5/8/2007 3:06:00 PM
An artist for life
Susan Liu brings her Taiwanese heritage and experiences to canvas
Katy Zillmer
staff writer
"This is the best thing in the world for me. For me it's the highest dream I can have," Liu said during an interview at her home.
Included in the art portfolio that covers her walls are large murals which represent another aspect of her life.
Since 1992 Liu's floor-to-ceiling murals have been featured at a Taiwanese exhibit at the Festival of Nations, held each May at the RiverCentre in St. Paul.
The festival this year was May 3 through May 6 and Liu's mural "Taiwanese Games and Toys" was a part of the overall exhibit representing the country.
More than 90 ethnic groups from around the world were part of this year's festival, depicting the common theme of toys, games and sports, through food, art, clothing, dance performances and cultural exhibits.
"The mural for this year, and others, shows people and different aspects of the culture all in one," Liu says.
Her painting depicts children playing sports popular in Taiwan combined with a temple and a vision of mountains and the city of Taipei in the background.
Liu says painting the temple involved less detail than painting the people in the mural. "When making so many kids, so many people, (it) takes the most time."
A group process
Through the Minnesota chapter of the Taiwanese Association of America, Liu became involved with the Festival of Nations in 1987.
It was that
year that the Taiwanese exhibit won its first of 17 awards of excellence
at the Inaugural Cultural Exhibits Competition, according to the
association's Web site.
"This is an opportunity to get all the people who are interested
together," Liu says.
Just as more people from the association have become involved in the
festival, Liu's murals have gradually become more of a presence in the
annual exhibit and her home.
The association's volunteers research on how the exhibit should portray
the festival's theme began last November, Liu says.
Her painting. however, began at the end of February, she says. "I have
to paint under pressure."
Susan Liu stands on a ladder in her home studio to reach the top of her large mural oil paintings. Liu's murals can also be seen at the Asian American Student Union at the University of Minnesota and Century College.
Top,
Passionate about sharing her Taiwanese culture, Maplewood artist Susan
Liu painted the mural that was featured at the Taiwanese booth at the
Festival of Nations held May 3-6 at RiverCentre. photos by Linda
Baumeister/Review Just above, "Taiwanese Dancer", one of Susan Liu's
paintings. Submitted image
Through the festival and the Taiwanese association Eugene Tsai has become a long-time friend with Liu.
He says Susan's murals are the most important part of her overall contribution to the annual exhibit at the Festival of Nations. "We saw that Susan was able to paint. By painting every year she really excelled herself," Tsai says.
Cultural
influences
In some ways Liu does consider the murals she has painted as "practice"
for other types of work she would like to complete.
The journey, however, that brought her to be an artist and to move to
the United States also may have been a factor leading to what Liu has
accomplished today.
She moved here in 1974 to earn her master's degree in social work at
Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.
The career of social work and communicating with clients was difficult
for Liu because of her accent and language barriers. She again went back
to school and became a computer programmer until she retired and finally
moved on to her lifetime passion ... art.
School in Taiwan did include art classes, Liu says. "I enjoyed all the
classes (where) I didn't need to do homework. I enjoyed art. I always
got an 'A' but (I) never had anyone say I had talent."
Liu's art accomplishments are big, but her culture and influences
growing up have kept her modest and humble about what she has achieved.
She says growing up in Taiwanese culture meant that her parents would
always criticize their children more often than praising them.
"Her passion to paint is from (when) she was very young. She felt very
compelled to paint so she is almost like a self-made artist," Tsai says
of his friend.
In school, students were given entrance exams for junior high school and
senior high school, Liu says. However one year she failed an entrance
exam and did not get her first choice of school. "That experience, it
impacted me all my life. From then on I ranked in the middle. I'm always
ranked in the middle when I look at my paintings. That's kind of a force
for me to try to improve," she says.
Years later, even after she had completed her first painting at age 40,
Liu says a visit from her mother and comments of no art on the walls in
her first home brought out some of her creations.
Now, the first painting she completed is at her brother's home in
Hawaii, Liu says.
Since her involvement in the Festival of Nations, some additional murals
Liu has completed have found homes locally.
One, "Asian Cultures," is featured at the Asian American Student Union
at the University of Minnesota. The other, "Around the World" adorns the
wall at the Century College Multi-cultural Center.
Lessons learned
Liu has taken some art classes over time and has even taught her friends
basic painting skills she has developed.
Although she is retired now and not painting as a career, Liu does in
some ways face the struggle of a "starving artist."
"I never feel comfortable to get profit for myself and it's difficult.
I'm still struggling with that," she says.
Overall, painting at this time in her life is a learning experience, Liu
says. "I have a dream to become a good painter and that keeps me going."
Some portraits throughout her home are "unfinished," and Liu says she
will gradually work on them. "I feel that there is still a lot for me to
work on ... I am not tired of what I am doing yet," she says.
For more information on Susan Liu and to view her paintings, visit www.
susanliu.com.
Katy Zillmer can be reached at
kzillmer@lillienews.com or at 651-748-7822.
Related Links: • www.susanliu.com