Asian American Resource Center Exhibits

The AARC’s Community Art Exhibit Program displays artworks year round that celebrate the diverse and dynamic cultural heritage, history, identity and creativity of Asian American Pacific Islanders. Exhibits are displayed on a quarterly schedule.

Current/Upcoming Exhibits and Programs

4 illustrations of famous Asian women with text about exhibit

KISS PAPERCUTS GOODBYE • Kelly Lan, Bo Feng Lin

ON VIEW JULY 22 – NOVEMBER 4, 2024

Hazel Lee. Anandi Joshi. Thelma Buchholdt. While you might have heard of these women, chances are you didn’t learn about them in history class. You were never taught that Hazel Lee was one of the first Chinese American women to earn a pilot’s license, or that Anandi Joshi was the first Indian female physician to earn her degree in the U.S., or that Thelma Buchholdt was the first legislator of Filipino descent in the United States.

Curator Kelly Lan never learned about such figures as she was growing up. In fact, she didn’t see much of herself in anything around her. "In school, we never talked about Asian American history or Asian American figures," she says. "Things like the shape of my face and eyes bothered me. Mascara commercials didn’t apply to me. And I didn’t have the resources to help deal with those feelings. I just want to provide those resources that I didn’t have.”

That’s why she created Hello Prosper, an educational organization that strives to use storytelling and creative expression to empower children, teens, and young adults with knowledge. This exhibition is the manifestation of that mission.

Step in and learn the amazing stories of some incredible Asian and Asian American women who strove against institutional barriers and adversity to make their marks and achieve their dreams."

About the artists: KELLY LAN is the founder and creative director of Hello Prosper, an educational organization that aims to raise awareness about Asian American history and culture. Born in Trenton, New Jersey and raised in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, she grew up in the Quaker school system where she learned that “there’s a light in everyone,” and has a background in commercial art and user experience design.

BO FENG LIN is a Chinese German artist and freelance illustrator from Pforzheim, a small town in Germany. After dropping out of architecture school, he pursued a career of illustration at the Hamburg University of Applied Science. His signature style combines geometric shapes and vibrant colors with the female form. Along with the digital medium, Bo loves to work in oil and acrylics.

Beyond the Pages: Cultivating Identity in Asian American Women (virtual fireside chat)
On July 22, 2024 at 12PM CT

This one hour virtual fireside chat features Austin-based host Irene Kang from Spark Collection and Kiss Paper Cuts Goodbye's Exhibit Curator, Kelly Lan. Discover their captivating founder stories and how they navigated their entrepreneurial paths. Engage with a national online audience through interactive segments discussing identity and the power of storytelling. The session culminates in an open 15-minute Q&A, inviting dialogue and shared insights. Learn more and register for this artist talk.

photo of two Asian women with artistic makeup and block text that says “Artistic Redirection, On View July 22-Nov 4, 2024”

ARTISTIC REDIRECTION • Saffron Creative House

ON VIEW JULY 22 – NOVEMBER 4, 2024

This exhibition isn't a showcase of landscapes and weather phenomena. It's a philosophical inquiry, a visual exploration of the often-tumultuous relationship between humanity and the natural world. Here, the raw power of nature — its untamed beauty and destructive potential — confronts the ever-growing impact of human actions.

The featured art isn't about assigning blame. Instead, it invites you to contemplate the delicate balance, the historical tensions, and even the possibility of a future where humans and nature can not only coexist, but thrive together. Through diverse mediums, the artists probe questions of stewardship, responsibility, and the very meaning of progress. They challenge our perspectives, forcing us to confront the scars we've left and the opportunities for healing that lie ahead.

Artistic Redirection is a catalyst for conversation. It encourages you to grapple with the philosophical questions that underpin our relationship with the environment. As you navigate the exhibit, consider the delicate dance depicted by the artists. Will we choose a path of sustainable co-existence, or will we continue down a path of conflict and destruction? The answer lies not just in policy changes, but in a fundamental shift in our relationship with the natural world.

About the artists: Saffron Creative House (formerly Saffron Magazine), is an online platform and production house aimed to produce content that emboldens diasporic narratives and creatives. As a collective, Saffron aims to be an online platform for storytelling and a space where diasporic narratives take center stage in production. Starting as a magazine in 2023, Saffron published three art editorial issues traversing the likes of surrealism, nature vs mankind, the sixth sense, and so much more. Backed by diasporic stories and the notion of occupying a seat at the editorial table that has been vacant, Saffron Magazine transformed into a production house aiming to platform creatives that refused to be constrained by the bounds put upon them.

Permanent and Semi-Permanent Installations

Lotus

Lotus by Sunyong Chung and Philippe Klinefelter, 2013
granite, handmade ceramic tiles

Lotus is a large site specific sculpture created by Art in Public Places commissioned artists Sunyong Chung and Philippe Klinefelter for the Asian American Resource Center (AARC), and is located in the entrance plaza overlooking heritage live oaks.

Chung created an intricate and lively 12’ diameter mosaic of a lotus, made of hand-colored and hand-crafted dimensional tiles, which Klinefelter surrounded with seven 9’ tall hand-carved granite “petals” gracefully reaching toward the sky. Klinefelter also carved the lotus’s seed pod at the center of the mosaic from granite, which doubles as a gently flowing fountain. According to feng shui principles, the placement of the fountain near the AARC entrance creates positive chi, or energy, for the building. The lotus, native to Asia, was chosen as inspiration for the sculpture because of its symbolic attributes of harmony, purification and healing.

Prayer Phone

Prayer Phone | Semi-Permanent Art Installation

Prayer Phone, a handmade altar with a disconnected phone, is an invitation to the public to “call” their deceased loved ones while giving offerings and prayers. This project reflects a common custom of many Asian traditions: commemorating ancestors and venerating the spirit world.

Two essential elements compose this installation. The old fashioned phone is a symbolic artifact that represents humanity’s desire to connect and communicate with others. Its historic form evokes passage of time. By contrast, the spiritual act of lighting incense symbolizes the following: sacredness when the element of air is ignited, purification of the environment’s energy, and blessings in return for offerings. These two elements combine to help connect the earthly to the heavens.

This project is inspired by an episode of This American Life featuring stories about Telephone of the Wind in Otsuchi Town, a small seaside town in northeastern Japan. An iconic English telephone phone booth connected to nowhere was repurposed, and people began “calling” family members lost during the tsunami caused by the 2011 Great Japan Earthquake. Telephone of the Wind became a public space for people to grieve for their lost loved ones. In response, Prayer Phone shares in the deep tradition of respecting spirits and coexisting with entities beyond the physical realm, as well as providing a physical space and an outlet to feel connected with the departed.

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