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Dear Special Arts Services,

I am a painter who has been a part of the Asian American art community for over 20 years. I also am fully integrated in the greater community of art, including having exhibitions in prominent galleries in SoHo, Chelsea and this September on 78th Street and Madison. I have shown at the Drawing Center, Bronx Museum, MASS MoCA, Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati, Ayala Museum, Manila, Hanart in HK, etc. My teaching experience includes School of Visual Arts for 13 years, NYU for 5 years, Cooper Union for 3, Cal Arts for 2, as well as teaching at Parsons, Univ. of Minnesota, Yale Norfolk, and Anderson Ranch. I have lectured at Williams College, Stanford Univ.,

UCLA, Art Center, SF Art Institute, Pratt, Temple Univ., Hong Ik Univ. in Seoul, etc. In other words, I have had a bit of experience exhibiting in the US and around the world, and teaching in the university environment.

It was by accident that I participated in an ArtSlam. I wanted to introduce a friend to the Art Center, who was curating a museum show about artists who are influenced by Asian culture. When I arrived Bob Lee asked if I would please do him a favor and fill in as a critic as one of the critics cancelled at the last minute. I did, and we had such a fruitful evening, that I walked away with 5 business cards of artists who wanted to keep me informed of their exhibitions and was asked to return as a critic for the following ArtSlam. What I found that evening was a group of artists who were hungry to show their work and to dialog with other artists and critics. Some had either recently graduated from a BFA or MFA program and wanted test the new work out, exhibiting locally in small towns outside Manhattan, but not getting formal feedback. Others were working in semi isolation and didn't have exposure to critical ideas in relation to the nature of their work. Still others were working in and around the art community, but wanted a more critical response to making the work communicate stronger and clearer. They absorbed the conversation around each others' work and participated generously, giving their own thoughts and observations. I thought the ArtSlam was exactly what a community of artists needs periodically. They need a chance to come together, share and test out their work and ideas in an intimate environment. I think the AAAC is a perfect organization to initiate this event, because they are a kind of hub for the Asian art community and are able to provide a structure for the evening. Interested candidates and critics need to be recruited, announcements to generate an interested audience, providing AV equipment, organizing the gathering place, and monitoring the time well, so the evening flows fairly for all the participants. Outside the university setting, this kind of evening is all too rare and precious.

Emily Cheng