain and onto paper or canvas. I love experiencing that magic of feeling creativity and getting lost in a piece. My art has also connected me to a lot of people whom I love. I also love the learning involved in each project that I do.

On the other hand, I also experience 'impostor syndrome' from time to time. This is where there's this sense of self-doubt, where I feel like, "I'm a fake artist. Do people know that? People are giving me actual money for my thoughts and creativity?" It's super funny, and I'm getting better at not letting that get too out of hand and make me anxious. Overall, my artist journey has been very enriching.

See more of Priscilla Yu’s work on her website www.priscillayu.ca/ // Instagram @brickgirl.yu // Tumblr at priscillayuart.tumblr.com // Join us at Journey-scapes art exhibition opening Friday, April 1, 2016.

Chicagoland Shorts X VOL1 Screening: Rockford, IL

Screening for this series of shorts will be held on:

MARCH 5, 5PM
J.R. Sullivan Theater at the
Rockford Public LIbrary, Rockford, IL

CHICAGOLAND SHORTS is a new short film series produced by Eugene Sun Park and Kayla Ginsburg, co-curated with Beckie Stocchetti (Kartemquin Films). The series celebrates the vastness of the Chicagoland experience, providing an outlet for cinematic voices that are underrepresented in mainstream media culture.

Chicagoland Shorts brings together the best of the so-called niche cinemas – queer, Asian American, black, experimental, etc. – culled from local film festivals, micro-cinemas, and film schools. This eclectic collection boasts award-winning films including a finalist for the 2014 Student Academy Award and the recipient of a Human Rights Award from Nielsen Reviews. Collectively, the films featured in Chicagoland Shorts have screened nationally and internationally at museums, galleries, and over 100 competitive film festivals.

 Queen of My Dreams — 3:00 — Fawzia Mirza and Ryan Logan
 Permute — 4:24 — Lydia Fu
 Jaspa’ Jenkins — 4:00 — Robert Carnilius
 Self-Deportation: The Untold Tale of a Marginal Woman — 19:28 — Eugene Sun Park
 Mae’s Journal — 12:00 — Amir George
 The Carousel, 1952-1987 — 4:00 — Amanda Taves
 Shirley’s Kids — 9:50 — Michael Paulucci
 Train — 2:00 — Valia O’Donnell
 Western Candyland — 2:30 — Robert-Carnilius
 Moms and Dads — 4:45 — Fred Frederiksen & Dylan Jones

For more information on the series and previous/upcoming screenings, you can visit http://fullspectrumfeatures.com/chicagoshorts/

ABC's 'Fresh Off The Boat' is Trieu To My Heart

Kathy Trieu

kathytrieux@gmail.com

Fresh Off The Boat’s episode “Year of the Rat” accomplished yet another first--the first time Chinese New Year has been featured on network television. As an avid fan of the show, I’ve laughed and cried along with the Huangs since the very beginning when they began to settle in Suburban America. The Huang’s process of assimilating into the suburban community reminded myself of my move from my comfortable Vietnamese community in Houston to rural Minnesota for college. While in college, the show became important so much that each release of a new episode became an event for me, similar to the spectacle of sports.

abc.go.com

My Asian-American friends and I gathered to watch the Huangs and cheered when the show successfully accomplished what mainstream television cannot. When we saw ourselves on screen, when we could find ways to relate to the characters, we won. We cheered when the Huangs pulled out Chinese plates and bowls to eat breakfast and when the Huang children poured Pert shampoo into Pert Plus bottles. Yet, these were the little things. Beyond the small customs and characteristics the Huangs introduced to their viewers are big ideas and nuanced identities that are easily overlooked.

That being said, the “Year of the Rat” episode was a big deal. It presented many opportunities for the Fresh Off The Boat team, who were asking: what would be the storyline for network television’s first Chinese New Year themed episode? And yet, after watching this episode, the story seemed to me to be perfect--maybe even the only way to go. It brought to the forefront of American entertainment an issue we Asian-Americans, who celebrate Lunar New Year, are familiar with; creating the Lunar New Year experience. This requires effort, especially in a land not exactly fit for the celebration.

For the Huangs, it seemed as if Chinese New Year simply could not happen in suburban Florida. Throughout the episode, Jessica and Louis made remarks regarding what needed to be present for Chinese New Year to be authentic. Some items such as the fireworks and drums seem standard. Chinese New Year celebrations in US Chinatowns all include such things, so to be surrounded by vibrant red and loud celebratory fireworks and drums might appear to be what we Asian Americans seek when it comes to this time of year .

Though true, Jessica and Louis’s search for Chinese people truly tugged at my heart. I laughed out loud at their discovery of the Asian American Association of Orlando because I’ve been through that dreadful moment, that realization that I needed Google to find other Asian Americans in Minnesota. It was my second year of college (up until then, my denial of missing Asian America had sufficed). Right in the dead of Minnesota winter, I began my search for Minnesota’s Asian-America. They had to be out there right? I thought.

“I never expected that a holiday so special to my family and my community would be one that anyone would care to celebrate with us”

All this to say, we don’t want to have to celebrate the Lunar New Year in these circumstances. Like Jessica, I’ve had my “I just want this day to be over” moments. Or rather… “I just want this month to be over with” because I wanted to be home in Houston, TX with my Vietnamese-American family. I wanted the red envelopes, firecrackers and fireworks, the parades, pork buns, drums, lions, dragons, and red lanterns. I wanted the chocolate coins wrapped in gold paper and the water dumplings that bring you great fortune. Most importantly, I wanted to have a New Year’s celebration with people who “cared to get it right.”

The Huang’s Chinese New Year party was more than a gathering of good friends and family. It was more than Louis’s makeshift creativity. I guess to me, it offered hope. Like Louis says, “It’s not that people don’t care enough to get it right. It’s that people didn’t know.”

Growing up in America and learning to celebrate Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween as my own holidays and tweaking my Asian-American habits to fit the celebrations was expected. When Lunar New Year rolled around, I never expected that a holiday so special to my family and my community would be one that anyone would care to celebrate with us. That wasn’t a problem, necessarily. It was a normal part of being an Asian-American who celebrated the holiday. Yet here was a Chinese-American family celebrating Chinese New Year on network television!

Thank you Nahnatchka Khan and the Fresh Off The Boat crew for pulling Asian-America out of invisibility by writing us into the American story.

_____

Kathy Trieu will graduate from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN with a BA in Asian Studies. She is currently residing in her hometown, Houston, TX.