My painting "Issei" is part of traveling Smithsonian banner exhibition and educational poster

Laura Kina "Issei" 2011, oil on canvas, 30 x 45 in. reproduction featured in Smithsonian banner exhibit and on an educational poster

A reproduction of my 2011 painting "Issei", which features a portrait of my Okinawan great-great grandmother with ghosts of sugar cane plantation workers in Hawaii behind her, is part of this traveling educational banner exhibition organized by the Smithsonian's Asian Pacific American Center. Thank you Konrad Ng and Lawrence-Minh Davis for including my work.

I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story
Smithsonian National Museum of American History
May 1 - June 15, 2013
1400 Constitution Ave., NW 3rd Floor, Corridors
Washington, DC

"This banner exhibition celebrates Asian Pacific American history across a multitude of incredibly diverse cultures and explores how Asian Pacific Americans have shaped and been shaped by the course of our nation’s history. Rich with compelling, often surprising stories, it takes a sweeping look at this history, from the very first Asian immigrants centuries ago to the complex challenges facing Asian Pacific American communities today."

It has also been turned into a poster that will go out to 10,000 schools across the U.S.  "to help educate school children about the many contributions of Asian Americans." 

Read more: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2013/05/from-the-civil-war-to-civil-rights-the-many-ways-asian-americans-have-shaped-the-country/#ixzz2SJxNUaA0

"Recommended" by Newcity - Check out the press for War Baby / Love Child

Michael Weinstein, "Review: War Baby/LoveChild:DePaulArtMuseum," Newcity Art, April 30, 2013.
(http://art.newcity.com/2013/04/30/review-war-babylove-childdepaul-art-museum/)
 

Review: War Baby/Love Child/DePaul Art Museum

Gina Osterloh, “Collapse,” 2006. Light jet print.

RECOMMENDED

The most recent and arguably the most diverse group to emerge on the crowded scene of contemporary identity politics is the “mixed-race Asian American,” which receives a rich visual reflection here by seven photographers who in portraits and staged scenarios concentrate on the confusions involved in determining with which larger group they should identify, or whether they should form a distinctive blended group all their own. Some of the artists, indeed, would not even consider themselves to be Asian, but European or Mexican, for example, and others are in flux. No wonder, then, that a persistent theme in the show is the condition of feeling that one is “hidden.” Gina Osterloh, the daughter of a German-American father and a Filipina mother, depicts herself in color lying on a mat on her stomach in a kitschy tropical setting; she has cut her head out of the frame and is clothed in a pants suit covering one leg and in military fatigues the other, in order to insure that the image is “unreadable.” The other artists are equally complicated and complex in their efforts to portray a particularly emblematic and problematic zone of globalization. (Michael Weinstein)

Through June 30 at the DePaul Art Museum, 935 West Fullerton.


More Press!

Renoir Gaither, "War Baby Love Child – Mixed Race American Art," MXDWELL, April 25, 2013.
(http://mxdwell.com/article.php?ID=51)

Maggie Dziubek, "War Baby/Love Child comes to DPAM." The DePaulia, April 28, 2013.
(http://www.depauliaonline.com/arts-life/war-baby-love-child-comes-to-dpam-1.3037229#.UX_dIoK5fcF)


Paul Niemi, 'War Baby/Love Child' Exploring the Mixed-Race Asian American Experience Opens at DePaul University Art Museum, Zimbio.com from Unclepauliesworld.blogspot.com, April 25, 2013. (http://www.zimbio.com/Art/articles/zO2r6pYLqwT/War+Baby+Love+Child+Exploring+Mixed+Race+Asian)

Monica Whitepigeon, "War Baby/Love Child" Debra Yepa-Pappan's Art Part of Exhibition Opening in Chicago, Native News Network, April 25, 2013. (http://www.nativenewsnetwork.com/war-baby-love-child-debra-yepa-pappans-art-part-of-exhibition-opening-in-chicago.html)

Zhiyu Wang, "Artists explore the image of mixed race Asian-Americans in DePaul exhibit," Medill Reports Chicago (Northwestern University), April 18, 2013. (http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=220315)

Under My Skin opens on May 9 @ the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle

Laura Kina "Gosei" oil on canvas, 30x45 in., 2012 on view in Under My Skin opening May 9, 2013.

I will have five new paintings in "Under My Skin: Artists Explore Race in the 21st Century" opening on May 9, 2013 at the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle, Washington.

Thursday, May 9th, public opening 7-8 pm
Wing Luke Museum
719 S. King St.
Seattle, Washington 98118

Check out my daughter Midori on the postcard! "Gosei" oil on canvas, 30x45 in., 2012.

Snapshots from opening night 4/25/13 of War Baby / Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art

On Thursday, April 25, 2013 War Baby / Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art opened at the DePaul University Art Museum. The exhibition will be on view through June 30, 2013. Below are some snapshots from friends and family from the opening reception. To see more photos and info, visit us on facebook or our project website www.warbabylovechild.com I'll post more pics soon. Thanks to all my friends, family, colleagues, and all of the artists who made this event so special.

On April 25, 2013, War Baby / Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art opened at the DePaul University Art Museum.

Opening reception April 25, 2013. Installation view second floor DePaul University Art Museum.

Screening Laural Nakadate’s video “Greater New York” (2005).

Artist Chris Naka talking about his video “The Tale of Selling the Tale” (2009). In the background, Mequitta Ahuja “Dream Region” (2009).

Installation view first floor gallery DePaul University Art Museum. In the background, Jenifer Wofford “MacArthur Nurses VI” (2013). Photo by Jordan Schulman.

Artists Debra Yepa-Pappan and Jane Jin Kaisen.

Artist Serene Ford talking about her series “I’m the Girl Who Survived the War: Photographs from Viet Nam” (1998-2003).

Artists, curators, and family at the DePaul University Art Museum April 25, 2013, opening reception for War Baby / Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art.

Opening Reception April 25th War Baby / Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art

Join me on 4/25 for the opening reception of War Baby / Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art at the DePaul Art Museum. We also have an exciting line up of events: 4/29 Jane Jin Kaisen discussion and film screening "The Woman, The Orphan, and The Tiger"; 5/15 Mequitta Ahuja artist talk; and join me on 5/29 for a mixed race panel discussion with scholar Camilla Fojas and artists Chris Naka and Debra Yepa-Pappan.

Laura Kina

 

WAR BABY / LOVE CHILD

MIXED RACE ASIAN AMERICAN ART

 

Opening Reception

Thursday, April 25, 6-8 p.m.

Member preview 5-6 p.m.

  

As an increasingly ethnically ambiguous Asian American generation is coming of age, War Baby/Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art looks at how these identities are evolving. Working in traditional media as well as video, installation, and other approaches, artists explore a range of topics, including U.S. wars in Asia; multiculturalism and identity politics; racialization, gender and sexual identity; citizenship and nationality; and trans-racial adoption. The exhibition features works by emerging, mid-career and established artists who reflect a breadth of mixed heritage ethno-racial and geographic diversity: Mequitta Ahuja, Albert Chong, Serene Ford, Kip Fulbeck, Stuart Gaffney, Louie Gong, Jane Jin Kaisen, Lori Kay, Li-lan, Richard Lou, Samia Mirza, Chris Naka, Laurel Nakadate, Gina Osterloh, Adrienne Pao, Cristina Lei Rodriguez, Amanda Ross-Ho, Jenifer Wofford, and Debra Yepa-Pappan. War Baby / Love Child was curated by Laura Kina, Vincent DePaul Professor of Art, Media and Design, and Wei Ming Dariotis, associate professor of Asian American studies at San Francisco State University. A 304-page companion book has been published by the University of Washington Press and is available at the museum or from the publisher. More information, about the exhibition and related events, can be found at www.warbabylovechild.com and the DPAM website. Major funding for this exhibition was awarded through The National Endowment for the Arts. Art Works.

Presenting at Hapa Japan in LA on April 6, 2013

Los Angeles friends and family - I hope to see you at Hapa Japan 2013 April 2-6, 2013

A festival celebrating mixed-race and mixed-roots Japanese people and culture.

Presented by the Hapa Japan Database Project and UCS Center for Japanese Religions and Culture

Come join us at from April 2-6, 2013 in Los Angeles for a concert featuring hapa artists, a comedy night at East West Players, readings by award-winning authors, a historical exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum, film screenings of great documentaries, and a 2-day academic conference at USC.

Saturday, April 6, 2013 Session 7 - Hapa Japanese Visual Arts: A Roundtable Discussion on Art and Identity
“Creative Identities: Transformative Hapa Japanese Artists”
Yasuko Takezawa (Kyoto University)
With Featured Artist Presentations by Laura Kina and Shizu Salamando

http://www.hapajapan.com/
https://www.facebook.com/hapafest
https://twitter.com/HapaFest

Save the date - "War Baby / Love Child" opens April 25, 2013