Windowfront Exhibitions

Contemporary Asian/American Women

Artists: Mei-Ling Lee, Sandy Honda, Mika Aono, Helen Liu and Kum Ja Lee.

Location: 224 W. Broadway

Mei-Ling Lee

Projected Video| Projected video

Dates displayed: July 1 – November 13, 2022

Location: 224 W. Broadway

Credits: Composer/Sound designer: Mei-Ling Lee, Story & Video: Jefferson Goolsby, Voice Talent: The Lighted Windows: Jayshing Goolsby/Jefferson Goolsby, The Ocean Thief: Jayling Goolsby/Jefferson Goolsby, The Beautiful Feather: Jayling Goolsby/Jefferson Goolsby

About the art

• The Lighted Windows (10 minutes) – An unhappy young girl runs away from home to explore her neighborhood at night. She wonders about all the possible lives she might have lived behind the lighted windows. The lighted windows are about longing, imagining and considering life’s options. 
• The Ocean Thief (11min) – A story about a young girl whose story was written on the beach and stolen by the sea. She struggles to get her story back. Filmed in Oregon, the story explores the plight of the artist’s voice in a sea of voices, using metaphor to examine creativity, ancestry, mortality and time.
• The Beautiful Feather (11 minutes) – A young girl shares her fantasies of adventures and experiences, much to the dismay of her village. Touching on themes of independence and personal voice, “The Beautiful Feather” weaves sonic motifs into a message about the power of one’s own story.

About the artist Taiwanese-born composer Dr. Mei-Ling Lee’s work integrates contemporary western music with traditional Chinese culture. She draws her inspiration from both Chinese and Western poetry. Mei-Ling spends her spare time with her family and enjoys watching movies, cooking, reading, and traveling. Dr. Lee currently serves as Adjunct Professor at Oregon State University (OSU) and Lane Community College (Lane Community College). Examples of Lee’s work

Sandra Honda

Why do we hate? Why not love? | Mixed media installation

Dates displayed: July 1 – November 13, 2022

Location: 224 W. Broadway

About the art I wrote the poem, “The Shove,” in 2019. The very real memory in this poem came to me as I was just beginning my journey towards identity work. In my child’s mind, I knew what happened in that 1960s grocery store was about being seen by others as Asian. In this artwork, I bury the poem in black tags symbolizing the government-issued identification tags worn by men, women and children of Japanese ancestry who were being transported to “relocation centers” during World War II, where they would be incarcerated for up to 4½ years.

Two years later, we find ourselves in the COVID pandemic. This is a time of alarmingly high levels of violent and virulent Asian hate crimes. Nearly 11,000 hate incidents were reported between March 2020 and December 2021 by Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Pacific Islanders. These hate incidents continue to take place.

I created this installation to help connect the dots between the “minor feelings” Asians are often confronted with in everyday life, like the one I experienced as a child, and the Asian hate incidents of today and yesterday. If you look at the history of Asian America, the distance between them is very small. This work asks viewers to consider, “Why Hate? Why Not Love?” Such simple questions, but sometimes difficult to reconcile.

About the artist I am a writer and visual artist who lives in Eugene, Oregon. Also, I am a Japanese American. In my drawings, paintings, photographs, assemblages and installations, I interrogate what it means to be Asian and American in today’s America. Today is both a reflection on the past and a lesson for the future. My grandparents, a Japanese American, and my parents (born in the USA) were subject to the trauma of ethnically-based incarceration during World War II. My grandparents, parents, and the US government wanted me to be able to seamlessly fit into my school, neighborhood, and ultimately my professional and marital life. Although my Japanese heritage was deeply cherished, it became less important. My art is a way to reclaim my identity. I dig into myself and rebuild it, while also rebuilding layers of ink on the paper drawings. I dig and tear at paper, in a back and forth conversation between the random and the intentional. These works often start with poetry that I write.

My work isn’t just about me. It is about a need for the future. At this crucial juncture, we cannot ignore systemic racism and must make progress toward democracy. By continuing to raise my voice through my art, I raise the voices of my Asian brothers and sisters in our fight to be seen and treated as Americans who are indeed “created equal.” I do my art to build understandings of the past as present and future. I hope that this understanding will help us make better decisions moving forward. sandrahondaart.com, instagram.com/sandrahondaart

Mika Aono

Continuum | Etching, relief, letterpress on Unryu paper

Continuum II – Handmade paper, thread| Handmade paper, thread

Dates displayed: July 1 – November 13, 2022

Location: 224 W. Broadway

About the art Every time I spot a rusty nail, I grab it and put it in my bag. I think back to what it was like before and imagine what it might be. To “remember” means to put together, to make complete. I feel kinship with broken, put-aside items. I seek meaning in the meaningless. Even though it may seem pointless, the compulsion to collect debris is revealing about who we are. I am interested in the humanness of absurdity, futility, and finding value in unfulfilled desires. A process of creating that encourages imagination of the possible is what I treasure. I’m a very attentive person and pay attention to the world around me.

I am a resident alien and a woman in the US. This is why I think a lot about what it means for me to cross emotional and geographical borders. How can we define the boundary between these two matters? Would I give in to the expectation of belonging somewhere? No. However, I do know that I will always want to belong somewhere. I embrace contradiction and mock my own identity by embracing the fact that I don’t belong to a particular category. I’m trying to find equilibrium between the present and the future in ever-changing, shifting landscapes.

About the artist Mika Aono, a multidisciplinary artist, is one of the founders of Eugene Printmakers. Recent work by Aono explores humanness through absurdity and futility using laborious processes. Her fascination with nature drove her to create installations and projects using found objects as well as various printing techniques. She values serendipitous opportunities and believes art has the power to connect all living beings. She wishes that she could be gentle superhuman.

Mika was raised in Sendai, Japan. She holds a Bachelor of Education degree in Primary Education and Special Education from Miyagi University of Education. Currently, she works as an instructor and a printmaking/letterpress studio technician in the Department of Art at the University of Oregon. Her work has been exhibited at galleries such as the Northwest Museum of Art, University of Richmond Museum and Asheville Bookworks. She also participated in international exhibitions in India and Canada. Some of her works are now in museums and public collection. mikaboyd.com, instagram.com/mika.aono

Helen Liu

Yellow Sun Fragrance, Where’s Waldo Asian Edition | Waste plastic bags from (mostly) food packaging, Chinese ink on rice paper, sewing thread, nails mounted on board

Sewing thread, tape, and plastic bags| Waste plastic bags, sewing thread, tape

Dates displayed: July 1 – November 13, 2022

Location: 224 W. Broadway

Art: Helen Liu uses plastic bags from the trash for her art since 2008. Among her larger works are “American Luminosity” (20ftx10ft, 2014), created as a backdrop for a recital at UO Beall Hall, and “Plastic Waste to Art Quilt–We Are in This Together” (40ftx12ft), created for Earth Day 2021 and displayed at the Academy of Arts and Academics in downtown Springfield. This smaller piece is mainly made from food packaging that Helen repurposed from her own family’s consumption of Asian foods. All materials are gathered together with her Chinese calligraphy practice paper and ink paintings. The result is an Asian “Where’s Waldo” who (hint), wears shorts and cooks a bowl full of noodles.

About the artist Helen was born in Taiwan, and has lived in Eugene ever since 1977. She spent six years in Portland during which she studied at PNCA, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Art degree in 1984. Helen is coauthor with Professor Ellen Johnston Laing on “Up in Flames: the Ephemeral Art of Pasted-Paper Sculpture in Taiwan,” a work based on Helen’s Master of Art thesis and published by Stanford University Press in 2004. helenliuartwork.com

Kum Ja Lee

Nostalgia | Felting wool, felt painting

Dates displayed: July 1 – November 13, 2022

Location: 224 W. Broadway

About the art After many years of living in Korea and being forced to quarantine myself because of the COVID pandemic I experienced, my childhood memories became objects of longing. My work consists of disassembling these traces into new forms, so I can express and recreate this nostalgia beauty from the past.

My work explores time’s mysterious relationship with its traces in life and nature. It was inspired by a childhood memory in Korea where I found an old cave that had engravings of old letters, signs, and patterns. It was a place that seemed to slow down time for me as a child and an important memory that I wanted to share through my art.

This piece explores the possibilities for an abstract language of form, and the materiality that painting can have with regard to its relationship with fibers. I created my own felting method by using felt wool and iron pressing, with repeated layering. I call this technique “felt painting,” which creates a pastel-like texture and image. My processes and methods reveal past landscapes and emotions.

About the artist Kum Jae Lee, originally from Seoul in South Korea, is a visual artist who lives in Eugene. She is an artist who works with fiber art, installation, and other painting media. Recent work combines tradition and the modern, exploring the mysterious relationship between cultural traces as well as time passage. She is a graduate of Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, and holds a Master of Fine Art (Visual Studies) from the University of Oregon in Eugene. She also holds a Bachelor of Fine Art (Foil Arts) from Hongik University in South Korea. She was an instructor of art for both undergraduate and graduate programs at Kangnung National University in South Korea and Mokwon University in South Korea. Email Kum Ja Lee

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