Take part in AAWAA's 35th anniversary and feature up to 2 images of your artwork in the upcoming exhibition, In the Presence of: Collective Histories of the Asian American Women Artists Association, at Berkeley Art Center (opening January 27th, 2024).
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A few weekends ago, AAWAA Managing Director, Diana Li, made a visit to Sonoma County. Read more to learn about the launch of Cantadora Wine’s new set, including a feature of “The Dream Builder”, Nancy Hom. Purchase a bottle with Nancy's label and 10% will go back to AAWAA.
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It's that time of year again! We are releasing a survey to AAWAA Members. Whoever finishes the survey will have a chance to win a pair of San Francisco museum tickets and more!
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AAWAA is proud to recognize and celebrate the dedication and commitment of our long-term members. These members have been a part of the AAWAA community for at least 3 years, and their contributions to the organization and to the arts have been invaluable.
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With AAWAA Members in mind, we are excited to announce the launch of a few resources, including a helpful FAQ page and AAWAA Discord Server for members!
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A new AAWAA chapter is developing to support the work of visual, literary, and performing artists in the Pacific NW. The new AAWAA-Pacific NW organization is devoted to helping artists, writers, performing and performance artists, as well as digital artists get their work seen and heard from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia. Anita Merina from Bellingham has accepted the position to Chair the new AAWAA-PNW. Read on to learn more about her and how to get involved.
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SUBMISSION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 11, 2023 @ 11:59pm pst
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AAWAA is hiring a new Exhibitions Coordinator to join our collaborative team of creative Asian American women leaders!
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AAWAA is hiring a new Membership Coordinator to join our team! We appreciate the passion and commitment of Jenny He, who, as AAWAA’s first official Membership Coordinator, has faithfully devoted her time and energy to the position and to AAWAA's members. As Jenny transitions out of the position and continues on as a membership volunteer, we look forward to finding the next Membership Coordinator to join a collaborative team of creative Asian American women leaders.
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“For me as an artist, a painter and photographer, I would be hard pressed to pick just one or two favorites in Hung Liu’s expansive body of work. Paintings, works on paper, mixed media, sometimes with a bird cage attached, or installations with thousands of fortune cookies, would be employed in her arsenal of ideas. Her works were at once insightful and transgressive in illuminating the hidden stories of subjects largely absent in the public’s consciousness here and in China.”
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In 1989, after the national meeting for the Women’s Caucus for Art, the Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA) was established by Betty Kano, Flo Oy Wong, and Moira Roth in San Francisco (fig. 5). Bing joined the group soon after. AAWAA is unique as one of the only arts organizations in the United States explicitly created to support Asian American women artists. Beyond organizing exhibitions and public programs, AAWAA also runs the Emerging Curators Program, which offers opportunities for Asian American women to gain experience in the curatorial realm. For AAWAA and many other Asian American art collectives, it is not just the representation of Asian Americans on museum walls that matters; they recognize the need for Asian Americans to occupy important roles as public and creative leaders within institutions and beyond.
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It is with great sorrow and grief that we announce one of AAWAA's co-founding members and biggest supporters, Moira Roth, passed away on the morning of June 14 while in hospice care. She will always be a major part of our history as a co-founder along with artists Flo Oy Wong and Betty Kano and was always such a major advocate for feminism and women of color artists. As an academic and professor of Art History at Mills College, Moira instilled in us the need to document our art and work from an empowered place, on our own terms.
Read MoreWe are saddened by the recent tragedy in Atlanta and want to acknowledge the lives that have been lost and the deeply overlooked history of discrimination against Asian and Asian American women. While details are still being released, there is no doubt that this news is triggering and traumatic for many as we continue to face increased violence and hate within our AAPI communities. We encourage our AAWAA sisters and community to do what you need to do to take care of yourself, whether it means reaching out, getting access to resources, sharing info or taking a moment to pause and reflect. Please find a list of resources…
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Today, we celebrate Women's History month with the intention of growing our AAWAA family. With AAWAA’s mission in mind, we look forward to highlighting the social and cultural contributions of Asian American women in the arts. Over the past year, our communities have had to face an increase in racist, xenophobic and violent attacks. Rising against these cycles of hate, art has the potential to make people feel seen, inspiring avenues toward empathy, healing and empowerment. At AAWAA, we provide safe spaces and opportunities for Asian American women artists to speak out through creativity and expression.
Uplifting art by Asian American women is one step toward the social change we all envision of cultivating equity in the arts. This month, we hope you’ll join us in working toward these values as a member.
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Betty Louie, a longtime supporter of AAWAA, could still her her dad’s voice screaming at her in the fall of 2014. “Don’t ever get rid of those tenants,” he’d shout. “No one is ever going to want a restaurant on the second floor. You’re going to be really, really sorry!” Her dad was referring to the restaurant owners inhabiting the space at 28 Waverly Place, a two-story, spacious building in San Francisco’s Chinatown, that was originally built in the 1800s.
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Over the course of 31+ years, AAWAA went from hosting small salons in artists’ studios to hosting 50+ exhibitions with over 30,000 people attending our programs. AAWAA has always involved a network of persistent, powerful and thoughtful Asian American women artists and we are empowered to continue bringing visibility and recognition to their stories and legacies.
This Giving Tuesday, AAWAA has the privilege of working with a devoted anonymous donor and our dedicated board, who have pledged to match up to $4,000 in contributions from now through December 1, 2020. Please join us in making a donation to ensure Asian American women artists continue to have a platform for their work.
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To celebrate Asian American leaders in environmental justice, the Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA) is partnering with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) and Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour to work on two art projects for the upcoming exhibition, Sowing Agency. We are seeking artists to represent and recognize activists within these communities, who are fighting for the right to breathe clean air.
(Still image from Lipo and Saeng’s Story, video produced by APEN)
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What had been simply an art project for an ‘artists in residence’ program in 2009 at San Francisco’s de Young Museum has now blossomed into something profoundly transformative as “A Place of Her Own ™” workshop brings art and healing together.
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“My heart will always be with AAWAA. The steadfast intention to support and nurture its members and the Asian American artist community is why AAWAA has been pivotal in creating a 30 year legacy dedicated to telling the stories and history of our families struggles and victories of migration. As descendants of survivors, it is so important that AAWAA thrive…”
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