|
Becoming
an Artist
Written by Mikow Hang, December 5, 2008
The Twin Cities’ arts heritage has attracted
artists from far and wide to the metro area. Now, it is also the
“Hmong-Arts Mecca”. With its many resources and
opportunities
for artistic development and exhibition, it is no wonder
many Hmong
artists are also coming to Minneapolis
and St. Paul.
This past October, St. Paul had its 26th
Art Crawl, an event where local St. Paul artists open up their
studios to the public and galleries exhibit new works by artists. One
Hmong artist, feltmaker Nouka Yang, took part in this fun local art
tradition.
Yang always considered herself an artist. “My
hands spoke better than my mouth,” she explains. All throughout
her childhood she was interested in her mother’s paj
ntaub [pa dow, traditional Hmong needlework], so it was only
natural for her to be drawn to the arts. She dabbled with different
types of art forms during her early years in college at the University of Wisconsin
– River
Falls
and found her calling during a class in fiber art. “It [fiber
art] just felt so familiar, and I experimented with everything that my
teacher gave me. But when (my professor) came to that one particular
fiber material, something just opened up in me and I was just
overflowed with ideas. And I knew (this is it).”
Yang explains felting as “taking wool and dying
it and manipulating it with water and soap”. In other
words, the process uses soap and water and a lot of rolling action
to bond loosely shredded dyed wool to make a silky lightweight felt
fabric. The resulting fabric then becomes useful and decorative
artistic creations.
Yang’s parents were skeptical about her career
path in the beginning, but she kept plowing forward with felting,
creating scarves, hats and earrings. She pushed herself so far in her
felting classes that her professors were unable to train her any
further. Yang eventually began teaching felting classes her junior and
senior years in college. After graduation, Yang packed her bags and
left for a year-long internship with Jorie Johnson, an accomplished
American feltmaker whose studio is based in Kyoto, Japan.
Her life-altering journey began when she became
fascinated with a seamless jacket made by Johnson pictured in an
American art magazine. Yang contacted Johnson and did
not think twice when Johnson responded to her email offering her an
apprenticeship. Through Johnson’s mentorship, Yang improved her
technical skills and even had the opportunity to help Johnson with her
book “Feltmaking and Wool Magic,” which is now available in
bookstores.
Returning to the United
States a little over a year ago, Yang is
readjusting to the American diet, transportation and Minneapolis city
life. Although she would like to make felt exclusively, she currently
holds a full time job to support herself and her primary passion. She
has set up a modest studio that consists of a big table, water, soap
and wool. In hopes of expanding it and working on her new collection,
she applied for the Jerome Fiber Artists Project Grant
Program, piloted by the Textile
Center
on University Avenue
in St. Paul.
Yang looks to a future when Hmong arts are an
integral part of the vibrant cultural landscape of the Twin Cites. To
get there, she would like to see more Hmong artists involved with the
St. Paul Art Crawl next year as well as other arts events and
activities around the Twin Cities. Her advice to new and existing
artists looking to deepen their skills is to find a mentor and network
with other artists. She was fortunate to have mentors who guided her,
helped her ask challenging questions and sent her looking for the
answers. Networking is essential in the arts where the passion is high
but the pay is not. Finding a supportive network of people is one
reason why Yang has been successful.
Whether it is overseas or in the Twin Cities, it is
certain this skilled and talented artist will be successful. With
fiber art and needlework being such an integral part of
the Hmong culture, it will be exciting to see where Yang will take
feltmaking.
You can see images of Nouka Yang’s work at her
website, www.nkyang.com. The site is still in its infancy but she hopes to
add videos, blogs and live demos on felting in the near future. If you
are interested in felting or would like to contact Nouka, email her at nouka@nkyang.com or visit her website.
|
