Heidi's Speech to the American Association of University Women
February 21, 2001I wish to thank the American Association of University Women for this opportunity to meet with you and share the story of the paintings you see here depicting scenes of Watsonville and China.I was raised in Santa Cruz and have lived in the Monterey Bay area most of my life. I grew up with a real love for this area's scenery, it's agricultural fields, the ocean and it's wonderful history and social diversity. My mother was a photographer and my sister a classical guitarist so my interest in visual art was encouraged. Education: My formal training in Art began at Cabrillo College where I studied painting, drawing, ceramics, printmaking and the history of art. The teachers who influenced me greatly were: Jane Gregorius, Barbara Guenther, Dave McGuire, and Howard Ikemoto. I was motivated to continue to paint and take art courses at San Jose State University where I studied with artists: Gail Antokal, Diane Argabrite, John DeVincenzi, and Rupert Garcia. There I received my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Inspiration: In the middle of my college stint, I developed Juvenile Diabetes. While more life altering than life threatening, I realized that life may not wait for you to accomplish the goals you have in mind, especially long-term goals somewhere off in the future, and that's when I really began to challenge myself both academically and artistically. Before, my aspirations in art were to improve my technical ability to make pictures. But what inspired me to create art? Websters defines inspiration as "the act or power of moving the intellect or emotions". My quest of "How do you paint?" became "Why do you paint?" Now I saw painting as an immediate vehicle to express ideas, thoughts, emotions, and feelings. I'm not trying to say that my paintings are about some inner thought analysis or struggle, but rather a reflection of what I see going on around me. Much of my training as an artist involved going to different locations to paint. While re-creating these scenes an idea took form. I wanted to paint the scene, but I wanted to include something that was meaningful, a little history, a story I heard, or the people involved in that particular vista. I wanted people to look at my paintings write their own stories from their own memories of that scene. I love it when people see one of my paintings and it triggers something in their memory to share with me. I have always been drawn to narrative works of art and Children's book illustrations, and interested in telling a story in addition to creating an image. Sometimes that means getting a little surreal; like having objects float in my paintings without any logical means of support. That usually means that object has great importance to the story or original idea for the painting. I also like the idea of breaking a painting into blocks, or strips because it helps tell a story. What is in the blocks may not look like it relates to the rest of the painting but there is usually a story behind why I chose that image. It doesn't have to be a great thought, sometimes the image is a significant hint of an observation or incident. Watsonville series: In 1995 I moved to Watsonville. Although I lived practically next door in Santa Cruz most of my life, Watsonville was that place in the back of my mind, almost nonexistent, that place where the bus continued long after my stop at Cabrillo College. That began to change when after the Loma Prieta Earthquake I spent volunteer time in Watsonville, and then moved here. Living here allowed me to notice different locales, historical buildings, old structures, the hills of Mount Madonna as good subject matter for paintings. I realized that for some time Santa Cruz, Capitola and the North Coast had been "discovered" by painters as scenic spots. Many artists, myself included have painted the Venetians in Capitola Village, the Boardwalk, and other landmarks. Here in Watsonville I found a new series of scenes to paint which held just as much interest and beauty as anywhere else. I became more knowledgeable of Watsonville's ethnic diversity of Croatians, Asian's: Filipino's, Japanese, Chinese and the Latino flavor of Watsonville, My Mexican-American neighbors where I live; their love of family, their work ethic, joy for music and dance and their quest of the American Dream. I was also aware of an incorrect perception of Watsonville and I believed that a way to change it was by painting Watsonville as I saw it. I began making Watsonville scenes my Christmas cards. My first was the Plaza bright in white Christmas lights. Then I went Watsonville-wild painting in succession, Taylor's hot dog stand, The Fox Theater, and the Miramar Grill. Not your usual Christmas scenes, but to me more meaningful. This grew into a series of Paintings of Watsonville's historic and contemporary scenes and another series paying homage to all of the early and present agricultural field workers and their immense contribution to the economic development of the Pajaro Valley. I presented these paintings in October of 1999 at a Gala Event held in the Jefsen building on Main Street, downtown Watsonville; designed to invite people of North County to get together with People of South County and share culture, music, food, dance and art and to promote a better understanding and dispel misconceptions. The several paintings you see here describe to me what Watsonville is all about: I was slicing strawberries when the idea for "El Corazon del Valle de Pajaro" struck. Looking very closely at a half strawberry, I was startled by how much it resembled a human heart and that reminded me how the migrant fieldworkers put so much heart into picking and saving and sending their money back to their waiting families. I wanted to capture that feeling by creating a strawberry/heart levitating in a field below Mount Madonna. I placed Loteria cards, (a child's game from Mexico) floating above a field of strawberries representing the sun and moon, or harvests and the heart and hand representing the labor of the fieldworkers. It says more to me than just a painting of workers in a field. La Plazita Illuminada portrays the spirit of the community of Watsonville where every year at Christmas, in ever greater numbers, people come together at the Plaza to celebrate the festival of lights. My Watsonville paintings are a statement about community, a community that has been struck hard by difficulties and has a big enough heart to work together and overcome them. China series: In June, 2000, the Chinese year of the dragon, I had the opportunity to take an incredible trip. I traveled with 22 individuals on Sandy Lydon's China 2000 Yang zi river tour. We flew to Shanghai, cruised up the Yang zi, visited the Three Gorges Dam site disembarked in Chongqing, flew to Xian, to see the Terra Cotta Warriors, then visited Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City in Beijing, and the great wall at Badaling. If you ever have the inkling or opportunity to take one of Sandy Lydon's tours, don't hesitate. I guarantee that something magical will happen. Part of that magic comes from the Chinese people. They are intelligent, strong, hardworking, hospitable and genuinely friendly. All children are now taught English in school and it is not unusual to be approached by small crowds of teens who are eager to practice their English. China is experiencing an explosive economic development boom which is reflected in how well the people dress, how educated they are, and how tourism is encouraged. We experienced 1500 miles of China from the decks of the Victoria Pearl Cruise ship. The Chinese call the Yang zi river, the long river. It has a reputation of being the wildest, largest, and most dangerous river in China. It is also one of the most beautiful places on this planet. My China series paintings here are based on the art and life I saw. The Chinese mask painting is a mask I saw in the Shanghai museum, The horse, a terra-cotta horse from the Terra-cotta Warriors archeological dig site. The paintings are partly abstract and geometric because painting in the abstract allows you to more immediate capture an emotion or feeling. You don't have to worry about getting all the shapes just right and proportionally correct. I painted them in oil pastel, a relatively unfamiliar medium. I felt that the experience of going to China was new and unfamiliar, my paintings should be created in a way that was new and unfamiliar and retain its freshness and capture what I experienced. I felt that to fit that experience into a mold or a mode of this western world, I would change it too much into what my previous experiences had been. I wanted to keep an open mind and be willing to accept the unexpected, for that is when life becomes magical, a thrill and a delight. The painting of the Qutang Gorge is at the entrance to the Three Gorges, or in our case since we were traveling upriver, the exit. Once you pass through this gateway you enter an amazing world contained within majestic soaring cliffs capped by the sky. There are only two ways to safely pass through this land and once you are in one gorge, you are committed to all three. This entrance gate will be in existence for only a few more years until the Three Gorges dam is completed in the year 2003. Then lamentably much of the Three Gorges including this scene will be underwater. The Victoria Pearl has an artist in residence, Mr. Soney Liao, a watercolor-ink brush painter, trained at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing. Mr. Liao has dedicated his life to traveling the Yang zi capturing and immortalizing the Three Gorges. We met on the top deck of the ship where he found me with my hat and paper and watercolors trying to capture the moving scenery. He spoke no English, and I no Mandarin but through the sheer good will of two people with similar interests we were able to communicate. He took a look at what I was painting and told me how I might improve it. Of course I liked him instantly. Soney Liao displays and sells his watercolors of the Yang zi scenery in his gallery and shop on the fourth deck of the Pearl. I purchased his rendition of the Qutang Gorge and through the ships interpreter had wonderful conversations; they were lessons from him to me about Chinese brush painting. On the last day of the journey we passed through the Qutang Gorge , Mr. Liao sought me out and eagerly pulled me to the top deck of the ship to point out the scenery of the painting that I had purchased from him, his favorite part of the entire Three Gorges. I would like to end my presentation here with a poem written by Mr. Soney Liao, translated into English: Excuse me, I never studied English Hope everything is shining Mr. Liao captures perfectly the idea I would dearly love to convey through all of my paintings. If only all people of the world would live by these words, we may understand and appreciate each other a little better. |
