They Hold Up Half The Sky s a collaborative project comprising two major exhibitions, two slide show presentation/panel discussions and a series of Internet-based interpretive programs that will heighten the public visibility and appreciation of contemporary Bay Area Asian American women visual artists. It has been organized for the Queer Arts Festival, somArts Cultural Center, and Asian American Women Artists Association.

The project's two exhibitions play complimentary roles -

Bernice Bing: A Memorial Tribute and Retrospective includes approximately 30 works from all stages of her career; and demonstrates her different interests and aesthetic pursuits at all stages of her career. A San Francisco native, Chinese American, artist, lesbian, community activist, the late Bernice Bing, who died in 1998, was a bridge between many worlds. A contemporary and good friend of artists Joan Brown and Jay De Feo she came of age during the Beat era and entered the San Francisco arts landscape in the 1960s with her paintings, which synthesize Abstract modernist painting with Chinese calligraphy.

Of Our Own Voice 1999 provides an overview of the contemporary Asian American women who are currently pursuing professional careers in the visual arts. A group show featuring an estimated 30 Asian American women artists curated by a four member team: Lenore Chinn, Flo Oy Wong, Moira Roth and Kim Anno.

Both exhibitions will be interpreted by slide show presentations and panel discussions and by Internet-based programs on SomArts' web site. 

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, June 3, 6pm - 8pm
Suggested donation for reception night: $3 (no one turned away for lack of funds)

SYMPOSIUMS:

Contemporary Issues of Asian American Women Artists -

Thursday, June 10, 7pm - 9pm

Slide show and panel discussion will assess the current status of Bay Area Asian American Women visual artists and will explore ways to increase media coverage and public recognition of this segment of the arts community. Valerie Matsumoto, Professor of Art History at UCLA, will join AAWAA artists Soumya Sitaraman and Luci Arai in this lively discussion of topics.

The Life and Works of Bernice Bing -

Thursday, June 17, 7pm - 9pm

Slide show presentation and panel discussion will explore Bing's role as a builder of bridges connecting San Francisco's different communities: her interactions with the Beats in North Beach in the sixties, her pioneering arts programs for Asian American at-risk youth in the seventies; her work with the Neighborhood Arts Program during her tenure as the Executive Director of somArts Cultural Center (1980-1984); and her active participation in AAWAA during the nineties. Karen Tsujimoto, Senior Curator of Art at the Oakland Museum, will join Mills College Trefethen Professor of Art History Moira Roth, and artists Kim Anno, Flo Oy Wong, and Lenore Chinn in a discussion of the life and works of Bernice Bing. Suggested donation for symposiums: $5-10 (no one turned away for lack of funds)