Chinatown is a vibrant community distinguished by a wealth of neighborhood-serving businesses and institutions. Established in the 1850s, Chinatown continues to play numerous roles: a gateway for Chinese immigrants, a self-sufficient residential neighborhood, a cultural capital, and a tourist destination. The Art in Storefronts installations will be on display through September 18, 2010.

Download an Art in Storefronts pocket-sized map.

Chinatown Artists

630 Kearny Street: Three Entrée Restaurant
After being uprooted from Mainland China and drifting a few years in Switzerland, Niana Liu has lived in San Francisco for ten years. Six years ago, she abandoned the ship of corporate employment and jumped on a small boat for an adventurous bumpy ride. Self taught in art, design and photography, she demonstrated art in the Asian Art Museum; exhibited at Kearny Street Workshop, Chinese Culture Center, Gualala Art Center, University of California Chico campus; and had her photography featured in National Geographic China. She’s now working on a documentary project about Classical Chinese Puzzles.

740 Washington Street: 100 Children
A long-time cultural activist and artist working in the Chinatown and Asian American communities, Leland Wong is best known for his screenprinted posters and illustrations focusing on life in Asian America. His illustrations have been published in books such as the I-Hotel and Exploring Chinatown: A Children's Guide to Chinese Culture and his posters were featured in the exhibition Icons of Presence at the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco in 2008.

28 Wentworth Street: Blessings, Good Fortune, Long Life
30 Wentworth Street: The Legend of Ginseng and Velvet
Yumei Hou and Jiang Xueman

Yumei Hou was born in Jilin Province, China and has resided in San Francisco since 2001. She was introduced to the art of traditional paper cutouts from by mother and professor Chunxin Wang at Tong Hua University in China. She has exhibited her traditional paper cutouts internationally and in 1991 was selected to be a member of the Chinese Folk Artist Delegation visiting Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Austria. Her work, including large-scale floats, has been exhibited as part of the Chinese New Year Festival in Chinatown since 2001.

Jiang Xueman, born in Fujian China in 1977, is a visual artist and graduate of Fujian Normal University. Her focus has shifted from painting to multi-media based on her migrating experience. Her most recent work, "Tomorrow," incorporated the issues many Chinese people today face globally, with a presentation of a thousand years of tradition of the lunar calendar.

Wentworth Street (next to 39 Wentworth Street): “If These Walls Could Talk”
Robert Minervini works in painting, installation, sculpture and site-specific public art. He received his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2009, and BFA from Tyler School of Art in 2005. He has been awarded the Murphy/Cadogan Fellowship by the San Francisco Foundation and the Edwin Austin Abbey Mural Fellowship by the National Academy of Fine Arts in 2008. He has exhibited his work internationally including a solo show with Eleanor Harwood Gallery and group exhibitions with Verge Gallery, Manifest Gallery, The Brooklyn Historical Society, and the Philadelphia Arts Alliance, among others. He currently lives and works in San Francisco.

950 Grant Street: Chinatown’s Childhood Memory Shop
A third generation Chinese American, Cynthia Tom works in the realm of cultural surrealism, creating paintings and mixed media works that explore ideas of identity, Chinese American history, and women’s issues. Her work has been exhibited nationally, including the Legion of Honor and de Young Museum and is featured in the book Women Artists of the American West as well as Traces of Migration and In-Betweeness: Poetics in Post Colonial Asian Women Artists. She is currently board president and curatorial director of the Asian American Women Artists Association.

950 Grant Street: A Humble Abode 陋室
Hui-Ying Tsai grew up in Taiwan and received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2009. She is an interdisciplinary artist who has exhibited locally and internationally in the United States, Ireland, and Taiwan. She was recently featured in Chain Reaction 11 at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery City Hall. She has been an artist in residence at TaiTung Railway Art Village in Taiwan and Anderson Ranch Art Center in Colorado, and will be an upcoming resident at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire.

Media

Flickr: Are you a shutterbug? Add your Art in Storefronts photos to our Flickr Group.
KPFA's Apex Express: Listen to our Director of Cultural Affairs Luis Cancel and Abby Chen, program director at Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, talk about Art in Storefronts Chinatown on KPFA's Apex Express.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Other cultural resources

• Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco
  
  Zero-Viewpoint by Stella Zhang
  Exhibition Run: April 23 – Sept. 5, 2010
  Artist Talk: August 14, 2010 at 2 pm
  Admission: Free
  750 Kearny Street, 3rd Floor
• International Hotel Manilatown Center
  
  Activists: A Photo Tribute by Bob Hsiang
  Exhibition Run: June 11 – August 4
  Admission: Free
  868 Kearny Street

  Visit the Manilatown Heritage Foundation's window installation, "Rooted in Activism," featuring scrims depicting the I-Hotel in the 1970s by Gordon Chun Design, created with photos from Manilatown Center Archives, plus additional photos and artifacts from their collection.

• Adopt-an-Alleyway Youth Empowerment Project
  
  Window installation at 655 Clay Street
• Chinese Historical Society of America
• Chinatown Photographic Society
• Pacific Heritage Museum