Minhwa is a Korean art form that I practice to express love to my children and to wish health, peace, stability, freedom, and happiness on others. Minhwa is a type of Korean art that was painted by common folk in the past. People painted to wish for fairness, dream, love, freedom, happiness, health, etc. in their lives. Minhwa uses 5 colours: yellow, blue, white, red, and black to express jewel-like colours given to us by our ancestors.
I believe my paintings express a reappearance of minhwa (folk art): a pair of birds enjoying flowers; water and rocks; a beautiful phoenix that brings hope.
Brief History of Chinese and Korean Minhwa:
Mainland China is geographically and historically a large country made up of many ethnic minorities. Historically, Chinese minhwa delves into courage, adversity and hardship, wisdom, and adventure. As well, there are many depictions of mystical and sacred gods from all around Mainland China, such as dragons. The wonders of nature are one with them in the paintings. On the other hand, Korea is a small country surrounded by three bodies of water that was invaded multiple times by China and Japan. During these invasions, the common people hoped for peace. Their life and hope for peace was expressed through minhwa paintings to show family longevity and prosperity.
Julia was born in South Korea and graduated with a fine arts education degree from Gyeongin National University of Education. Afterwards, she was an art teacher in middle school. Korean middle school’s art curriculums are heavily focused on theory and European art history. Due to that, she was more exposed to European art style and techniques when teaching her students to paint.
In early 2000, her life completely changed. She got married and had three beautiful children. With young children and responsibilities, her career had to go on pause. Also, she made up her mind to move to Vancouver for her children’s education and to become a full-time mother to support them. While she was supporting her kids, she had opportunities in Vancouver to see Aboriginal, Chinese, Japanese, and Canadian art, which helped widen her perspective on fine art.
In 2019, she was able to resume her career with her family’s support. The support meant so much to her and she wanted to express her passion and roots through one of Korea’s art styles called minhwa. She mainly focuses on painting flowers, birds, and butterflies to wish health, peace, stability, and happiness. If you would like to see more of her work and journey as a minhwa artist, you can visit her website: vanminhwa.com.
Photo by Christine Wei, one of VAHMS’ Interconnected Artists. Check out more of her art here: https://explorasian.ca/2021/11/02/interconnected-artist-spotlight-christine-wei/
With Lunar New Year just around the corner, peoples around the world from different cultures are salivating in their sleep about the delicious foods: ji?ozi, Chinese dumplings resembling antiquated currency; bánh ch?ng, savory rice cakes from Vietnam; ul boov, Mongolian sole cakes layered in odd numbers. Food and sharing it with family is so important that we’d like to share our #1 favourite from Henry Feng, a professional chef working in the Lower Mainland!
Yanduoxian Recipe
Although Yanduoxian is originated in Huizhou, it developed and integrated into the original Shanghai cuisine in the early 1820s. The three characters of this dish represent three ingredients—the first character is the preserved pork that is usually homemade; the second character represents the process— simmered on low heat, and the last is the fresh pork with seasonal bamboo shoots. According to history, when General Tso (???) visited Hangzhou, one businessman Hu, warmly served him with the soup made by preserved pork and the seasonal bamboo shoots. Later, due to Tso’s accent, it was mistakenly called Yanduoxian.
The winter in Shanghai is always cold. This cold is not simply low temperature, but a gloom and chill that directly penetrates your bone. The humid chilly air following the gusty wind has become a nightmare for Shanghainese. Many Shanghainese started to prepare Yanduoxian before the Spring festival in the lunar calendar because the main ingredient, bamboo, started sprouting. Therefore, Yanduoxian has become the must-have dish in the new year celebration menu.
When I was a child, meat was always served with tickets. Unfortunately, due to poverty, the meat supply was limited to each household, and any meat dish would be the biggest blessing. However, my grandmother always bought a big bag of bamboo shoots before the festival, cut pounds of pork belly in which half of the pork was made for preserved pork. Usually, after a week for preserved pork to be ready, she cut the bamboo shoots and meat into small pieces in a pot and simmered for at least three hours. You will see the soup is thick and the meat is half-melting while the bamboo shoots are fragrant, crisp and tender, with a mellow taste. That taste makes you remember forever.
The secret of this dish is that the combination of meat and bamboo shoots is a perfect match. Because of the preserved pork, we usually don’t need to put extra salt, and the salty taste is thoroughly absorbed by fresh meat and tender bamboo shoots. The only thing you need to do is to stop mouth-watering and enjoy the taste.
Recipe
Ingredients: 2 pounds of Pork bones, 500g of Fresh Bamboo shoots (you can also use the frozen one instead), 1 pound of fresh pork belly (cut into the chunks), 200g preserved pork belly, 300g Bean curd Knot
Preparation:1) Both pork bones and the fresh pork belly need to be boiled for 5mins first and rinsed after boiling. 2) Boil 300g of Bean Curd knot in boiling water for 2-3 minutes to remove the fishy smell of beans
Recipe: 1) Fill 5000ML of water into the soup pot, and put pork bones into the pot. The pork bones need to simmered on low heat for 3 hours, and filter out the pork bones 2) After 2 hours of simmering the pork bones, put the fresh pork on medium heat for 1 hour 3) Add the Bean Curd Knots and cook for 30 minutes 4) Add the sliced preserved pork and cook for the last 10 minutes.
Tip: Do not cook preserved pork too long, it will lose the taste, and the soup may be too salty to drink. Some may like to add a piece of salted pork bones (or soup ham) to the soup. As a result, the soup is milky white and delicious.
To end their Winter season programming, Lipont Gallery and YouKnowArts present Summer, a solo exhibition by Long Gao. Ironically titled, this exhibition presents a series of artworks depicting summer sunsets and sunrises against the current dark and cold winter weather. The golden metallic hues of the paintings change throughout the day, depending on the weather and personal spatial position, giving gallery visitors the opportunity to experience the work in a manner that is solely unique to them.
Exhibition Dates: February 5th to February 28th Monday to Friday from 10am to 5pm Weekends by appointment.
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 5th from 2-5pm
Masks, proof of vaccination, and ID are required to attend the reception.
Artist Statement: This series aims to distill the visceral experience of a moment though the representation of pure light. Think of these paintings as encapsulations of sunlight, as if I could reach into the landscape, grab a handful, and throw it onto the canvas.
Many thin washes of metallic hues layer blankets of gestural brushstrokes between masses of golden points. The metallics catch the light and reflect it back towards the viewer, creating different effects depending on the angle and lighting conditions under which the piece is seen. The paintings are meant to be viewed from a variety of different angles, exposing hidden brush strokes and patterns that can only be seen when the light is reflected in a particular way. When observed for longer periods of time, the viewer’s eyes begin to adjust to the subtle shades of yellow to reveal variations in movement, colour, and gesture.
Long Gao
About the Artist: Long Gao is a Chinese Canadian artist currently based in Vancouver, Canada. He was born in Beijing, raised in British Columbia, and educated in Toronto where he graduated from OCAD University in 2014. In 2017, he completed two artist residencies in Spain, one in Barcelona and the other in a national park in the Andalusia Region. In 2019, he took part in a 3-month artist residency program in Berlin, where he lived and worked for 6 months before returning to Vancouver. Gao has held public exhibitions in Toronto, Barcelona, Berlin, and Vancouver as well as a virtual exhibition in 2020 during the pandemic.
For questions/inquiries, contact: Patrick Li Pascal
It’s almost time to kick off Lunar New Year with the new moon on February 1 st . This Lunar New Year ushers in the Year of the Water Tiger: a year full of risk-taking, adventure, and making big changes. But it is also a year for family and nurturing interpersonal relationships. With that comes storytelling, from mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers. Take time to listen to the stories of your family members and elders this year and learn from their stories. The Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society would like to share one such story with you, a story about the Saltwater City – the name the early Chinese gave to Vancouver.
Saltwater City
Ramona Mar, former Member of the Saltwater City Planning Committee
Ramona Mar – Back in 1986, as Vancouver hosted the World’s Fair and the city celebrated its 100th birthday, a small group of volunteers mounted the Saltwater City Exhibit at the Chinese Cultural Centre under the able guidance of historian and writer Paul Yee. By the end of its successful 3 month-long run, as the artifacts were returned to lenders and we exhausted volunteers got on with life, there were thoughts that the Exhibit should’a, could’a been permanent. But where could it be housed? In the end, we were content that Paul memorialized the history in his award-winning Saltwater City book, and the Exhibit had inspired not one, but two video productions; one for CBC Television and the other for BC Schools. Thirty-six years later, I’d assert that the temporary exhibit and subsequent videos remain as relevant today as then. With the transformation in the demographics and make-up of the Chinese Canadian population and the re-appearance of anti-Asian racism over the decades, it seems we could all benefit from a reminder of history.
Saltwater City documented the journey of those who came predominantly from Southern China, who stayed, worked unceasingly and integrated along with other settlers from around the world. Chinese Canadians supported each other in the face of unthinkable institutional racism and are indebted to the over 600 men and women who volunteered to fight for Canada in WWII even though they did not have the right to vote. While the Saltwater City Exhibit has long been packed away, in 2022 we now have, amazingly, two permanent venues to impart this history. With the opening of The Chinatown Storytelling Centre this past November and the upcoming Chinese Canadian Museum, it occurs to me they stand as testaments to the legacy of the original Saltwater City Exhibit. Both of these institutions relay the same historical facts augmented by current technology and a variety of storytellers.
You may smile at the retro-style of the Saltwater City video you are about to see, but be alive to the content. In the end, we are all enriched by having the story told again for it seems that we can never learn enough from our collective past.
Hoping you’ll forgive my shoulder pads,
Ramona Mar
Members of the Saltwater City Planning Committee
Producer of Saltwater City, Doug Nicolle
Douglas Nicolle studied film production at Simon Fraser University. After graduation, he worked at CBC Vancouver as a news and public affairs film editor. After leaving the CBC Doug went into partnership as Spectra Communications, a local film and video production company where he produced and directed many productions for Federal and Provincial government ministries, private corporations, and associations. While there he produced and directed “Vancouver A Portrait By Arthur Erickson” which aired nationally on the CBC and “Saltwater City,” also for the CBC.
After Spectra he then spent 17 years with Providence Health Care/ St. Paul’s Hospital as Video Producer and Manager of Media Services. He produced and directed many health-related videos including “Faces of Palliative Care” for UBC Faculty of Medicine, which also aired on CBC. Doug Nicolle is now retired.
My fellow members and friends. It is with great pleasure that I join you today in celebrating our achievements and accomplishments, recognizing our challenges, and looking forward to the amazing work that VAHMS will bring in 2022.
If six years ago I had told you that we wouldn’t see each other in person for more than two years, that our entire organization and explorASIAN festival would be remote and shift to virtual… would you have believed me? …probably not. Without a doubt, the way we work today is very different from when I joined the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society.
Since the COVID-19 crisis began, our normal was challenged and our lives changed. The prolonged local shutdowns put pressure on all of us, especially among Asian communities, who suffered and continue to suffer increased racist acts.
For us, at VAHMS, these past two years, we had to learn and work in a different environment. We cancelled, rescheduled, and moved online our most important events and meetings to deliver our programming, and to keep our audience informed. The funding and partnerships opportunities also changed, making it difficult to produce our only fundraising event. All the challenges we faced these past years to keep the organization afloat have shown us just how important everyone is to our work, and that our ability to adapt to rapid change is vital if we want to continue being relevant to our audience.
Through the years, the explorASIAN festival has supported Pan Asian arts and cultural heritage and has contributed to the spirit of solidarity and social cohesion among our diverse communities. We are very proud of our past successes and recognize the continuous need to reflect and improve to overcome future challenges, to keep the organization relevant, to increase our membership basis, and to strengthen and maintain our relationships, especially with Pan-Asian communities, and Indigenous peoples. It is my hope that our members, volunteers, partners, collaborators, sponsors, and donors large or small, will continue to play a vital role in increasing VAHMS’s impact and reach in the community.
In 2021, our initiatives and events were centred on creating opportunities for the public to learn more about Pan-Asian Canadian communities, foster inclusive representation, and develop a more dynamic organization. Our board meetings and committees continued working virtually to plan and deliver a high-quality 25th Anniversary celebration, increase partnerships and relationships, obtain more grants, and propose fundraising campaigns.
Internally, it was all about Board Governance and implementing procedures and strategies to produce a comprehensible 2022-2025 strategic plan, a board manual, job descriptions, and a well-planned budget that helped us control expenses and manage to pay professional fees to performers and artists. Externally, our Executive Director and Committee Chairs coordinated volunteers to help with the social media posts and content, silent auction, and events happening in different provinces.
Important highlights from our 25th Anniversary celebration were the many letters of support and videos we received from the three levels of Government, Pan-Asian consulates, and SFU Director, Laurie Anderson. Senator Vivienne Poy, and Curator, Zainub Verjee in their remarks, accoladed the many years of VAHMS serving Pan Asian Communities in British Columbia.
We proudly celebrated our Silver Anniversary with a successful virtual explorASIAN Festival programming, a special video, a VAHMS retrospective recalling the many successes of the organization, and a virtual Recognition Awards Ceremony that included our first virtual auction. We officially launched the 2021 virtual Interconnected Spotlight for Artists, a collaborative project that supports diversity and inclusion among the Pan-Asian art community. Since 2019, the INTERCONNECTED project has opened opportunities to virtually exhibit Asian Canadian art and has promoted the creative expressions of talented emerging and professional Pan-Asian Canadian artists. This year, this same project will emphasize community interaction by providing exhibitions and networking events for artists, galleries, and the public.
In 2021 we partnered with various Asian Heritage Month Societies and art organizations in different provinces to create the national CanAsian Arts Network Council, which will open even more opportunities for Pan-Asian artists to work and be recognized. In collaboration with these organizations, we also produced the Critical Conversations series aimed at giving artists a voice to address their challenges. This Fall, we will virtually participate in the 3rd National Asian Heritage Symposium in Edmonton, Alberta, and in 2024 hopefully, we will produce the 4th National Asian Heritage Symposium here in Vancouver.
VAHMS 2022 AGM
VAHMS priorities this year are the commitment to producing meaningful events that will celebrate heritage, appreciation of values, and connections while reflecting on difficult topics such as identity, equity, representation, and inclusion. Internally, we will remain vigilant that we increase our financial capacity, that our expenditures are calculated to reduce risk, that we prioritize community engagement and volunteer recognition by keeping the principles of Respect, Diversity, and Inclusion at the heart of our work.
To achieve our organizational and programming goals, we have partnered with Vancouver Pride Society, SFU Vancouver Campus, SFU David Lam Centre, SFU Global Asia, SFU Indigenous Studies, the Consulate of Indonesia, and more cultural and organizations. We will strive to engage andmaintain a committed team of qualified Board of Directors.
After six years working on the VAHMS Executive Board, first as the Chair of the Programming and Partnerships Committees, and later as the President of the Board; the time has come for me to leave my position. I hope that during my tenure, I was able to move the organization forward, bring together a team with a vision for the future, a team who will care and work together in pro of the Pan-Asian arts and culture and the celebration of Asian Heritage Month in Canada.
One key takeaway from my six years collaborating with VAHMS is that when we work together, we can do extraordinary things. Every one of you has helped me thrive as President of VAHMS, and I know that, by embracing my new roles as Curator, Advisor, and Past President, we will continue to significantly overcome obstacles and achieve amazing things.
To my fellow Board of Directors, Advisors, Executive Director, Members, and Volunteers thank you for your professionalism, hard work, and support over the past six years. Let me finish by saying how privileged I feel to have had the opportunity to serve VAHMS and let me echo Saint Paul in saying that “I have run with perseverance and have finished the race”. Whether I have finished it successfully or not, is not for me to say – I will leave it to my fellow VAHMS members and the community to be the judges.
Thank you.
Respectfully submitted,
Leticia Sanchez, VAHMS President, January 16th, 2022.
Voice for the Voiceless
VAHMS Director Jimmy Yan interviews Loretta Seto, an award-winning playwright and children’s book author, fiction- and screenwriter, and Dr. Ally Wang, a scholar in Ancient Chinese Literature who has published 15 journal papers and translated a number of works into Chinese.
Click here to read Richmond News’ coverage of Voice for the Voiceless.
The Richmond Art Gallery is would like you to be part of their virtual cookbook and the upcoming exhibition, NOURISH! In the exhibition, NOURISH, artist duo Mizzonk, and poet/writer Jane Wong reflect on ways we nourish ourselves and others.
As part of the exhibition, they invite you to share a favourite recipe on their website. If your favourite recipe is handwritten, or from a page of a book, you can photograph it and send it as a jpeg. Recipes often have a good story attached – please include when submitting. Select recipes will the exhibited in the gallery during NOURISH.
To learn more, please visit: https://www.richmondartgallery.org/nourishvccinfo
Durrah Alsaif is an interdisciplinary artist, who received her B.F.A. in 2017 from Kwantlen Polytechnic University. She has exhibited her work at galleries nationally. Alsaif had a public artwork in Stadium/Chinatown Skytrain station in Vancouver, BC for her work Qimash as part of the Capture Photography Festival in collaboration with TransLink. Originally from Saudi Arabia but now living in Canada, Alsaif is interested in exploring the ever-changing and malleable conditions based on cultural and socio-political notions in her home country via the lens of a person living in North America. She explores these ideas with photography, performance, sculpture, and installation.
Blossom, 2019, various sizes, bicycle wheels and tires, aerosol paint and fabric.QUEEN (09.26.2017), 2017, 16 x 16 x 6 inch, steering wheel, aerosol paint, threads and fabric. Queen 2.0, 2017, 50 x 65 74 inch, car chassis, aerosol paint and fabric.Queen, 2017, 44 x 52 x 6 inch, Car door, metal rods, fabric, and aerosol paint.Quimash, 2017, dimensions variable, digital prints & video performance.Watan, 2016, 38 x 77 x 52 inch, wooden chair, plaster, matches, aerosol paint and rug.Gems, 2016, 92 x 128 x 23 inch, car tires, metal chains, aerosol paint.Even the Birds are Walking Exhibition, Latitude 53 Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta 2020. Artwork from left to right: Gems, Queen and Qimash.
Artist Statement & Biography
Photo Credit: Matt Law
Durrah Alsaif is an interdisciplinary artist, who received her B.F.A. in 2017 from Kwantlen Polytechnic University. She has exhibited her work at galleries nationally. Alsaif had a public artwork in Stadium/Chinatown Skytrain station in Vancouver, BC for her work Qimash as part of the Capture Photography Festival in collaboration with TransLink. Originally from Saudi Arabia but now living in Canada, Alsaif is interested in exploring the ever-changing and malleable conditions based on cultural and socio-political notions in her home country via the lens of a person living in North America. She explores these ideas with photography, performance, sculpture, and installation.
As the year draws to a close, we would like to thank all of our partners, community members and volunteers for making our 25th anniversary year such a terrific success. Thank you for your ongoing support! From everyone at VAHMS, we’re wishing you a safe and happy holiday season, and we’re looking forward to connecting with you again in 2022!
The Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society – 26th Annual General Meeting
Exploration of Asian Arts & Culture
The Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society (VAHMS) is pleased to invite you to its 26th Annual General Meeting to be held virtually on Sunday, January 16th, 2021 at 4:00 pm PST via Zoom. Though we cannot gather in person, we look forward to seeing all of our community members, partners, and guests come together to explore the upcoming explorASIAN Festival 2022, as well as how VAHMS can better foster, promote and celebrate the arts and cultural diversity that Asian-Canadian communities bring to Canadian society.
The meeting is open to the public and we encourage you to share this invitation with your community and those who may be interested in learning more about – or joining – VAHMS. Register in advance here.
Immediately following the meeting, VAHMS will be presenting a panel discussion entitled “Voice for the Voiceless” with Jimmy Yang, the previous Secretary and now new Treasurer of VAHMS. The two invited panelists will be Loretta Seto, an award-winning playwright and children’s book author, fiction- and screenwriter, and Dr. Ally Wang, a scholar in Ancient Chinese Literature who has published 15 journal papers and translated a number of works into Chinese.
Jimmy Yan, BSE, MEd., is the Project and Information Officer of Access Pro Bono. Jimmy is a columnist of the City Post of Singtao News and has been a media commentator on issues of public legal education and information since 2008. He is also a research assistant of The Centre for Education, Law, and Society in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University and a CELS educational advisor to the Chinese community. Meanwhile, Jimmy has served on the Boards of many committees with the Royal Commonwealth Society, Mainland BC Branch as well as the Royal Society of St. George, BC Branch.
Dr. Ally Wang, Ph.D. in Ancient Chinese Literature and Writer
Wang has published hundreds of articles about Tang Poets and over ten books including “The Study of Jiaofang in the Tang Dynasty”, a prose collection named “Leaving the Best Time with You” as well as the translation of “The Poet Zheng Zhen (1806-1864) and the Rise of Chinese Modernity” (Schmidt, 2013). Wang also has hosted cultural and educational seminars at the Vancouver Public Library and many other community organizations.
Loretta Seto, Screenwriter, Children’s Book Author, Award-winning Playwright
Having earned her MFA in Creative Writing at UBC, Loretta is excited by the challenges she faces writing in different genres. She is the author of the children’s picture book Mooncakes (Orca Books), which is now in its 5th print run and has a 5-star review on Amazon.ca. She is also a co-founder of Wet Ink Collective, an initiative that supports the creation, development and production of new stage- and screenplays written by women.
Loretta’s play Dirty Old Woman was a smash hit at the 2014 Vancouver Fringe Festival, enjoying a completely sold-out run, and winning the Pick of the Fringe and The Cultchivating the Fringe awards. The play was remounted in April 2016 at The Cultch, again selling out its entire run and garnering more positive reviews. Her latest play, The Ones We Leave Behind, was developed and produced by Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre, and had a successful run at The Cultch in 2018, winning a Jessie Richardson award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Alannah Ong).
VAHMS’ 2020 strategy to transform explorASIAN from an in-person festival to a virtual one made it both more accessible and representative. Going virtual enabled us to reach out to more partners, collaborators, and a more diverse audience. Our events also provided more accessibility for our audience and facilitated programming production. Our 2022-2025 strategic plan launches in January 2022 and envisions an open approach to embracing hybrid programming (in-person, live streaming, and virtual).
The goals, objectives and strategies will focus on maintaining the momentum and visibility gained in 2020 and 2021 while furthering VAHMS’ vision of connection, collaboration, participation and the expansion of celebrating Asian Heritage Month in Canada.
Building on the success of our previous strategic plan, our new plan focuses on three major goals that we believe are critical to improve internal organization, deliver excellent programming, and support Asian-Canadian arts and culture. This plan describes the strong connections between the goals and the areas that define our work.
As always, the Board and ED are the cornerstone of VAHMS, and I am proud of the work and progress our organization made in the past three years to implement policies and to create the framework for the subsequent explorASIAN Festivals. VAHMS recognizes the importance of continuity and teamwork to deliver our programming. The following years are key to developing sustainability, internal organization, and EDI initiatives.
I am confident our goals and objectives will be key to fulfilling VAHMS’ mission and impact and will provide more opportunities for Asian Canadian artists to showcase their talents while delivering rewarding experiences for our audience.
Sincerely,
Leticia Sanchez, President
Read the entire VAHMS 2022-2025 Strategic Plan here.
