apature 2005: artists

Featured Artists

Kearny Street Workshop’s APAture proudly announces our 2005 Featured Artists:

Participating Artists

MYLA ABLOG is primarily a crafter and supporter of the API arts community, especially Bindlestiff artists.  She has worked in different media and has had her photos appear in galleries, print, and the web.  She also enjoys behind the scenes work as a lighting and sound tech for theater and film.  She has just launched a new t-shirt company, antihipster.biz, and will be creating fun designs as a response to pop culture.

RINA Q. AYUYANG was born in Pittsburg, PA.  She is a painter, illustrator, and comic artist.  Her work has been published in various comic anthologies and magazine publications such as Kitchen Sink, Other and Zine World.  Her art has been exhibited in galleries across the United States such as LoBot Gallery, CBGB 313 Gallery, Southern Exposure and ACME Art Works.  Rina also self-publishes a mini-comic series entitled Namby Pamby, and is currently working on a comic novel called Heirloom that documents her childhood and the impact of her Filipino roots.  She currently resides in Oakland, CA.  To view more of her work, please visit her website at www.rinaayuyang.com.

BANTERCUT STRATEGY is a decidedly sashimi- and Bugles- loving union of South Bay, SF and NYC sensibilities, but without a single song in its repertoire about food.  Now solidly SF Bay-oriented, this band was almost called “whiskey and a cigarette,” and nearly broke up when the bass player quit smoking.  Then he started smoking again, and all was well (which isn’t to say his band mates, smoking and nonsmoking alike, encourage his habit.  His band mates hope he quits again for good, even if his quitting means the vocalist/guitarist has to start taking cigarette breaks alone).  Here’s to songs about love, loss, and coal mines.

KIRBY BARAJAS was born in Berkeley and attended Berkeley schools. Curing his high school career at Berkeley High, Kirby was always involved in art classes and becoming interested in photo during sophomore year. He took an Intro to Photo class, and like it but didn’t really realize what he had learned. Kirby didn’t get into the process of b and w photography until his last year at school when he took the advanced class and really saw how much he enjoyed and loved taking pictures and processing film and finally making finished products in the darkroom. Kirby loved that he could control everything about his art making with this process and  loved knowing that each photo taken was a moment in time that couldn’t be duplicated.

MARK T. BAUGH-SASAKI grew up in the flats of the Outer Sunset District of San Francisco. he had his first exposure to sculpture working with Ruth Asawa in Elementary school creating African Masks. This experience set the tone for his artistic career. In 2000, he selected to assist the artist Sol Lewitt with the setup of his retrospective exhibition at the San Francisco museum of Modern Art. he attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, which proved to be a pivotal point in his development as an artist. In 2005, he returned to San Francisco filled with ideas, inspiration, and a wealth of knowledge, the results of which have been displayed At the NO. Beach Gallery and the San Francisco Atrium Gallery.

Frisko raised and based, JEREMY TAGLE BAUTISTA is a writer and performance artist who explores poetry, emceeing, dance, martial arts and theater.  He has performed in a number of venues from the NuYorican Poets Café in New York (1999); Kimballs East in Oakland (2005); Bay Area Hip Hop Theater Festival (2005); Tagalog on Site Closing Ceremony in the Philippines (1999).  In 2001, Jeremy wrote and co-directed his first playwright entitled, A Tuyo in the Sun which reveals the story of Filipino working class struggles. In 2004, MACLA and CATS, two San Jose arts organizations, co-sponsored Dream Cypher production in which Jeremy was the artistic director.  In 2005, he won a statewide writing contest sponsored by the California Council for Humanities and New California Media.

SITA KURATOMI BHAUMIK is an award-winning artist and writer originally from Los Angeles. As co-founder of Free Media Group she developed Sensor, a Bay Area arts and culture magazine. Currently a designer and copywriter for Adina World Beat Beverages, she holds it down in the Mission. An early victim of Island Fever, she has lived and worked on three continents and one archipelago. She is curating a museum-quality collection of cultural curiosities and is not—as some believe—a pack rat.

CHRIS BROWN

HAROLD S. BYUN has been acting and writing with the 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors since the beginning. He has also appeared in American Seoul (a collection of Korean American prose and poetry) at Asian American Theater Company, Karen Amano's Under Western Eyes for Thick Description, Nash Bridges, as well as several regional commercials and industrials. In 1999, Asian American Theater Company produced his first full length play, entitled The Butcher's Burden, and his poetry has been published in a number of journals.

KEVIN CAMIA

KRISTINA CERVANTES-YOSHIDA grew up in Richmond and has been living in Oakland for the past few years teaching environmental science to elementary schools.  Kristina loves looking for frogs, hangin’ with the kids, guttin’ fish, house plants, talking about mixed race, queer and POC issues, artsy crafts, and as of recently, making movies.

CELSKIII AND DEEANDROID, both from Vallejo, California, grew up in the Bay Area’s Hip Hop scene. They have a Hip Hop mix CD out titled, “Ooh Mama, I Got My Goohbaz” and are also in Dj Qbert’s “Do-It-Yourself Vol.2” DVD, featuring an interactive scratch session with Celskiii and Deeandroid. Currently, Celskiii and Deeandroid continue to rock shows and clubs. They also host a monthly event along with Djs Amerriica and Winst-Oner, called SkratchPad @ Sublounge in San Francisco, which happens every first Wednesday. Besides performing, both are working on musical projects and albums soon to be released in the near future. Through years of dedication to the art of DJing and to the culture of Hip Hop, Celskiii and Deeandroid use their power not only to move crowds but also to empower other women to participate as DJs and be active Hip Hoppas.

JANE CHEN

JEAN CHEN is a former board member of Kearny Street Workshop and an APAture founder. In 2000, she got her first tattoo and was hooked. She started learning how to tattoo from renowned artists Chris Conn and Colin Stevens in 2003, and is currently continuing her tattoo education as Black and Blue Tattoo's apprentice. The shop is an all women owned and operated space and just won "Best Tattoo Shop" in the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Come get a tattoo from Jean and chat about pirate radio, Asian American issues, donuts, and pop culture. And feel free to challenge her to a game of Ms. Pac Man. Check out her work at www.flika.com.

With a voice that brings together the intimacy of Songs:Ohia and the ethereal force of Sigur Ros or Jeff Buckley, ODESSA CHEN's music has been described as wintry, intelligent, haunting, and tender. Her debut album, One Room Palace, explores themes of love, longing, beauty and death with accomplished lyrics, a fingerpicking guitar style that is almost classical, and arrangements both sparse and complex. She has been interviewed on NPR, has an internationial audience, and is a guest vocalist on recordings by Charles Atlas and Thee More Shallows. She is currently at work on the follow up to One Room Palace.

YIN-JU CHEN, a native Taiwanese, has studied art in Taipei, Taiwan since the 6th grade.  She is currently producing experimental videos and video performances in San Francisco, California.  In 2003 she graduated from San Francisco Art Institute New Genres MFA program.  Before working in video, her works included photo performances, installations, and drawings.

PEIKWEN CHENG’s photography has led him on journeys from the Arctic cold to the 22 Filmore wild.  His work explores time, perspectives, and environments.  Recent shows include, Through the Eyes of the 22 at San Francisco City Hall - a visual ride down the 22 Fillmore bus line, and Musical Visions at Kimmel Center in Philadelphia - images from the Less Than Zero series choreographed, by artist Peggy Gyulai, to a performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra.  Peikwen Cheng was awarded a Cultural Equity Grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission in 2003, an Industrial Design Excellence Award from BusinessWeek in 2002, and a Design Patent in 2002.
He is currently working on fusing photography with furniture - combining the 2D with the 3D.

SHARLINE CHIANG was featured as an artist and literary performer at APAture 2002. Since then she has had her work exhibited in shows and is writing her first book. Coincidence? We think not. When she’s not making puppets or writing about her childhood in coastal New Jersey, she’s the publicist for Chinese American International School. She and Gavin were serious journalists together back in the nineties before they rebelled and left the business to become off-beat API artist types and APAture cheerleaders.

IMMEDIUM publishes innnovative media with widespread appeal. We produce entertaining books for children and their parents that feature fantastic characters and attractive illustrations. We also cover contemporary Asian-American, arts, and cultural topics. Keep up on the news of our latest titles! Visit us at www.immedium.com.

CHRISTELLE IMPERIAL DE CASTRO moved to San Francisco three years ago to study theatre and cinema at San Francisco State University.  She picked up photography in 2004, so far studying only one teacher, her friend and mentor Eigo Todoroki.  Noticing her interest in photography, Eigo graced Christelle with one of his personal cameras..to keep!  Given the weapon to create, and the encouragement to improve, Christelle soon began producing work representative of both her approach as an actor and a director.  While her theatre background seeks truth and emotion, Christelle’s tendencies as a director watches for composition.  Her ultimate goal is to be self-employed, while holding a sideline career in photography, film, and performing arts.  She also has this fantasy of striking it rich and buying her mom a huge, ridiculously extravagant house.

DANNY "DANDIGGITY" LE is an underdog of the Bay Area scene. He is a poet, event promoter/organizer, supporter, praise leader, fan, traveler, Libra, counter culture lover, and Myspace addict. He has preformed all over the U.S. with his brand of poetry along side friends Bao Phi, Ishle Park, Protariet Bronze, and members of 8th Wonder among others. An avid supporter of the APIA community, he is happy to be a part of APAture this year. He has just released his first chapbook "Vietnamese Men Are Lovers" and is working on his second book. He loves being Vietnamese, a music whore, and Catholic Christian. Forever imperfect but eternally loved. Props to all who are real. None to the posers.

PATRICK M. EPINO prefers dive bars.

JAMES ESPINAS makes films hat attempt to trigger synapses.  Through experimentation of the medium he created family portraits out of found footage, scratched pictures on 16mm film for a piece on accepting the fall of two towers, shot a documentary about doctors who aided an impoverished community, directed a music video about clumsy love, and learned about the tranquility in accepting modern day displacement for refugees from a war 30 years old.

GINNY FANG balances her life as an artist with her work in the community. One feeds her need for unconscious expression and solitude. While the other gives voice to a strong sense of social consciousness and keeps her in touch with the vibrancy of people, community, and life. Through looking forward to her next life as a rock start-drummer-lead singer, Ginny greatly appreciates and enjoys where the winding path of life has led her. And she gives thanks to those who have nourished her many facets and also those who have shown her what it means to speak your truth.

GLOBAL HOBO started four years ago on a whim by Jesse Reklaw and Thien Pham, Global Hobo has grown from a good idea to a Bay area mini comics distribution empire. Check out their site, and online store at www.hobocomics.com.

STUART GAFFNEY has been making films and videos about his Queer and Eurasian identities since 1994. His works have screened worldwide at a wide variety of venues such as broadcast television, museums, conferences, and film festivals. Stuart was the Featured Artist at APAture 2001, where he premiered the commissioned work "Transgressions." In December, 2000, the Guggenheim Museum screened Stuart's videos as part of the "Fever in the Archive" program of AIDS Activist Video. Stuart and John, his partner of 18 years, were one of the first 10 same-sex couples to wed in San Francisco on February 12, 2004.

GLORIA GALLEGA GALANG, a Manila/San Francisco native, received her B.A. in Art Studio and Asian American Studies from UCSB--with emphasis on computer graphics, photography, printmaking, sculpture, typography, and video.  She began freelancing as a graphic artist in 1993, spent 5 years as senior art director at a San Francisco advertising agency, where she primarily worked on accounts ranging from Charles Schwab, PG&E, and Sun Microsystems to Lucent Technologies and Microsoft.  In 2001, she launched Gg.galang DESIGN in the hopes of cultivating a more meaningful exploration of art & design and its relation to community.

JOELOUIE GENUS was born in the province of Santa Cruz, Island of Leyte, Philippines. He grew up in a Catholic family and community. When he was 10, Joelouie immigrated to Rancho Cordova in Sacramento. For college, he attended the University of California, Santa Cruz and studied Art, Community Studies, and Environmental Studies. Between senior and junior year of college years his faiths were tested and strengthened when he went to Hawaii for an internship for Community Studies. In Hawaii, Joelouie came to have a relationship with Jesus and realized the need for love and compassion for other people other than himself.

RUSSELL REZA-KHALIQ GONZAGA is a writer, journalist, activist, martial artist and massage therapist. He has represented San Francisco for 3 years at the National Poetry Slam Championships and he has worked with some of the Bay Area's most dynamic arts education programs. Russell was awarded the Certificate of Honor and has had a proclaimation of a day named after him in San Francisco.  A collection of his early works is due out on Zeitgeist Press in November and he is currently developing material for solo theater. He is a representative of SuperStar Avatar: a new technology of celebration and social interaction.

JONAH ERIC HSU grew up in Florida and studied classical piano at Stanford.  When he began playing guitar his senior year, he felt like he had found the magic flute, as it were.  Hsu’s heroes are all the poets of song: Elliott Smith, Paul Simon, Lucinda Williams, Mark Kozelek and Neil Young.  Hsu has a corporate day job but spends every night working on music.

HYPHEN MAGAZINE is a news and culture magazine that illuminates Asian America through hard-hitting investigative features on the cultural and political trends shaping the fastest growing ethnic population in America. We offer in-depth profiles of change-makers in our community and a glimpse into the world of artists and writers who are re-envisioning and rewriting what it means to be Asian American. Through balanced and incisive reporting and sometimes irreverent commentary, we hold a mirror to the enormous richness, contradiction, and vitality that define the Asian American experience to stimulate debate, raise awareness, and build bridges within and beyond our community.

MISAKO INAOKA, originally from Kyoto Japan, has received her Bachelor of Fine Art from Rhode Island of Design (RISD) in 2001, and is now working on her Masters degree at Mills College.  She had spent a year in Rome with European Honors Program (EHP2000), and had been a residency at Vermont Studio Center. Misako has been featured locally at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, Walter and McBean Galleries, Southern Exposure, The LAB, The Back Room Gallery, ATA and Headlands Center for the Arts.

EMILY M. JIANG is a recipient of the 2005 Kimberly Colen Memorial Grant Award and the Grand Prize winner of the 2005 short story contest division of the Olympiad of the Arts.  The daughter of Chinese-American immigrants, Emily was born in Hollywood, California, and grew up in Dallas, Texas.  After graduating from Rice University in Houston, Texas, with a B.A. in English, Emily joined the thousands of tech-savvy college grads migrating to the San Francisco Bay Area in search of internet gold.  She has been a web-developer/designer/project manager, a technical writer, and a marketing writer.  Emily currently works in the field of philanthropy by day while pursuing her passions of singing, dancing, and writing poetry and fiction.  Emily’s current novel-in-progress is about the adventures of a Chinese girl who is searching for her place in California in the early 1940s.

HELLEN JO draws, xeroxes, and staples the mini-comic komisches buch and is currently working on an utterly disappointing eight-chapter horror comic. The rest of the time she rolls around naked on raw hamburger patties and eats glass. Visit http://hellen.gq.nu if you don't believe me, you salty bastard.

THE KAMIKAZE THEORY is a new theater group comprised of former members of U.C. Berkeley's Theatre Rice. So far they have performed two shows at the Jon Simms Center for the Arts as guest artists for Duy Nguyen, and will have their own featured show in November. The Kamikaze Theory are Jimmy Tran, Elaine Chu, Annie Wang, Christopher Chen, and Alex Choi.

JAY KO has a degree in Painting from Kook-Min University, a masters in Fine Art from the Academy of Art University, and is currently working to receive a second masters degree in photography from the Academy of Art University. Her work has been featured at the Academy of Art University Fu-Ji Korea Festival and New Millennium Art Show, and in Korea at Kook-Min University and New Young Artists Show at Gong-Pyung Gallery.

KREATIBO is a queer Pinay artist collective born out of the need to take our stories out of the margins and into the spotlight. Using music, movement, words and images to tell these stories, we are the defiant fist held up in the face of violence and oppression targeting our communities. We are dedicated to the preservation and creation of our collective memory and use artistic forums as a means of cultural activism.

Born in Colonial Hong Kong, MUNG LAR LAM is a San Francisco based artist whose nomadic life has influenced her explorations of identity through he quiet, minimal and poignant examples of transition, impermanence and social conditions.

JULIA LAU is a singer-songwriter based in Oakland, CA.  Her emotive acoustic alt/rock songs speak to the craziness and beauty of life, love, and struggles for justice.  Julia worked for several years as a community organizer in Chinatown, and for the past 5 years has been working fulltime as a singer and musician.  She performs regularly with her band in venues throughout the Bay Area.  For more information, visit www.julialau.net.

Paper Trail is the musical adventures of DAN LEE and AYA NAKAMURA. Moody and instrumental sounds from guitar, xylophone, and melodica.

A film graduate from San Francisco State University, JEFFREY LEI is the director of the short film "Take-Out". He started stand-up comedy in 1999, working all over the Bay Area; from San Francisco to Oakland to Modesto at clubs like the Punchline, Kimble’s East, Kimble’s Carnival, Dorsey’s Locker, Brainwash, etc. A finalist of the TakeOut Comedy Competition at L.A.’s Improv, Jeffrey first performed stand-up at APAture in 2002. He has returned to the comedy scene after a two-year hiatus. This time was taken to work on his award-winning documentary, "Dick Ho: Asian Male Porn Star" which screened at the 2005 San Francisco Sex Worker Film & Arts Festival, L.A. VCFilmFest, and NYC SinCine Erotic Film Fest. In addition to stand-up and filmmaking, Jeffrey Lei is also an actor in many independent films.

Born in Boston and raised in San Francisco, EDWIN LI begins his comedic career at the age of sixteen. Performing at various clubs, his love for making others laugh blooms. His perception of the world comes mainly from the influence of his wacky sister and Chinese background. Entertaining others has always been easy for him, now it has become his passion in life. Take him seriously, or not, he will be the funniest guy you’re ever heard.

KWONG YUAN LI was born in CA, but at the age of 3, his parents decided rural North Carolina was the place to be.  Shortly after graduating from the University of NC at Chapel Hill with a BFA in 2001, he escaped to the Bay Area and has been learning and experimenting with new media in both performance and installation.  He frequently performs in various Bay Area venues with the sound group RADIOLINGUA, which he co-founded with Hellyn Mersereau in 2004.  When not at his day job as an information architect, Kwong is usually working on various painting, sound, web, and moving image projects.

JOY GLORIA LIU is a Taiwanese-Cali artist, and recent Mills College grad (Women of Color Studies in Art and Cultural Resistance), just trying to get her dream on.  Armed with her Ma’s persistence, Ba’s imagination, and Oakland-bred social justice politics, Joy is here to change the game, build, and sustain a community culture of compassion, resistance and all that good sh*t. She gets down and dirty mixing many mediums and forms - but still prefers the random leaky ball-point pen.  Also, having committed herself to some local organizing, activism, and youth advocacy, Joy will school anyone who tries to reduce art and culture as secondary “tools” of movement/organizing and political work.

ANDRIA LO moved to San Francisco a year ago after graduating from UC Berkeley.  She currently works as a cook at a Japanese restaurant and as freelance graphic designer.  On her days off, you can find her perusing thrifts stores, in the darkroom, and seeking out hole-in-the-wall eateries.

Since the age of eleven, STEVEN LOW has sought to: heal his white eyes of perception, which has indoctrinated him to look upon myself as racially inferior and sexually emasculated; recognize the tools of deception which the ruling elite utilizes to perpetuate a social and economic order in their self interest; realize his inherent self-worth as a human being which this racial and economic order tries to deny him in order to stifle his self-esteem and thus ensure his dependence on this system; eat a lot of toffee peanuts.

MARISMA features members of San Francisco Bay Area bands Cast of Thousands, Parting Glance, and Curvature brought together by a combination of fate and the Internet.  Eric Shin and Audie Roldan were looking to start a band in a slightly different direction from the intricate and mostly instrumental Curvature.  Meanwhile, Cast of Thousands was beginning a long hiatus after the loss of their drummer.  Several months into the new project, Eric was introduced to Cast of Thousands singer/guitarist Burt Hashiguchi through Burt’s brother, Erik.  Thomas Boles is the former drummer for Parting Glance and guitarist and singer for Blue Blazer.  He also performs as Waypastfrown, and as half of Faceonstraight.  He’s a longtime friend of the band, and we’re happy that things have worked out this way.

MAKO MATSUDA is a M.A. candidate at San Francisco State in Creative Writing: Poetry.  As of now his work can only be found in Lodestar Quarterly.

JOLIVETTE MECENAS is a writer who teaches in the English Dept. at University of Hawaii--Manoa (Honolulu) and San Francisco State University.  She writes short stories and nonfiction that explore the intersections of culture, history and aesthetics, searching for points of identification between (seemingly) unlike people in the most (seemingly) improbably places.  She has an essay about why it’s OK for single women to talk to their food during meals, to be published in an upcoming anthology of women writers (March 2006).

In 1992, MASAKO MIKI moved from Japan with the intention of studying art and received a BFA at the College of Notre Dame, and later an MFA in pictorial from SJSU. Currently, Masako lives and works in Berkeley. Masako’s work is available in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artist Gallery. He has taught as a part-time faculty in schools of the Bay Area including SJSU, UC Davis, De Anza College, San Jose City College, and Santa Rose Junior College.

NORITAKA MINAMI was born and raised is Kishiwada, a city in Japan near Osaka. In 1987 and immigrated to the United States with family to Cambridge, Massachusetts. What was originally intended as a one-year stay in United States became extended and continues to this day. After living in the East Coast for ten years, Noritaka moved to the Bay Area in 1997, and attended Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco, enrolled in University of California, Berkeley in 2000 and received a BA in Art Practice and a Minor in Asian American Studies in 2004. Currently, Noritaka is a part of the Sunset District Art Cooperative near Ocean Beach and has the privilege of making art in an affordably priced studio at a great location and try to spend as much time there as possible.

CRISTINA MITRA is a native San Franciscan with big love for art and POC.  She herself hasn't mustered the whatever to call herself an artist, but she's studied dance since she was 6 and even made a little flick that was featured in APAture 2004.  She’s grateful to artists everywhere, everyday.

LINH NGUYEN was born in Central Viet Nam before the end of the war.  His family immigrated to the United States in the early 1980s via Singapore and Indonesia.  Linh grew up in Southern California absorbing popular Vietnamese songs sung at family gatherings and American rock music blasted on the radio.  Inspired by such rich musical surroundings, he began teaching himself guitar at age thirteen.  Many moons later, Linh is an accompaniest guitarist and singer who seeks to create compelling and beautiful music that reflects his broad background and experiences.  Linh’s eclectic musical style is showcased on is debut CD called Breathe.  Recorded in New Orleans, this release contains songs carefully selected from Linh’s live repertoire over the years.

TONY VAN NGUYEN is a viet bro who lives & works in Oakland. An active member of Vietunity, Tony was a founding member of the Bay Area's Vietnamese Artists Collective.  In his spare time Tony likes to fly wack poems, wack rhymes, and of course wack beatboxes.  Like his bro G, Tony wishes no one ever felt lonely.  In another life Tony pretends to blend Asian & Asian American sounds as t-oh no!  If you are interested in having him kill your parties with the oh no, it's asian! sounds, holla at him at vietcat27@yahoo.com. 

In 2003, MISASHI NIWANO graduated with a BA in film production at SFSU.  Misashi is a newbie who’s just looking to get her films out there.

YOSHIFUMI NOMURA aka “yoshi47” is 24 years old and does graphic design, motion graphics, film, and paint. 3 years ago, Yoshi was an exchanged student from Nanzan Univeristy in Japan and attended UC Davis to study Californian Break Dance and persue his career in dance. When Yoshi broke his shoulder, he began to persue his art. After coming back to Japan, Yoshi has decided to rest for 2 or 3 years from the University life to explore the art world in the Bay Area.

ONE SIZE FITS ALL (OSFA) is 3 good friends, speaking 3 different languages, from 2 beautiful islands, sharing 1 love for music. “Our Moms like our music.”

SUE PAK's work is based on storytelling. The stories flux between truth and fiction. She uses wood, steel, sculpey, and sawdust which allows her to create various surfaces and textures within the space for her own version of those tales. The reconstruction of each piece is where the stories take on their own translation.

BRYAN NICOLAS PANGILINAN is fortunate to serve as Rondalla Director for the LIKHA Pilipino Folk Ensemble of San Francisco for the past seven years.  Bryan returned to San Francisco State University as a vocal performance major to strengthen his craft and pursue his dreams.

CAROLINE PARK is a Korean-American visual artist who has been practicing photography for over six years. More recently, she has been working graphically, including greeting cards, which have evolved into visual creations expressing sentiments of “loving” and “hating.” Whatever these sentiments ultimately express, her intention is to inspire (something like) passion.

HAN PHAM is an artist who enjoys obsessing over the little shit. Her work explores the robust humor and fragile beauty of the mundane moments normal people would rather forget. She has written, choreographed, and performed in original productions with the Vietnamese theatre ensemble, Club O'Noodles, on stage and film.  Her written stories have been featured on the radio, in the Vietnamese newspaper Nguoi Viet, the non-fiction webzine Ostrich Ink and in print. She is currently working with seven other Asian-American artists on a top-secret project (www.24hourshow.com) which will feature 8 Artists + 3 Rooms + 1 Night =  No plans, No prep, No sleep. Excitement begins October 22nd, 2005. Get ready, set, go.

D.H.NAOMI QUIÑONES has been writing and performing spoken-word and theater pieces that examine the intersections between memory, family history and identity. Naomi has worked with Asian American Theater Company, participating in several collaborations between AATC and sketch comedy groups, 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors, Latina Theater Lab, and Culture Clash. She has also given guest lectures and performances in classrooms around the Bay Area. Currently, Naomi is working on photography and other visual arts projects, but writing and performing are still in her heart.

JANAKI RANPURA studied at Yale University and the Lecoq School of Physical Theater in Paris.  Puppetry became part of her theater practice through interning with Peter Schumann’s Bread & Puppet Theater and Larry Reed’s Shadowlight Productions.  Her work probes how people use and share narrative.  She has performed at Zellerbach Hall, the Forum at Yerba Buena, and NY’s New Theater. http://trinkettheater.ranpura.com.

PETER RAPPMUND is a classicaly trained pianist from Golden, Colorado.  He studied under Phil Solomon at the University of Colorado and graduated with a BFA in film production. Peter Rappmund is a member of the band, THE VERY HUSH HUSH, who has been lucky enough to share the stage which such talented bands as Stereolab, TV on the Radio, and I Am The World Trade enter.  TVHH released their first EP, Washing Songs, in the fall of 2003.  Their new album, Mourir C’est Facile, will be released worldwide on Sao bento Music at the end of summer, 2006.

OLGA SALAMANCA grew up in the Midwest, but life would eventually take her to Southern California to experience the passions and pursuits that would push her to pick up the guitar and sing.  She attended UC Irvine and graduated with a psychology degree however it was only after college that Olga discovered her love for guitar and singing. In spring of 1999 she moved to San Francisco and finally at an open mic Olga let her brilliant voice breakthrough for all to hear.  She has since played at various venues such as El Rio, Triangle Lounge, and Brainwash Cafe.  She has also performed at events such as the Gay Pride Festival, SF School Board Elections Benefit, and the Filipino American Club Festival. Olga’s popularity continues to grow as she graces the stages throughout the Bay Area.

Some people might say that PAOLO SAMBRANO has done more than the average eighteen year old, but less than the above average eighteen year old.  Paolo, not-so-active activist, film “maker”, works with various agencies in the greater SF Bay Area, Youth Sounds, AYPAL, and NAATA.  Paolo is also the sole proprietor of his own imaginary video production company, Super Giant Robot Mecha Rocket Punch Productions.  Paolo enjoys writing witty biographies about himself in the third person for submission for various community events or watching trashy reality television.  He maintains that it is purely for research purposes for his eventual thesis he will write on something.  And when, he’s not doing that, Paolo works full-time at Salesforce.com.

NICO SANTOS is a new face in stand-up comedy wowing audiences in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. With only under a year of stand-up under his belt, Nico has become a staple of the local comedy scene. A native of the Philippines, Nico settled down in San Francisco via Oregon where he always thought about doing comedy but never got around to it. When he’s not making people keel over with laughter, Nico works for the wonderful world of Dior, where he helps Paris Hilton wannabes, ladies who lunch and Paris Hilton spend exorbitant amounts of money. Gay Stereotype? Maybe so – but his comedy says otherwise. He’s not your ordinary asian either . . . no spelling bees for him. Instead, his distinctive observational style and autobiographical material have helped propel his career far in such a short time.

LOLAN BUHAIN SEVILLA is a butch pinay with Philippine roots, San Diego origins and San Francisco beginnings, she currently works at generation FIVE, an organization committed to ending child sexual abuse in five generations, and sits on the board of directors for liguidFIRE productions, an organization that helps foster the artistic expression of lesbians of color.  Lolan is a published writer who began her artistic journey as a Philippine folk dancer and regularly performs throughout the bay area.  She’s recently self-published a collection of prose, poetry & short fiction entitled Translating New Brown.  Current projects include a young adult novel.  As a founding member of Kreatibo, a Queer Pinay artist collective, Lolan is committed to the preservation of cultural memory for all her communities.  The written word is her chosen weapon of resistance.

You may recognize JASON SHIGA’s work from his strips in the San Francisco Examiner and Asian Week. Jason Shiga has been drawing comics since 1996 when he read Optic Nerve. In his seven-year career, Shiga has amassed an impressive 23 titles. The works range from strips to graphic novels to insane paper machines with moving parts. Although he has made some comics about his place in the APA community, he is best known for his interactive comics.

MICHAEL SHIONO has performed since he was six. He identifies as multiracial. The performance is 100% improvised.

ERIKA CHONG SHUCH is a choreographer, director, performer, and teacher living and working in San Francisco. She is the artistic director of the ESP Project, a resident performance company of Intersection for the Arts. Founded in 2001, the ESP Project incorporates performers of varying backgrounds and interactive scenic design to create articulate, constantly evolving performance languages that reflect the questions and feelings of our society. She received a 2003 GOLDIE Award awarded by the San Francisco Bay Guardian for her work with the ESP Project. Erika is a co-founder/ co-director and faculty member with the Experimental Performance Institute, a multi-disciplinary BA, MA, and MFA performing arts program in residence at San Francisco’s New College of California. Erika was honored to be the featured dance artist for the 2004 APAture Festival and is so pleased continue her involvement with this exceptional event. Thank you APAture!

DENNIS SOMERA drops his hair At the ksw APAture hat but is hoping to be loved and mayb e ven (tually) respected for his performative writing someday.

A native of the Bay Area, WENDI SUE has been awarded numerous opportunities to contribute to international workshops abroad in relation to her architectural work. This is her first opportunity to make public her artwork.

AIMEE SUZARA is a poet, arts educator and activist currently directing Youthspeaks In-school Residencies as the Arts-in-Education Associate Director.  A long time community advocate and cultural worker, Aimee has worked with San Francisco Women Against Rape, Dancers Without Borders, and is a founding member of environmental justice group Filipino-American Coalition for Environmental Solutions (FACES). These days she can be seen lighting up the stage with Kreatibo, a queer Pin@y arts collective, whose recent show “Dalagas & Tomboys: A Family Affair” was performed to sold out audiences at Bindlestiff Studios.  She has featured as a spoken word artist at various community and literary events throughout the Bay Area.

GAVIN TACHIBANA fell head over heels for the APAture crowd in 2002 after they accepted his short film, "The Flavor," a seminal movie in Asian American cinema about a man addicted to corn dogs. The following two years, Gavin joined the APAture film committee and continued the tradition of selecting groundbreaking works for Film Night. His film career was recently validated when “The Flavor” played on that ever-popular, ratings grabber of a channel, AZN Television. Gavin still enjoys film, but now writes a weekly Internet column for orkut.com and works at a non-profit in Berkeley. Someday, maybe, he’ll complete the sequel to “The Flavor.”

CHARLENE TAN was born in 1982 in Houston and raised in San Francisco. She has a partial Bachelor degree in Fine Art from Academy of Art University. She left school to discover the art community, herself, and to reinvent her vision conceptually. Charlene has mentored with Adam Rompel, proprietor of Lucky Tackle for gallery and curatorial experience. She has volunteered at many influential institutions in the bay area including, Southern Exposure, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Oakland Art Gallery, The Lab, and Lucky Tackle. She has worked with influential artists like Jim Campbell, Scott Snibbe, Mike Arcega who’s lasting knowledge has given her a new perspective in the arts.

TENSEGRITY NINE is an Oakland/Alameda-based Electronic Pop music duo featuring Matt Payne on keyboards and electronics and Peter Lim on vocals and guitar. Formed in late 2003, Tensegrity Nine utilizes elements of J-pop, Folk, Rap, Usher-like dance routines, noise music and spoken word poetry. Tensegrity Nine's live performance is a seamless, high-energy affair featuring passionate vocals, musical solos on strange instruments, quirky humor, and choreographed dancing. In essence, it is the musical nerd-rock, electro-pop equivalent of Justin Timberlake, anticon, Yanni, and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, thrown into a pot of steaming lava, mixed together with an electric egg beater.

SUELTO TEVES

Oakland-based painter CHARLISE TIEE uses oils and acrylics to all manner of ill-purpose, challenging media representations with whimsy and humor. She is particularly interested in the intersection between language and imagery. For the past few years she has been both the brain and brawn behind the illustration website Snailwing, which is updated weekly, rain or shine.

JIMMY THONG TRAN is a featured poet on the 5th season of HBO's Def Poetry Jam. As a member of the Jigsaw Collective, he is working on a book to be published by First Word Press. He is also a founder of the Kamikaze Theory, the upstart Asian American theatre group, with a show coming this November. Jimmy currently resides in San Francisco.

In September 2003, HIJACK THE DISCO leapt onto the San Francisco Bay Area music scene seeking dark spaces and friendly faces.  With angular rhythms, double barbed melodies, and dueling vocals, Hijack has a stranglehold on an unconventional, largely unexplored yet surprisingly accessible piece of Americana.  Michael Mahony plays bass and keys like a guitar player, Dave Tsui plays guitar like a drummer, and Trevor Wencl plays drums like a bass player.  To top that off Michael and Dave sing together fluidly (like the wind generated by the hands of an affluent ASL instructor) and Trevor whistles while he works.

A Bay Area native, NITYA VENKATESWARAN began her Bharatanatyam training at the age of four from Vishal Ramani in San Jose, CA.  She has performed with Ms. Ramani’s Dance Company for the past 21 years.  She recently embarked on her solo career and has given over 10 solo performances in the Bay Area and India with wide acclaim.  This year, she was selected to perform as a soloist in the 27th San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and was awarded the San Francisco Foundation’s Choreography award for her work as the narrator for the festival.  Nitya has also studied modern dance as a student at UC Berkeley and was selected to study at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center’s intensive summer program in NYC in 1998.  Nitya is currently performing and studying in the Bay Area and hopes to explore her artistic voice while bridging her multidisciplinary dance experiences.

Mimosa Studio was started in 2004 by self-taught jeweler, entrepreneur, and creafter, REGINA MARIE VISTA as a result of a long time love affair with jewelry.  She started making jewelry as a hobby in 1999 and discovered that her pieces got a lot of positive attention.  A hobby eventually turned into a business.  “I do what I love,” she says.  “I create beautiful jewelry that people want to wear.”  Recently Mimosa Studio has started doing local fairs such as Feria Urbana, Vestiti Roupa, and the Haight St. Fair.  Her jewelry can also be found on the web at www.mimosastudiosf.com and in 7 San Francisco stores: Iris, Appleblossom, Anaabellas, Principessa, Picnic, Brown Eyes Girl, and Xela.

JOHN VU was born in Saigon, Vietnam and came to the United States when he was eight years old.  He is currently working as a researcher and has done consulting work for business, nonprofit foundations, Hyphen Magazine, and the U.S. Department of Justice.  John has been a photographer for the past 10 years and has published creative nonfiction in Nostos and the Vietnam Journal, and his essay, “Crossing the South China Sea” will be anthologized in “Topography of War: Asian American Essays,” to be released by the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in 2005.
John is currently working on a photo book about Vietnam.  He currently lives in San Francisco.

In the relatively short time BRENT WEINBACH has been performing stand-up comedy in the Bay Area, he has gained a particularly favorable reputation in both the underground and mainstream local comedy scenes. Through an unconventional and quirky style, Brent combines absurdism, physical humor, and cultural characterizations with both an innocent and intellectual sophistication. As the Weinbach cult following continues to develop, fans all over the Bay Area and beyond can be seen wearing the fashionable "Weinbach" t-shirt.

The heart of FACE ON STRAIGHT is CHRIS WONG and THOMAS BOLES .  Chris is a chef.  He’s a partner and chef at a Russian Hill restaurant, Cuella.  He’s been playing music for fun for 7 years.  Thomas, 27, is a teacher at Corpus Christi Elementary School.  He teaches math and science.  They have been playing music together and continue to write, perform and collaborate as much as possible.  We hope to play and support KSW as best we can.  Thank you.

ALI WONG is 23 years old and her areas of domination are Charades and Four Square. Her #1 toilet book is VICE Magazine: 10 Years of Do's and Don'ts and her favorite films include The Sandlot, Singin' in the Rain, El Mariachi, Spellbound, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, and Wayne's World. Winner of the first Hedwig and the Angry Inch West Hollywood Costume Contest, Ali dreams of becoming a Stand-up Comedian, Sitcom Writer, Asian American Studies Profesora, Novelist, Chef, and Groundlings Mainstage Company.

LAUREN M. WONG works primarily in drawing and digital media to meticulously search her subconscious nightmares and transform them into concrete perceptions of her surroundings.
Ms. Wong was born and raised in San Francisco, California.  At an early age, she was able to translate details from life to two-dimensional surfaces.  With the support of her parents, she pursued her education in fine arts at San Francisco School of the Arts and later received a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art at Scripps College in 2004. Currently, Ms. Wong is creating several other projects, including work that will be accessible online.

In 2001, HYEWON YOON received a BFA from the Sook-Myung Woman’s University in Seoul, Korea. After the undergraduate years, Hyewon traveled the U.S. and decided to undertake her graduate studies at San Francisco Art Institute where she received an MFA in May 2005. Her work became predominantly about the body in response to her cultural transition from Korea to the more open environment in San Francisco.