Interview by Joyce Wang, SFWA MYEEP Intern
You grew up in China and retired from your professional career as an engineer before moving to the United States. Has China influenced your art in any way?
When I grew up in China, I saw artworks from popular Chinese artists which had different types of styles. One of my favorite pieces of art is the colored pencil drawings by Meng Xianglei. I was interested in art but I never had the chance to try it. I worked as an engineer in China, and moved to the United States in 2002.
What helped you become an artist? Was it with help from family or friends or other artists?
When I was growing up, my family was friends with a famous artist, Xu Beihong, who was famous for his paintings of horses, and Xu Beihong was my grandmother’s painting teacher. My mother was influenced by them and became very good at painting. This made me curious about art. Later on, I moved to the United States and during the pandemic I decided to start online art classes. The online classes taught different types of techniques and styles. I chose to focus on colored pencils art.
When did you become a member of SFWA and why? How did you first learn about the SFWA organization?
How I became a member was when I would walk around the city neighborhood of Valencia Street, and glance at the window of the City Art Cooperative Gallery once in a while. I was interested in the gallery and one day I decided to go in and investigate. I met a member of the gallery there and I showed her an example of my art. She recommended that I join SFWA. And, that it would be great to show my art to people, and have a good opportunity to learn from other artists. I thought about it and agreed to join.
You volunteer for many functions that help support the Gallery activities – what are your favorite things to do?
My favorite activities in the gallery would be handling sales. In my earlier experience as a luxury jewelry stylist, I would help people find the piece that suited them. I have been a member for 3 years now and it has allowed me to talk to my fellow artists. And the gallery has new exhibitions every month, and those artworks always inspire and motivate me.
