Project Title: Activist Imagination 
Recipient Organization: Kearny Street Workshop
Lead Artists: Donna Keiko Ozawa with Bob Hsiang and Christine Wong Yap
Genre and Data Awarded: Visual Arts, June 2007
To Be Completed: May 2008
 
Kearny Street Workshop (KSW) will collaborate with artists Donna Keiko Ozawa, Bob Hsiang, and Christine Wong Yap, to create a new multimedia exhibition, “Activist Imagination,” to help mark the 35th anniversary of the community arts organization. The exhibit will investigate Asian American and other activist movements and their forms of activism in the last 35 years, and will also envision creative new forms and expressions of activism that might hold meaning and relevance in the future. “Activist Imagination” will fill the Workshop’s entire building at 180 Capp Street in the Mission District of San Francisco.
 
In keeping with its own history of engaging community issues through art, KSW understands activism as “any form of civic engagement intended to affect social change.” The exhibit will be the culmination of a year-long exploration of this broadly-conceived notion of activism by Ozawa, Hsiang, and Wong Yap. The artists will explore activism’s past, through KSW’s 35 years of archived materials commemorating the Asian American movement, and its present, and through a quarterly open discussion series involving KSW’s network of community organizing, refugee services, human rights, and other agencies. The exhibit will build on the knowledge gathered through this research and provide a space to for the artists’ imagined future for activism.
 
With each artist representing different decades of KSW’s history and bringing her or his own perspective on Asian Activism to the work, Hsiang, Ozawa, and Wong Yap are well-suited to this unique, collaborative endeavor. 
 
Bob Hsiang is an accomplished photographer with a portfolio spanning over three decades. He has been involved with KSW from the beginning of his career and his photographs have documented the history of the Asian American movement. 
 
Donna Keiko Ozawa is a multi-media artist who has exhibited internationally—most recently her highly-acclaimed Waribashi project in which she physically removed and washed hundreds of thousands of disposable chopsticks from the waste stream to create an installation piece. Her work often takes the form of kinetic sculpture, concerned with conveying a message or feeling to the viewer through touch or the illusion of physical interaction with her sculptures. Alongside her artmaking, Ozawa spent seven years as a community activist and was a co-founder of LYRIC, the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center, in San Francisco. 
 
Christine Wong Yap’s work includes mixed media, installations, prints, paintings, and drawings and has been exhibited in KSW’s annual APAture festival for emerging artists as well as their recent show, “Home: exploring belonging.”  Wong Yap brings to this project her sense of skepticism about traditional forms of activism and an interest in the role of the Web as a place for activism and dialogues. The work she creates for this exhibit will build on her recent drawings of fantastic machines as she imagines inventions and machines for the future of activism.
 
KSW is a multidisciplinary Asian Pacific American (APA) arts organization dedicated to producing and presenting art that enriches and empowers APA communities.  It was founded in 1972 in San Francisco’s Chinatown/Manilatown and currently is based in the Mission District. “Activist Imagination” will reflect the Workshop’s origins and activist roots, its multigenerational identity, and the communities and artists that its serves. For more information, visit www.kearnystreet.org.

Resume Highlights

Donna Keiko Ozawa

Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions

• “The Waribashi Project: San Francisco,” Japantown Center, San Francisco, California (2005)
• “The Waribashi Project: San Francisco / Project Launch & Works-in-progress,” highlighted exhibit for United Nations World Environment Day conference hosted by the City of San Francisco, Red Ink Studios, San Francisco, California (2005)
• “Cycles, Recycles,” Creative Arts Center Gallery, City of Sunnyvale, Sunnyvale, California (2002)
• “The Polyethylene Grove,” site specific installation and community art collaborative at Crissy Field Grand Opening, Crissy Field Center, and temporary installation in the Sanitary Fill Company Sculpture Garden, San Francisco, California (2001)
• “Work from the Dump, Selected works by Donna Keiko Ozawa,” Artist-in-Residence Program, Sanitary Fill Company, San Francisco, California (2001)
• “Transformation/Possibility: The Waribashi Project,” Design Festa, Tokyo, Japan (1999)

Selected Group Exhibitions

• “Things That Go Up and Down,” Office Gallery, San Francisco, California (2007)
• “Socieded de Vida, A 15-Year Retrospective of the Norcal Artist Residency at the Dump,” Steven Wolf Fine Arts, San Francisco, California (2005)
• “Pirated,” Kearny Street Workshop, San Francisco, California (2005)
• “Roadside Elixir,” Headlands Center for the Arts, Open House, Sausalito, California (2004)
• Group show of 2004 Artists in Residence, Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito, California (2004) ,“The Art Health Fair,” (curated and exhibited in) two shows, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland California (2003)
• “Sliv & Dulet Present: The Summer Line,” New Langton Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California (2003)
• “Making Their Mark,” Asian American Women Artists Association Annual Exhibition, SOMArts Gallery, San Francisco, California (2003)
• “Artworks: The Work of Art Handlers,” Chela Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland (2003)
• “Art That Moves,” San Francisco Mechanical, Kinetic, and Electronic Arts Festival, Crucible Streel Gallery at CELLspace, San Francisco, California (2002)
• “Picking Up the Pieces,” Euphrat Museum of Art, DeAnza College, Cupertino, California (2002)
• Selected works by the Sanitary Fill Company Artists in Residence, San Francisco Department of Environment, San Francisco, California (2001-2)
• “The Fine Art of Recycling,” selected works by the Sanitary Fill Company Artists in Residence, Transamerica Corporation, San Francisco, California (2001)
• Selected works by the Sanitary Fill Company Artists in Residence, One Market Plaza, San Francisco, California (2001)

Temporary Installations

• Temporary collaborative installations, Head-Royce School, Oakland, California (2003)
• “The Polyethylene Grove II,” Sculpture Garden, Sanitary Fill Company, San Francisco, California (2001)
  

Residencies

• Artist in Residence, Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito, California (2004)
• Artist in Residence, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California (Fall 2003)
• Artist in Residence, Head Royce Lower School, Oakland, California (2003)
• Artist in Residence, Sanitary Fill Company, San Francisco, California (2001)
• Japan-U.S. Community Education and Exchange (JUCEE) Program, Design Feta, Tokyo, Japan (1999)
  

Selected Awards

• LEF Foundation Grant for “The Waribashi Project: San Francisco,” San Francisco, California (2005)
• Columbia Foundation Grant for  “The Waribashi Project: San Francisco,” San Francisco, California (2005)
• Honoree & Candlelighter, Day of Remembrance Commemoration, San Francisco, California (2000)
• Travel Scholarship, Japan-U.S. Community Education and Exchange Program, Tokyo, Japan (1999)
• LYRIC Community Service Award, Lavender Youth Recreation & Information Center, San Francisco, California (1991)

Publications

• “Working with Queer Young People on Oppression Issues and Alliance Building,” Titling the Tower: Lesbians Teaching Queer Subjects, ed. Linda Garber (1994)

Selected Lectures

• 17th Annual Bioneers Conference, “Eco-art Activists: Making the Invisible Visible,” presenter, (October 2006)
• Pacific Fusion Television, Episode #13, national broadcast, (2005-2006)
• Artist in Residence Lecture, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California (2004)
• Guest lecturer, Art Department, Mills College, Oakland, California (2003)
• Guest lecturer, Asian American Studies, San Francisco State University San Francisco, California (2001, 2002)

Bob Hsiang

Selected Exhibitions

• “MacArthur Street Corridor Portraits,” Mills College, Oakland, California (2006)
• “Unsung Opera,” San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, California (2005)
• “The AAAC Story,” Asian American Arts Centre, New York City, New York (2002)“The Whole World is Watching,” Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, California (2001)
• “3 Decades of Kearny Street Workshop Artists,” Chinese Historical Society of America, San Francisco, California (2000)
• “Celebrating the Arts,” ODC Theater Gallery, San Francisco, California (1998)
• “Kearny Street Workshop 25th Anniversary Exhibitions,” TODCO Woolf House, San Francisco, California (1997)
• “Asian American Jazz Makers,” Chinatown Community Arts Gallery, San Francisco, California (1996)
• “Pursuing the Wild Bamboo: Portraits of Asian American Artists,” Ohana Cultural Center, Oakland, California (1992)
• “Pursuing the Wild Bamboo: Portraits of Asian American Artists,” Chinatown Community Arts Gallery, San Francisco, California (1991)
• “Bay Area Artists,” Performing Arts Library and Museum Permanent Collection, San Francisco, California (1990)
• “Kearny Street Workshop Photographers,” Chinatown Community Arts Gallery, San Francisco, California (1989)
• “Déjà vu: Photos of the Asian American Theater Company,” People’s Theater Coalition, San Francisco, California (1985)
• “Kearny Street Workshop 10th Anniversary Exhibition,” Chinatown Community Arts Gallery, San Francisco, California (1982)
• “Photo Exhibition,” Manilatown Senior Center, San Francisco, California (1981)
• “Angel Island,” Jackson Street Gallery, San Francisco, California (1976)
• “PINOTOH (People in Need of Their Own Housing),” Jackson Street Gallery, San Francisco, California (1975)
• “Neighbors,” Jackson Street Gallery, San Francisco, California (1974)
• “Gum San Haak,” KRON-TV broadcast of Loni Ding’s film, San Francisco California (1974)

Awards/Commissions

• Mills College and California Council on Humanities commission (2006)
• National Endowment for the Arts Award (2005)
  
• Festival 2000 Artist Commission Award (1990)
  
• California Arts Council Artist-in-Residence (1982)

Teaching and Related Experience

• Photo Editor, Hyphen Magazine – Asian America Unabridged, San Francisco, California (2003-2004)
  
• Photo Lecturer, Bob Hsiang Studios, San Francisco, California (1997)

Selected Published Work

• Becoming American, Bill Moyers, WNET-Channel 13, (2003)
  
• Hyphen Magazine, San Francisco, California (Summer, Fall 2003)
  
• Asian American Politics, Don Nakanishi and James Lai (2003)
  
• Yellow Light, Amy Ling (2002)
  
• The Movement and the Moment, Steve Louie (2001)
  
• The Whole World is Watching, Howard Adler  (2001)
  
• Yellow Journalist, William Wong (2001)
  
• Performing Asian America, Josephine Lee (1997)
  
• Passion for Justice, Pat Saunders and Rea Tajjiri (1194)
  
• The Asian American Movement, William Wei (1993)
  
• Pursuing the Wild Bamboo: Portraits of Asian American Artists , Kearny Street Workshop (1992)

Christine Wong Yap

Selected Exhibitions

• “Galleon Trade,” Mag:Net Gallery, Manila, Philippines (2007)
  
• “Alumni at the Centennial,” Oliver Art Center, Oakland, California (2007)
  
• “Beats Per Minute,” Museum of Craft and Fine Arts, San Francisco, California (2007)
  
• “Us and Them,” Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia (2007)
  
• “Immediate Futures,” San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, California (2006)
  
• “What’s the Story?” PLAySPACE, San Francisco, California (2006)
  
• “Print Exchange,” Osaka University of Arts, Osaka, Japan and Oliver Arts Center, Oakland, California (2006)
  
• “The Home Show,” Space180, San Francisco, California (2006)
  
• “Monster Drawing Rally,” Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California (2006)
  
• “State of the Nation, “ Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, California (2006)
  
• “Fling,” SOMArts, San Francisco, California (2006)
  
• “Justice Matters,” Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, California (2005)
  
• “CirCA Now,” Oakland Museum Restaurant Gallery, Oakland, California (2005)
  
• “Paper Bullets,” Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, California (2004)
  
• “Kaleidoscope,” Craft & Cultural Arts Gallery, Oakland, California (2004)
  
• “APAture,” Kearny Street Workshop and SOMArts, San Francisco, California (2004)
  
• “Coasticated,” Punch Gallery, San Francisco, California (2004)
  
• “To Conjure a Language,” ProArts Gallery, Oakland, California (2003)
  
• “Visible Resistance,” Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2003)
  
• The Lab, San Francisco, California (2003)
  
• “Magician's Day Off.,” Euphrat Museum, Cupertino, California (2002)
  
• ”Roots,” Chinese Culture Center, San Francisco, California (2002)
  
• “War! What is it Good For?,” Asian Resource Gallery, Oakland, California (2002)
  
• A.I.R. Gallery, New York, New York (2001)
  
• “Limited Edition,” Asia Pacific Cultural Center, Oakland, California (2001)
  
• “17 Women,” Juice Design, San Francisco, California (2000)
  
• Asian Resource Gallery, Oakland, California (2000)
  
• “Christine Wong,” San Francisco Foundation, San Francisco, California (1999)
  
• “Y2K” Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California (1999)
  
• “New World Fables: Eric Drooker & Christine Wong,” La Peña Cultural Center, Berkeley, California (1999)
  
• Limner Gallery, New York, New York (1999)
  
• “Juried Annual,” Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, California (1998)
  
• “Beyond Borders,” V.U. Gallery, Bellingham, Washington (1998)

Awards

• Affiliate Artist, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California (2007)
  
• Murphy Fellowship in the Fine Arts, San Francisco Foundation (2006)
  
• Yozo Hamaguchi Endowed Scholarship, California College of the Arts, San Francisco (2005)
  
• Local Hero, KQED Youth Media Corps, San Francisco, California (2003)
  
• Sister of Fire Award, Women of Color Resource Center, Oakland, California (2002)
  
• Local Hero, Best of the Bay Awards, San Francisco Bay Guardian (2000)
  
• Grantee, Active Element Foundation, New York, New York (1999)
  
• Best of Show, V.U. Gallery, Bellingham, Washington (1998)

Public Collections

• Alameda County Art Collection, California

Conferences and Lectures

• Workshop, “Visual Art and Organizing,” and "Intro to Community-Based Arts." Immigrant & Refugee Rights Training Institute, Oakland, California (2005-2006)
  
• Slide lecture, “Art in Action,” Bioneers Conference, San Rafael, California (2004)
  
• Workshop, “Training Community-Based Arts,” National Performance Network Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, California (2004)
  
• Slide lecture, “Empowerment through Expression: Chinese American Women in the Arts,” Chinese Historical Society of America, San Francisco., California (2002)
  
• Slide lecture, Locus Community Arts, San Francisco(2002)
  
• Lecture, “Stories from the Front: Popular Education Developing Leadership and Building Communities,” Second Southern Institute for Popular Education, Atlanta, Georgia (2000)
  
• Panelist, “C.R.A.F.T. Methodology,” National Community Builders Network National Conference, Los Angeles, California (2000)
  
• Workshop, “Banner Painting,” National Organizer’s Alliance Gathering, Asheville, North Carolina (1999)

Community Work and Service

• Donor. Selected non-profit organizations include Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center, Asian Women's Shelter, Center for Third World Organizing, Clamor Magazine, Destiny Arts Center, Intersection for the Arts, Kearny Street Workshop, National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, Quebec Public Interest Research Group at Concordia, Purple Moon Dance Company, Richmond Art Center, School of Unity and Liberation, Southern Exposure, and Women of Color Resource Center. (1999-current)
  
• Community Muralist. Lead 17 murals around the country, with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts' Creative Links Fund, the Third Wave Foundation and the National Network of Grantmakers. Partnered with local organizations like the Art and Soul Festival, Asian Health Services, East Side Arts Alliance, Mandela Arts Center, and Underground Railroad as well as C.A.A.A.V.: Against Anti-Asian Violence & Youth Force (Bronx, NY), Fellowship of Reconciliation (Nyack, NY) and Project South (Atlanta, GA). (1999-2005)
  
• Youth Mentor. Robert F. Kennedy Americorps Fellowship. San Francisco. (1999-2000)

Web Links

www.kearnystreet.org/activistimagination.org