Marjorie Barrick Museum Podcast

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KUNV studios original program. The following is special programming aired in collaboration with the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art on the campus of UNLV, and does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Music 0:22

Deanne Sole 0:25
Welcome to the Marjory Barrick Museum of Art radio show. My name is Deanne Sole, and I'm here with our special guest, Jeannie Hua. Jeannie is one of the artists in our current exhibition. It's called Living Here. In fact, it just opened today. We're recording this on Friday, June 20. Opened at 10am this morning, and it's going to run until December 20, 2025, Jeannie, thank you so much for joining us today.

Jeannie Hua 0:52
Deanne, it's so good to be here and always good to see you. Fantastic.

Deanne Sole 0:57
Same, same, same, same, same, all right. Or shall we start with your artwork in in Living Here, can you describe it to us?

Jeannie Hua 1:06
Well, I when I was at my last semester at school to Art Institute of Chicago, our thesis mentor wanted us to present our thesis using video only. She didn't want written. And so it forced all of us to acclimate to using digital video as a medium really quickly. And what I thought when I what I was working on at the time, was countering the narrative of people demonstrating against the removal of Confederate monuments, and most of their reasoning was, well, we're just defending our way of life. My ancestors fought in the American Civil War, and I thought that was interesting, because I knew that people of color fought in the American Civil War, and so I wanted to make art about using the basis for their legitimacy, for their stance, and subverting it. Because I didn't think that they were fighting for our way of life, as well as people of color. And so when I decided to make a video entitled Meditation, I wanted to make the ultimate conceptual art, which is to make the art in the minds of the viewer, and so that's what led me to use the premise of meditation to open up the minds of the viewer and to have each viewer conjure up their own images from the words that I speak during the video.

Deanne Sole 3:09
Yeah, I thought it was that I love about your piece, is the way you segue from what seems to be a very typical, you know, meditation voice over telling us to soothe and calm and all these kinds of things, and then all of a sudden you switch directions, and it turns into something really different, and that, I just thought that was so clever. It wasn't something that I'd seen in your other artwork, either. I think most of the artwork that I'd seen from you to that point was 2D collages, paintings, things like that. I hadn't seen you work with video before, so one of the I'm really glad you, you explained how you you know or why, what prompted you to kind of make that leap.

Jeannie Hua 3:53
I was always very intimidated by photography and video and anything digital, right? I'm Gen X, and I always felt that it was beyond my reach, and so it Thank goodness for being forced to do things right. Then you discover ways of saying what you want through through means that you otherwise would never have considered that you thought, Oh, I'm not. I don't feel comfortable with this medium, and therefore it's completely outside of my art practice. And so when I was forced to learn how to make video, it was really joyful and freeing, and it's and I realized that feeling that the discomfort of learning a new medium is kind of a cool thing, because it forces you to grow. And I'm a geezer and I'm 57 and I realized that in order to stay as stay as. Alive, thinking organism and staying younger, you always have to force yourself to be uncomfortable and learn new things, and that is the key for every iteration of your regeneration as a human being, right? Every day we're a different person. And so, yeah, I was forced to use video. I grumbled about it like and but it was challenging and it was really fun.

Deanne Sole 5:29
That's great. I mean, that's one of the things, I think, is just looking at the students here and watching what they do, that seems to me to be such a huge part of being a student is to be forced like that and to be given the means to do it as well. You know the fact that when you when you are a student, you suddenly have access to things that you wouldn't necessarily have if you were just sitting at home in your studio, looking around going, well, I've got what I've always got, but the fact that these new things are presented to you, I think, I hope, helps to spur people, you know, gives them the desire, oh, it's there, do it.

Jeannie Hua 6:07
I hope the students here don't take it for granted the wonderful resources that are afforded to them when they come to the school, because once they graduate, they have to go and access to like, somehow get the resources themselves, and that that can be more difficult as a non student and as a student. And so it's interesting, because my younger kids are all about digital art, right? So that when they're forced to use, like, oil paint and acrylic and, you know, printing ink. It's like, oh my God, and so and so they're uncomfortable. And it makes me happy that everybody is uncomfortable around me, because we're all being made to grow in different ways that we otherwise wouldn't because of the educational environment that's afforded to us.

Deanne Sole 6:57
Yeah, absolutely everybody gets to hurt and grumble.

Jeannie Hua 7:01
That's the idea, man, yeah.

Deanne Sole 7:03
Do you think you'll keep working in video? Was it something that you want to pursue?

Jeannie Hua 7:07
Yes, I have been meaning to, I have I've been collecting many clips over the years since I've made this last video, and I've been meaning to get back into it. And when I was going to say about the video format was I noticed that when I would do my yoga tapes and meditation videos, I would notice that's when I get my best art ideas. And I thought, Well, why do I share that with with everyone. You know what I mean. Why shouldn't I use this like the cultural significance of meditation videos is to relax, open up your mind, embrace the presence, deal with, you know, whatever mental health. But why not use it as a canvas and so and so, I kind of it's funny, because when I showed the video to my friends, first of all, they were very supportive of it. But second of all, because they know me afterwards, after they said, you know, gave me the positive feedback. They said, Oh, we thought you were going to mess with us. And I said, You know what? That's something I grapple with. Because when you are meditating, when you are breathing in, breathing out, and visualizing and quieting your mind, recognizing your distracted thoughts, and accepting it and then going on, you are making a four way for foray into other people's minds, and there's a responsibility that comes with that. There really is, you know, there's a trust that you need to instill in your viewer and uphold that trust, right, not abuse it. Yeah, and so, and I, so I, I found myself to be very respectful with the video and to do more of that series. Because when I when I talk to my normal friends, my non art friends, they always think that when they look at art, they have to discern the artist very specific and narrow meaning, right? And that puts off people, and it makes me sad. And then when I tell them this, once, once an artist, art is given to the public, it is as much as yours, as much as the artist, and your interpretation is just as valid, and I'm always met with like, looks of distrust, just like, Would I lie to you about art? That's ridiculous, you know, maybe I would lie and say you don't look fat in those pants, but I'm not going to lie to you about art. Okay, and and so that's another wonderful thing about the video, is that. But I do guide the viewer a bit, and then they're left to be part of the artistic creation with me, so that it's a constant renewal of so the piece, when it's played over and over again, it's something different over and over again and so, yeah, so I was really happy when you guys liked it.

Deanne Sole 10:28
I think it, it adds a dimension. There's a lot of the work in the show for for those of you listening who haven't seen the show or haven't read up about it, it's artists from Eastern and Southeast Asian diasporas in the United States. And a lot of the work in it is fairly contemporary. In the artists are thinking about things that are happening to them now or that have happened to them recently or have happened in their lifetimes. Jeannie's is quite different in that it does reflect on historical events. And we only have one or two works like that, and I think that's one of the reasons why we wanted it in the show, because it added, it added some, it added a kind of chronological depth that we didn't have everywhere else, so it was nice to have it there, talking about things, things happening chronologically. By the way, since this, this is a video, it does happen across time. You know, it's not like your 2D works in the you know, I look at one of your collages and your paintings, and like any collage or painting, I can see the whole thing all at once. I'm not seeing it across time. I'm seeing it in a kind of a burst. And you talked about the sort of responsibility that you felt you had to the the audience, to the viewer when they're watching that video, because you are using that movement through time to get inside their heads. Do you feel anything like that, anything like this, similar sense of responsibility when you're making one of your 2D works? Or is that, that feeling towards what you what you owe, or how much you should attack, if I can use that word, the viewer, does it change with your different mediums?

Jeannie Hua 12:20
It's interesting that you say that the sense of responsibility changes with my 2D work, the responsibility I feel with my 2D work has to do with how I express the Asian American diaspora. So my 2d work isn't, you're right. There's no chronology to it. It's it's static, right? Unless you move your eyes around the collages and the paintings and enter and have that saturate your own musings as you look at the works. The responsibility I feel is how to be true to myself, how to be authentic, but at but also how to let the viewer know that a lot of this is why this show is so awesome, because a lot of Asian American presence has to do with being gaslit and erasure. And here we are. We have this huge, amazing show filled with colors and different mediums and different sounds and, you know, just different shapes and lines, and it's so joyful, and it's just immersive, and so I feel like the responsibility I feel I share with all the artists in the show, which is, how do we be as authentic as ourselves, but but whether or not we like it, how to also be a representative for our for people who share our own culture and ethnicity. You know what I mean? You know when I when I walk out my house and I try always to have a positive interaction with everybody I come across because I realize that I may be the only Asian American person that they have ever met, and so whatever impression I leave is going to be impression of every you know, Asian American person, and I'm very aware of that, so that awareness isn't just in My art, but it's also how I interact with people, how I raise my kids, how I drive my car and the traffic and and how to be a world citizen. So yeah, and I see you taking that responsibility as very well as well, not just as an artist, but as a human being. Mean, and that's why it's always joyful to see you and talk to you.

Deanne Sole 15:06
I'm glad about that. And going going back to your attitude towards the world, I mean, you haven't always practiced art, is the way that you practice art now kind of informed by what you did before you you got your MFA and started appearing in shows, because you've been in quite you've had shows, you've had residencies, and you've done all of this across the space of just a couple of years. Well, when did you get your MFA?

Jeannie Hua 15:38
Well, first of all, I'm much closer to death than you are. Deanne, so I got to shove everything in as quickly as possible before I, you know, pop off and I know, because we're friends, I know you're asking about the fact that I've been a criminal defense attorney since 1995 but I thought it would be really funny if I said yes. Before I was an artist. I was a ninja, a higher assassin. But no, it's nothing that exciting, and I can't climb a wall to save my life. So I'd be just the worst ninja. I'd be just banging on people's doors. Excuse me.

Deanne Sole 16:13
Okay, so did that? Did that stop you from studying to become a ninja? You saw that barrier ahead of you and said, No, I have to become something else.

Jeannie Hua 16:21
I couldn't climb a rope, and I just, I was just so loud, you know, like, CLOMP, CLOMP, CLOMP.

Deanne Sole 16:27
Oh well, you can't leap down from the rafters and cut my head off with one blow. No, that's, that's really sad. Well, I'm sorry about that.

Jeannie Hua 16:34
Oh, see, that is the compassionate person that I know you to be. Deanne, failed ninja, but happy artist.

Deanne Sole 16:42
We won't put that on your label. We promise failed.

Jeannie Hua 16:49
I'm sorry. Are we allowed to laugh? Okay, well, that's too bad. That's too bad I know we weren't allowed to cuss, but I'm laughing. So okay, I'm sorry. Okay, yes, so I think part of the reason I became a criminal defense attorney is the same reason why I became an artist, which is again to be my most authentic self and to represent people that look like me. I don't want to. I think people should be judged individually, but that's not how reality shakes out, you know, and I kind of just stumbled into criminal defense. I became a lawyer because my parents told me that that I needed to take care of, I need to take care of them when they got older, and so

Jeannie Hua 17:45
I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but this is truth. So they told me that they had failed in life, that I was their only hope, that I needed to put myself through college and graduate school and have a lucrative career so I can take care of them, and that is exactly what I did. And then it was a very proud day when I bought a house for them. And yeah, yeah, that was just kind of the expectation. It was a privilege to take care of them. But unfortunately, 10 years ago, I wanted to die so badly that I had to cut short my legal career. I had to shut down my practice in a week. And after I recovered from my suicidal ideations, my husband said, you have always wanted to be an artist. I mean that that is the first thing I tell each guy that I could tell was, like, even a little bit interested in me, it was like, I've always wanted to be an artist. I have to take care of my parents, and so they know exactly, are you, what they're who they're dealing with. And I said, do you understand if I try this art thing, I'm going to be living off of you? And he said, Yes, I understand that. And so I wouldn't have any kind of art career without my husband, who is a wonderful man, very patient. He's very patient.

Deanne Sole 19:10
Good. I think that's true of a lot of artists. You know, you need, you need other people around you, a partner, or, you know, the family member or something that that is there to support you. Absolutely. It's just part of the whole art gig, really.

Jeannie Hua 19:26
It really is, yeah, once you find your allies, you just need to hang on to them, man, yeah,

Deanne Sole 19:33
Yeah, absolutely. And you, you went on from there to get your MFA at a fairly prestigious ... is that a good word? Art College.

Jeannie Hua 19:43
I first applied here because I love it here, and then I found out about the low residency program, and I realized, okay, so I there. There wasn't space for me here. And I understood. With that, and I respected that. And so I applied to low residency programs in in other places, and I was able to, you know, I I went to college in Chicago. I love Chicago. So when I got the opportunity to go to school in Chicago, I was just all over that. I love, I love Chicago, you, and I should just go to Chicago right now. I'd love to go to let's do it. Let's hop on a flight.

Deanne Sole 20:26
What makes Chicago so great for the arts?

Jeannie Hua 20:29
it is, well, for

Deanne Sole 20:31
anything it

Jeannie Hua 20:32
is, well, it's a, it's a large, huge, urban city. But with that Midwestern friendliness, right? Chicago definitely has its problems. It's right. It has its problems, but it was the first city. So I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio in the '70s and '80s. It was very racist, and so as soon as I graduated from high school, I was one of the few people who didn't stay in Ohio for school, and I just went to Chicago. And when the first week I was in Chicago was the first week I went without on a daily basis, hearing people, you know, go back to China. I've never been to China, you know. And I remember walking around campus thinking, What is different? There's something different. I realized I went a whole day without feeling just off. Oh, and I was ugly. I was told that on a daily basis, so they were very thorough in their opinion of me. Yeah, so, so that's part of the reason why. And then I was late bloomer. So let's just say I discovered boys in Chicago. Good memories.

Deanne Sole 21:46
Okay, good memories. Okay. So Chicago is good for a lot of things, not just

Jeannie Hua 21:55
live music. You got the museums, you know, it's at 12 o'clock in the morning, you can find good jazz, you know, playing at The Green Mill on Michigan Avenue, and just food and so fun.

Deanne Sole 22:10
What, what's it like to study there? I mean, what's what? What's the the art? What's the art teaching like? Basically, what

Jeannie Hua 22:18
depends on the teacher. Every teacher is so different. And you know, the joyful thing that I found is that as long whether it's in Chicago or whether it's in Las Vegas or whether it's in Minneapolis, when you have a group of people passionate about art, you're just going to have the most fantastic education and the most like open minded thinking, and that there's just these, it's it gives me hope that there are still institutions everywhere that nourishes young people and old people like me, and give them resources and give them hope that they can continue to go on and create. And so I was just going to say that, you know, whether or not I'm in Chicago, whether or not I'm here, I've met so many wonderful like, talented artists, supportive, encouraging of each other. And it's just, I keep saying joyful, because it really is. It's a joyful thing. You know, every time I meet a new artist here, I learn something new. And when you learn from other people, you yourself become a better artist, just in that, just from the exchange. And I just love that

Deanne Sole 23:38
Is that part of the reason why you've, you've been on so many residencies, because that's another thing that's really impressed me, is like you, you, you did the, what the Oxbow residency, didn't you. You did a number of things. You did one,

Jeannie Hua 23:53
I was at Oregon, right? So, um, back about mud, back in, back in September of last year, I was at the Oxbow resident, long form residency in Saugatuck, Michigan, and it was just so beautiful there. And they have studios, and that's the thing, once you become an independent artist, you don't have access to a ceramic studio, you don't have access to a printing studio or a painting studio. And so that was really wonderful in meeting new artists. And then when I was at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology at the artist residency there, I also was able to meet artists and writers and poets there and and unfortunately, I got a concussion there, so I had to cut that short, you know, don't walk on a wet deck and look at tick tock at the same time. That is really unwise. Don't, don't do that. Learn from me, Deanne. Learn

Deanne Sole 24:58
I am. Sticking that in my memory right this very minute, no walking on wet decks and we and looking at Tiktok. Are you okay now you I sort of followed the story on Instagram. I think you posted about it.

Jeannie Hua 25:15
Well, in my concussive state, I was convinced at one point that the lovely woman who donates her beautiful home for artists at the Sitka residency, I was convinced that the spirit of her dead husband was haunting me because lights were turning off and on on their own, and I would hear knocking and and, you know, to be fair, we were in a sanctuary, and so that, like electricity, like, I know there's no such thing as ghosts I do, but I felt that way. And so how I dealt with it was I started reading poetry to my ghost friend, and that seemed to have appeased him.

Deanne Sole 25:58
What sort of poetry do ghosts like, all that ghost I'm not gonna like bundle all ghosts into the same category. That's really rude.

Jeannie Hua 26:06
That is so incredibly empathetic of you.

Deanne Sole 26:11
I hope the ghosts appreciate

Jeannie Hua 26:13
Well, right? Because you would not want to be haunted. No. Ghost, no. He liked Cuban American poetry, I noticed that and kind of just introspective poetry about conflicts of marriage. I noticed, who knew? Thank God, right?

Deanne Sole 26:33
Yeah, maybe nobody had ever read him poetry before. You know what it would have been his first exposure.

Jeannie Hua 26:39
Yes, it's a it's about time, right? It's so sad that he had to wait until he died. It became a ghost for a middle aged Taiwanese American artist to read him random snippets of poetry. Wow, while watching her cook vegan paleo food for the two weeks that I stayed at his house,

Deanne Sole 27:02
yeah, what an experience for him. That's great. You were able to share, even if you you know were not necessarily making the art that you were hoping to make. I got to do something else.

Jeannie Hua 27:15
Yeah, I like to think he sympathized when he was watching me, when I cooking my vegan paleo food and yeah, and eating the same meal for two weeks because I cooked too much vegan paleo food.

Deanne Sole 27:34
Did you? Did you get to meet other people besides the ghost?

Jeannie Hua 27:37
I did awesome. I met a professor from RISD, I met a performance artist from Portland, and I met a Nepalese Canadian writer, wow, and they were amazing.

Deanne Sole 27:55
And that's, I think, one of the wonderful, you know, it's wonderful to think that now you've got these other there's other network of people that you can keep in contact with. So you've got the artists in Las Vegas to network with network. I'm not in a negative sort of, I'm networking now sense, but in a sort of a friendships around the world and around the nation that are going to feed your art. I think we have to wrap up about now, okay. Thank you, Jeannie very much for being with us. If you listeners want to see her website, it's www dot jeanniehua dot art. On Instagram she's @ruthlesslyoptimistic. The shows again will run until December 20, and we would absolutely love to see you there. See Jeannie's art, see everybody else's art. Thank you so much for listening.

Jeannie Hua 28:45
Thank you, Dean. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai