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Photograph by Robert Scheer

Cupertino' s Elizabeth Gomez is one of many artists showcased in "Life Clusters," now on display at The Euphrat Museum.

Art knows no bounds at Euphrat showing

By Danthanh Huynh

At age 13, Yeung Ha took a trip to a new life. She recalls the spectacular view from the sky as she flew across the ocean from Seoul, Korea, to San Francisco.

"I remembered looking down and seeing no boundaries," Ha said. "You go from one place to another. There was a feeling of freedom. It wasn't limited to anything. It wasn't about being Korean or American, but just being free."

Using maps, Ha transformed lines, figures and color codes into the cycles of her life--from meeting her husband to having her first child. The maps guide viewers to her world as she examines her roles as a woman, a mother and a daughter. Poems, Chinese proverbs and personal thoughts in her work are the echoes of the different times in her life.

"My work is about awareness and remembrance of certain moments," Ha says.

She is one of the many artists whose works are currently on display at The Euphrat Museum at DeAnza College. Life Clusters is a celebration of voices and experiences from three uniquely different art organizations: The Women's Caucus for Art and its South Bay Chapter, YLEM, and Folsom Street Interchange. The exhibit explores various issues including cultural clashes, women and aging, the environment and death and relationships.

In "To/Gather," Al Lujan of San Francisco paints a self-portrait of himself and his partner. The painting is based on a photograph taken last year on the Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday of commemoration. His partner has since died.

Lujan says his works document his life, his culture and his memories of loved ones.

Another self-portrait shows him with severed arms, symbolic of family pressures to be practical and not pursue art. Before Lujan's parents passed away five years ago, they came to accept his love for art, he says.

"It came to where I was faking that I didn't like it [art] anymore," Lujan says. "I was taking up photography, which seemed less frivolous and [more] rational to them.

"But when I started to be more formal with my artwork and began showing quality in some of my work, my parents recognized that I wasn't [just] verbal about my love for art. They began to respect it and became supportive and complimentary of my work."

For him, being a part of life's clusters is being visible and sharing his culture with society.

Being visible and sharing is what Jan Rindfleisch, curator of the Euphrat Museum, had in mind when she and other artists developed the idea for the exhibit. Rindfleisch wanted to provide an opportunity for the artists and their organizations to make connections and exchange ideas that affect their growth and their art.

"I wanted to introduce people to these organizations, the artists and how they interact with society and the ties they have," Rindfleisch says.

Life Clusters will show at the Euphrat through Nov. 26. Museum hours are Tue. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m., Wed.-Thu. 11 a.m.-4 p.m., and Sat. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. The museum is open to tour groups by appointment. For more information call 864-8836.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, November 5, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.