Liuli art show presents Chinese culture to Americans

LOS ANGELES -- An ongoing Liuli (colored glaze) art exhibition in the US city of Costa Mesa in southern California showcases the heritage and innovation of an ancient Chinese craft.

The show that kicked off on Thursday at South Coast Plaza, the largest shopping center on the US West Coast, coincided with the plaza's Asian heritage month festivities. "Goodbye Movies, Hello Liuli -- The Liuli Art of Loretta H. Yang and Chang Yi" presents to American audiences the superb Liuli craftsmanship of Loretta H. Yang, or Yang Huishan, a well-known Liuli artist, and that of her husband Chang Yi.

Yang, a former award-winning film actress from China's Taiwan, co-founded with her husband the Colored Glaze Workshop there in 1987, which together with the Shanghai-based Liuli China Museum provided the Liuli artworks for the exhibit in California.

The couple told media at the opening ceremony that they have been committed to the research and revival of the Liuli pate-de-verre technique that dates back to the Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago.

"In the course of 32 years, we strove to display the essence of the Chinese culture as well as Chinese people's aesthetic exploration through Liuli," said Yang.

"It is our hope to pass on and enrich the Chinese culture through constant innovations," she added.

Her fast-growing Liuli workshop has become a popular luxury brand in China and is gaining momentum in Asian, American and European markets.

"Using Liuli art as a means of communication, we share the Chinese values with an international audience," said Chang.

Carmela Spinelli, a fashion historian visiting from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, Georgia, was astounded by the beauty of the exhibit.

"I got chills walking through it," she said, adding that she was impressed by the sense of tranquility, the exquisite glass sculptures, the videos, the matching poetry, and the lighting at the scene.

"And even the bases the sculptures rest on are all finely conceived and integrated into an astoundingly complex, multi-faceted cohesive whole that makes your spirits soar," she said.