Art and Design Commons^™

Alejandro Acierto Interview, Madeline Bolton

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio: Alejandro T. Acierto is an artist and musician working in time-based media. He has exhibited his work at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Issue Project Room, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Salisbury University, SOMArts and presented performance works at the Brooklyn International Performance Art Festival, Center for Performance Research, and Center for New Music and Technology. Acierto has held residencies at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Banff Centre, High Concept Laboratories, and Chicago Artists' Coalition. He is currently a FT/FN/FG Consortium Fellow, a Center Program Artist …

James Kao Interview, Alice Haller

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio: James Kao was born and raised in Houston, Texas. After studying philosophy and focusing on the texts of Ludwig Wittgenstein at the University of Chicago, he worked as a bakery buyer for a specialty foods retail chain in Southern California. In 2001, James forwent his corporate career and returned to Chicago to take classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he received an MFA from the Painting and Drawing Department. He is Assistant Professor of Art at Aurora University in Aurora, IL, and is co-founder and co-director of 4^th Ward Project Space in …

Shaurya Kumar Interview, Tejas Patel

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: A native of Delhi, India where he studied printmaking and painting at the College of Art; Shaurya Kumar graduated with his MFA from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2007. Since 2001, Kumar has been involved in numerous prestigious research projects, like “The Paintings of India” (a series of 26 documentary films on the painting tradition of India); "Handmade in India" (an encyclopedia on the handicraft traditions of India); and digital restorations of 6th century Buddhist mural paintings from the caves of Ajanta. Kumar’s research is focused on creating works which appreciate and appropriate new media while highlighting the …

Snow Yunxue Fu Interview, Noah Fornear

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: Snow Yunxue Fu (b. 1987) is an artist who lives and works in Chicago. Her work approaches the subject of the Sublime using topographical computer rendered animation installation. She exams and interprets the world around her through virtual reality, where she draws a parallel to the realms of multi-dimensionality, the physical, the virtual, and the metaphysical. Fu has exhibited her work nationally and internationally including Hong Kong Arts Center, Yellow Peril Gallery, Expo Chicago, Digital Culture Center in Mexico City, Zhou B Art Center in Chicago, Chicago Artist Coalition, Chicago Filmmakers, Kunsthalle Detroit Museum of Contemporary Art, MoMA …

Osamu James Nakagawa Interview, Myumi Ware

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: Osamu James Nakagawa was born in New York City; raised in Tokyo, Japan and returned to Houston, Texas at the age of 15. He received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Houston in 1993 He is the Ruth N. Halls Professor of Art at Indiana University and a recipient of the 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship and 2010 Higashikawa Award: New Photographer of the Year, and 2015 Sagamihara Photographer of the Year in Japan. Nakagawa's work is shown internationally and his monograph GAMA Caves was published by Aka Aka Art Publishing in January 2014.

His recent work, BANTA …

Leonard Suryajaya Interview, Megan Casey

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: BFA, 2013, California State University, Fullerton; MFA, 2015, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Exhibitions: Irvine Fine Arts Center, CA; Expo Chicago, IL; Chicago Artist Coalition, IL; The Center for Fine Arts Photography, CO; Roy G Biv Gallery, OH. Publication: Lenscratch; Chicago Magazine; South Side Weekly. Lectures: Society for Photographic Education 2014 National Conference, MD; Society for Photographic Education 2016 National Conference, NV. Awards: New Artist Society Award; James Weinstein Memorial Fellowship; Claire Rosen and Samuel Edes Prize for Emerging Artist.

Jave Yoshimoto Interview, Serina Mancha

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio:
Jave Yoshimoto is an artist and educator of multicultural background. He was born in Japan to Chinese parents and immigrated to United States at a young age. He has since traveled and lived in various parts of the country, which influenced his artistic practice. Yoshimoto received his Bachelors from University of California Santa Barbara in Studio Art, his Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Painting and Drawing and Masters of Art in Art Therapy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and his Masters of Fine Arts in Painting at Syracuse University. He has worked as an art therapist/mental …

Hong Chun Zhang Interview, Emily Dresden

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artists Bio: Born and raised in China, Hong grew up in an academic environment. Both her parents are retired art professors and her two sisters are also painters. When she was 15, Hong and her twin-sister Bo won the national competition to attend the high school attached to the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. From there, she began her professional art training. In 1994, Hong received B.F.A. in Chinese Ink Painting from CAFA in Beijing, M.A. from CSU Sacramento in 2002 and M.F.A. from University of California, Davis in 2004. Hong currently lives and works in Lawrence, Kansas. …

Cesar Conde Interview, Ramona-Sky Rosenthal

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio: A post-contemporary painter, Conde uses old world technique using modern materials to paint his realistic portraits. Conde is a Filipino-American Chicago based artist who was primarily self-taught until he hit a wall with his technical skills. Upon realizing his artistic limitations, Conde decided to study at Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy with John Michael Angel, who apprenticed for Pietro Annigoni. He also studied with Master Painter of Technique Mixte, Patrick Betaudier in his atelier in Monflanquin, France. Conde’s influences are Carravaggio, Rehmbrant, and Goya. Conde continues to learn and explore the infinite possibilities of painting.

Conde’s …

Akemi Nakano Cohn Interview, Allisan Tate

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio:

Akemi Nakano Cohn studied traditional Japanese dyeing/printing techniques for ten years under the master Haru Izumi in Yokohama, Japan. She received an MFA in Fiber Arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art (Bloomfield, MI) and a BFA from Tama Art University, Tokyo, Japan. Cohn has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Int'l Surface Design Conference, Haystack, and others. She was visiting artist at the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago, University of Nebraska, Zijdelings (Netherlands), and artist-in-residence at Anderson Ranch and Ragdale Foundation. She has been in many exhibits, including solo exhibits; Urban …

Cc Ann Chen Interview, Margaret Basham

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio: C. C. Ann Chen is an artist and educator based in Chicago, IL. She was born in Taiwan, and grew up in suburban Maryland. Chen holds a BA in Architectural History from the University of Maryland, and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Chen’s work stems from architecture and landscape, and explores perceptual translations and misinterpretations of place, time, and memory. Projects range from direct observation to site-specific ideas, following an intuitive, experiment-based approach in her studio practice. She has been awarded artist residencies by Marble House Project, the Ragdale Foundation, and will be …

Aram Han-Sifuentes Interview, Yanessa Rodriguez

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Artist Bio:
Aram Han Sifuentes learned how to sew when she was 6 years old from her seamstress mother. Han Sifuentes was born in Seoul, South Korea and immigrated to Modesto, California as a child. She mines from her family’s immigration experience to address issues of labor and explores identity as a first generation immigrant.

Han Sifuentes’s work has been shown in national and international exhibitions. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Chung Young Yang Embroidery Museum in Seoul, South Korea; Wing Luke Museum of Asian Pacific American Experience in Seattle, WA; Center for Craft, Creativity and …

Sabba Syal Elahi Interview (2 Of 2), Derek Hamilton

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: Sabba Syal Elahi is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and cultural worker and focuses her art practice in fibers and drawing/painting. She grew up in a traditional Pakistani household in the Midwest. Her art explores political violence, historical representation, memory, and it’s impact on the South Asian Diaspora and Muslim American communities. Recently, Sabba was a 2013-2014 Resident Artist in Chicago Artist Coalition’s Bolt Program and exhibited her work at Woman Made Gallery. For the past 6 years Sabba has provided college and career counseling and portfolio development with an emphasis on the visual arts for high school students at …

Sabba Syal Elahi Interview (1 Of 2), Simi Mathew

Asian American Art Oral History Project

Bio: Sabba Syal Elahi received her M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and her art has been featured nationally at ArtWallah, internationally in Spain and Pakistan, and in the Chicagoland area. Sabba’s artwork is rooted in her bicultural experience and explores issues of cultural and historical representation, identity, and gender through personal, family, and community narratives. From 2011-2009 Sabba curated the visual art for an annual Chicago event called Voices of Resistance, which showcased the work of Chicago and Midwest based South Asian artists. Sabba has served four years as Coordinator of College and Career Programs …