Cultural Encounters: Friday Night at the de Young presents College Night

Lectures and Symposia | Artist Studio | Friday Nights at the de Young | Music at the de Young

5:00 PM - 8:45 PM
November 14, 2008
Cafe Terrace, Gallery 11, Koret Auditorium

On Friday nights the entire museum is open until 8:45 p.m. Friday Nights at the de Young offers a variety of interdisciplinary arts programs, including live music, poetry, films, dance, tours, and lectures. The cafe is open with a special Friday Nights dinner menu, and a no-host cocktail bar is serving drinks. There are art-making activities for everyone.

Friday Nights at the de Young: College Night
This special event will feature artworks, performances, artist demonstrations, and live drawing demonstrations by local San Francisco Bay Area university and college art students. Their creative work projects draw inspiration from and pay tribute to the current exhibition Asian/American/Modern Art. The student works bring awareness to the contributions, struggles, and artistic intentions of Asian American artists from 1900 to the present, examining issues of cultural identity and artistic processes. Participating colleges include San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco, California College of the Arts, San Francisco Art Institute, Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Academy of Art University, Berkeley College, Vista College, Stanford University, San Jose State University, and Marywood University. The student exhibition and program are organized by Robert Melton.
Faculty and students are admitted free with college ID.


Gallery 11 (Main Level)
5:30 p.m.
Artist in the Gallery: Al Farrow, presenting his installation In the Name of God: War, Religion, and the Reliquaries of Al Farrow. An accomplished sculptor committed to recording societal ills through his artistic practice, Farrow often approaches his work by adopting the visual language of a historical period and updating the imagery or materials to make cogent observations about contemporary society.

6:00 p.m.
Remarks by Timothy Anglin Burgard, Ednah Root Curator in Charge of American Art

Koret Auditorium
6:00 p.m.
Asian American Silent Film Screenings, co-presented by the Center for Asian American Media

The Dragon Painter (1919, 52 minutes)
 Until recently, The Dragon Painter was a lost part of American film history. Now restored and released on DVD, it is one of the finest films produced by and starring matinee idol Sessue Hayakawa. Hayakawa portrays Tatsu, a wild and reclusive painter whose obsession is the image of his “dragon princess.” Set in Japan but filmed in the spectacular beauty of Yosemite Valley in 1919, The Dragon Painter was intended to provide a very different picture of Japan and Japanese culture than was being shown in other films of the period. A romantic allegory of love, desire, and artistic inspiration, it was one of the first films to present a Japanese aesthetic to an American audience. The performances by Hayakawa and Tsuru Aoki, his wife and frequent co-star, are a revelation.
 
Written by E. Richard Schayer, based on the novel by Mary McNeil Fenollosa. Photographed by Frank D. Williams. With Sessue Hayakawa, Tsuru Aoki, Edward Peil, Toyo Fujita

The Curse of Quon Gwon (1916–1917, 35 min.)
Virtually unknown to film historians prior to 2007, The Curse of Quon Gwon is a remarkable discovery. It is the first known Chinese American feature film and one of the few American silent feature films directed by a woman (Marion Wong). The film dramatically tells the story of a young Chinese American bride (played by Wong’s sister-in-law, Violet) and her ordeal to endure the jealousy and harsh treatment of her husband’s first
wife (played by Wong herself). Not only does the film stand up to contemporary standards in terms of acting, direction, and production, but it also tackles significant socio-cultural issues, including the status of women in Chinese culture and the changing institution of marriage among Chinese Americans at that time. The film was financed by the Wong family and filmed in Oakland and the East Bay hills.

The Curse of Quon Gwon was named to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 2007.


Museum Lobby
6:00–8:45 p.m.
College student art installation and exhibition.

Piazzoni Murals Room
6:00–8:45 p.m.
City College of San Francisco museum drawing class.

Cafe Terrace Party Tent
6:00–8:45 p.m.
Performances include live music by Mezmetic and Kapakahi; sensei Shuji Maruyama’s Kokikai aikido group; and a special traditional Balinese dance, Jauk Manis, by Sean Aquino.

Hands on Art-making for Everyone. “Art diva” Kim Erickson will lead art-making activities, focusing on pieces in Asian/American/Modern Art. Tonight’s focus is on grid patterns, inspired by Takeshi Kawashima’s NY Series #212.

Related Exhibitions

Asian/American/Modern Art: Shifting Currents, 1900–1970

Fee Information

Programs are free. Admission is free to members; regular admission fees apply for non-members to visit the galleries. A $10 surcharge applies for non-members to visit the special exhibitions Asian/American/Modern Art: Shifting Currents, 1900–1970,  Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes, and Yves Saint Laurent (all three exhibitions included in the single surcharge).

Faculty and students are admitted free with college ID.

Partner, Donor, Sponsor Credits

Friday Nights at the de Young is supported by the Koret Foundation. Friday Nights at the de Young is part of the Fine Arts Museums’ Cultural Encounters initiative, generously funded by The James Irvine Foundation, The Wallace Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Columbia Foundation, and the Winifred Johnson Clive Foundation.

Thanks to Alice Radio for special media coverage of College Night

Event Contact Information

Nicole Schach
415-750-7694
nschach@famsf.org