"From Far East to West": the Chinese-American experience in the American Old West

     Our favorite St. Petersburg, Florida museum has launched another great exhibit, on view through January of 2024.  Called "From Far East to West," the exhibit chronicles the lives of the Chinese -American immigrants who came to the western United States in the mid-1800s.  Mostly young men, the immigrants were first drawn by news of the California Gold Rush and by the opportunities of work building railroads.  Many saw the US as a chance to acquire riches to take back to China, and the West was known as "Gold Mountain" among the immigrants.  There was wealth to be had, real wealth relative to what their life prospects would have been had they stayed in China. A few men did return quite wealthy, and many villages prospered from the wealth sent home from America.  However, more immigrants ended up staying in America and fighting to survive political, economic and racial discrimination.  Chinese immigrants were targeted by swindlers, con artists, and thieves, and they were lynched and attacked in racially-motivated riots.  Life was difficult, but there were still a few immigrants who became wealthy by organizing labor gangs and opening laundries, restaurants, and other businesses.

    There are a few artifacts and a few photographs of real-life individuals in the exhibit, but the "hook" or twist of the exhibit is that it focuses on paintings of Chinese-American life in the 1800s painted by 21st century Chinese-Americans who have immigrated from China to the US.  That's a really interesting perspective.  And on top of that, the paintings are fabulous.

    The exhibit includes a collection of western paintings by Z.S. Liang.  Several of Liang's works are part of the Museum's permanent collection.  He's unique in that his work focuses on Native Americans rather than the Chinese-American experience.

  

    If you're in Tampa Bay this fall and winter, go to The James and check out the exhibit.  ( https://thejamesmuseum.org/ )

Black Pioneer History Told Through Quilts

     The James Museum of Western Art has become our favorite museum in the Tampa Bay Area, and there are quite a few great museums in the area. We are proud to be members, and we have no hesitation about telling visitors to the area that a visit to the James is a must. Currently, the James is hosting a fabulous new exhibit until January 8, 2023 before it moves on to another location. ( I think I overheard the Chicago Art Institute being the next stop, but I am not positive.) Webpage: https://thejamesmuseum.org/blackpioneers/

    "Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West" combines history and art. The premise is unique, and the exhibit was organized by the James Museum in conjunction with Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi, curator, historian and artist. The 50 art quilts in the exhibition were created by the Women of Color Quilters Network especially for this exhibition. Founded by Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi in 1985, Women of Color Quilters Network (WCQN) is a non-profit national organization whose mission is to educate, preserve, exhibit, promote and document quilts made by African Americans. Each artist chose a particular person or event significant in black history - of course, making it American history as well - of the American West.

    The quilts are beautifully done, and they display a wide variety of skills and techniques used by quilters, like appliques, mixed materials, stitching styles, and 3D effects, and each one tells an important story that one is not likely to have been told. I was familiar with several featured people like Bass Reeves, the black lawman who served as the inspiration for The Lone Ranger, Madam C.J. Walker, one of the first hugely successful black entrepreneurs, Stagecoach Mary, one of the most famous teamsters in the West, and cowboys Nat Love and Bill Picket, to name a few, but I learned about so many more people that I want to go and research now. 

Stagecoach Mary

    The quilts also capture events like the Watts Riots of the 1960s and 1990s and the Greenwood (Tulsa) Massacre of 1921. 

Greenwood (Tulsa) Massacre

    

    It's one of the best exhibits we've seen. If you have an opportunity to see it, in St, Petersburg, or another city on its itinerary, I urge you to go see it.