September 2021 Vol. 2, No.8
Wennie Huang – the Quintessential Teaching Artist
Between Heaven and Earth
Abaca Fibers, Methyl Cellulose, Monofilament and Wool
120 x 192 x 84 inches
2004
In much of the world, public attitudes toward the teaching profession are far better than in the US. Teachers are revered and enjoy trust, respect, high-status and a strong cultural emphasis on the importance of education. It is detrimentally different in the US. Here, the teachers are too often underfunded, disparaged and disrespected, as evidenced by one of the most moronic quotes to ever make it into popular culture: “Those who can, do. Those who can't teach.” It’s part of the “ignorant and proud of it” undercurrent of mindless, anti-intellectual populism. Evidently, and sadly, pity the fools who think those derogatory thoughts, as they must never have had a great teacher who made a difference in their lives.
Blow
Watercolor Painting from Family Photo c.1979
12 x 9 inches
2021
Apparently, they never met Wennie Huang, a self-described “teaching artist” who is the indefatigable embodiment of precisely that duality: a brilliant artist and an amazing teacher. She is the devoted mother to a college aged son, an art professor and an accomplished, multi-talented, multi-faceted and highly successful artist. She can and she does!
In much of the world, public attitudes toward the teaching profession are far better than in the US. Teachers are revered and enjoy trust, respect, high-status and a strong cultural emphasis on the importance of education. It is detrimentally different in the US. Here, the teachers are too often underfunded, disparaged and disrespected, as evidenced by one of the most
moronic quotes to ever make it into popular culture: “Those who can, do. Those who can't teach.” It’s part of the “ignorant and proud of it” undercurrent of mindless, anti-intellectual populism. Evidently, and sadly, pity the fools who think those derogatory thoughts, as they must never have had a great teacher who made a difference in their lives.
The Brooklyn based Wennie Huang earned a Masters in Fine Arts degree in printmaking at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Both schools extended full merit scholarships. She also took courses at Pratt in Venice, Italy at the University à Di Baluarte; and, at the Hogeskool vor de Kunsten, in Amsterdam, Holland. She now proudly makes her living teaching art. Even though she is artistically on a master level, the financially oriented arts education system today is not geared to offering full-time, tenured positions, as it was usual in past decades. Wennie Huang subsequently travels to four job sites in New York. She is Adjunct Professor at Parsons the New School for Design and workshop Instructor at Wave Hill, Bronx in painting, printmaking & pastel. At the Art Center of the 92nd Street Y, Huang is a fine art instructor of beginning to advanced watercolor and basic and intermediate drawing. She is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America, based in Gramercy Park in New York City, and since 2017, a pastel instructor in their School for Pastels and their new Pastel Society of American Academy. Formerly, she was Adjunct Professor in printmaking, sculpture and illustration at the College of New Rochelle.
The Brooklyn based Wennie Huang earned a Masters in Fine Arts degree in printmaking at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Both schools extended full merit scholarships. She also took courses at Pratt in Venice, Italy at the University à Di Baluarte; and, at the Hogeskool vor de Kunsten, in Amsterdam, Holland. She now proudly makes her living teaching art. Even though she is
artistically on a master level, the financially oriented arts education system today is not geared to offering full-time, tenured positions, as it was usual in past decades. Wennie Huang subsequently travels to four job sites in New York. She is Adjunct Professor at Parsons the New School for Design and workshop Instructor at Wave Hill, Bronx in painting, printmaking & pastel. At the Art Center of the 92nd Street Y, Huang is a fine art instructor of beginning to advanced watercolor and basic and intermediate drawing. She is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America, based in Gramercy Park in New York City, and since 2017, a pastel instructor in their School for Pastels and their new Pastel Society of American Academy. Formerly, she was Adjunct Professor in printmaking, sculpture and illustration at the College of New Rochelle.
Vein-Vine
1,000 Chenille Stems
72 x 96 inches
2021
Installation at River Run Playground, Hudson River Park, New York
AirBorne
Pierced Paper
52 x 36 inches
2009
The artist had emancipated herself from the art business to explore her own artistic muses and creativity. She explained, “My business model is to be independent from galleries. I have worked with galleries before and found it limiting. Teaching allows me the freedom to do the art that I want without dependency on the commercial aspect. I practice and teach many types of art: Landscapes, watercolor, pastels, work on paper. I explore many forms – biomorphic, 3D design. Artistic diversity is my genuine self. I feel whole when I do it all. The art market does not like that. They want one category, one direction. I don’t need that."
Wennie Huang
Photo by Joan-Menschenfreund
Digital Photo
2021
Yarmouth Port
Pastel
9 x 12 inches
2021
Untitled Figure
Watercolor
8 x 10 inches
2005
Artistic diversity defines this artist. The self-declared jack of all trades is, in fact, a refined master of all, having developed her broad-ranging technical skills over a lifetime of practice. Her stylistic variety is profound, and no matter which genre she works in, be it watercolors, portraits, installations, paintings or whatever, her work is powerfully expressive, poignant and strong. Classically trained artists have always been dexterous in styles and mediums, rooted in solid academics and vigorous practice. Take DaVinci or Michelangelo, who both understood geometry, mathematics and science, practicing a wide range of disciplines. Wennie Huang has also spent a lifetime diligently perfecting her broad artistic range, ultimately achieving preeminence in each. It is the result of hard work and perseverance, “Art has kept me calm and occupied since the time when my mom put me in a highchair and gave me a paper and pencil. I drew obsessively to the point where I used so much paper that my dad brought home rolls of newsprint that my mom cut into smaller pieces for me. I was advanced in drawing by the time I entered school and for all of my life I was referred to as an artist. For a time, I thought that I wanted to do other things, like become a National Geographic photographer, but eventually it was clear to me that, yes, I am a visual artist.” While developing solid artistic skills, she also excelled academically, with a strong foundation in mathematics. As with many artists, however, there was existentialist struggle. Things were not easy and external obstacles had to be overcome.
She was born in Cortland, New York, a small town in the upstate Finger Lakes region as a daughter of educated Chinese immigrants from Taiwan. Her father was a mathematics professor and her mom a homemaker who had studied biology. As a racial minority in the predominately white, conservative community, her early life was impressed by the feeling of insecurity, of not fitting in and living with racism. “I was very cognizant of being non-white as a cultural minority. My presence in the world was challenged. For all my life I had the sense of not belonging. My family stood out and we were often bullied. Sometimes there was violence and often there was intimidation and threats. I did have friends, but it affected me. I was conscious of being Asian, and I feel this insecurity now more than ever, with the anti-Asian sentiments, the hate attacks. Right now, I feel in danger. Especially, as a woman, I am always aware and careful.” She went on, “I work really hard. I am a survivor. I know what makes me valuable. I don’t give up.”
Red Scab
Performance over Site-Specific Installation of Chenille Stems
90 x 42 x 30 inches
2007
Installation/Performance View at Sculpture Space., Utica, New York
Photo: Lucia Warck Meister
She was born in Cortland, New York, a small town in the upstate Finger Lakes region as a daughter of educated Chinese immigrants from Taiwan. Her father was a mathematics professor and her mom a homemaker who had studied biology. As a racial minority in the predominately white, conservative community, her early life was impressed by the feeling of insecurity, of not fitting in and living with racism. “I was very cognizant of being non-white as a cultural minority. My presence in the world was challenged. For all my life I had the sense of not belonging. My family stood out and we were often bullied. Sometimes there was violence and often there was intimidation and threats. I did have friends, but it affected me. I was conscious of being Asian, and I feel this insecurity now more than ever, with the anti-Asian sentiments,
the hate attacks. Right now, I feel in danger. Especially, as a woman, I am always aware and careful.” She went on, “I work really hard. I am a survivor. I know what makes me valuable. I don’t give up.”
Institutional racism affected her deeply. She was the top of her high school class and excelled academically, but astonishingly, the very year that she would have been her class valedictorian, the school declared that in that particular year there would be no valedictorian. There was one the year before and the year after, but when a bright young Chinese American girl achieved the honor, it was denied. Wennie Huang went on with her life. She had a full scholarship to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and she was ready to get out of the small-minded small town to make her success in the big city. Yet, she had important mentors in high school. She remembered, “The majority of my teachers in high school were supportive of me, and that had it not been for my three high school art teachers, I may not have attended art school or become an artist. They truly guided me through my young adulthood and into college and I owe them, deeply, for believing in me and continuing to guide me, and in fact, they are the inspiration for my professional pursuits.”
Institutional racism affected her deeply. She was the top of her high school class and excelled academically, but astonishingly, the very year that she would have been her class valedictorian, the school declared that in that particular year there would be no valedictorian. There
was one the year before and the year after, but when a bright young Chinese American girl achieved the honor, it was denied. Wennie Huang went on with her life. She had a full scholarship to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and she was ready to get out of the small-minded small town to make her success in the big city. Yet, she had important mentors in high school. She remembered, “The majority of my teachers in high school were supportive of me, and that had it not been for my three high school art teachers, I may not have attended art school or become an artist. They truly guided me through my young adulthood and into college and I owe them, deeply, for believing in me and continuing to guide me, and in fact, they are the inspiration for my professional pursuits.”
Metallic Mamadou
Watercolor
9 x 12 inches
2021
My Dad
Watercolor
6 x 9 inches
2020
The Yellow Wallpaper
Watercolor
9 x 12 inches
2021
Mamadou in Yellow
Watercolor
9 x 12 inches
2021
Portrait of Afriyie
Pastel
9 x 12 inches
2021
Jenne in Red Blouse
Watercolor
9 x 12 inches
2021
Summoning the Ghosts
Paper and Glue, Dimensions Variable
10 x 10 feet
1998 - 2003
Installed at the Hammond Museum, North Salem, New York
Paper Daughter
Mixed Media on Panel
12 x 12 inches each, Dimensions Variable
1996
Installation View at the Hammond Museum, North Salem, New York
Two Eyes (detail from Paper Daughter)
Mixed Media on Diptych Panels
24 x 12 inches
1996
Installation View at the Hammond Museum, North Salem, New York
Today, she channeled this outrage in her art, for example her poignant mixed media piece “Two Eyes.” In this self-portrait the artist repeats the racist gesture that she and other people of southeast Asian heritage have often been subjected to, the pulled slant-eye, the non-verbal “n-word” for Asians. “It is me making the face that others made to me back to them. It was empowering. Instead of being scared or ashamed, I am reflecting it back.” Wennie Huang overcame all that. “I have no regrets. I am privileged to earn a living doing what I love in the best city in the world. Someone once taught me: ‘Go where the door opens’ and I have lived by that for all of my life. …I have control over my own attitude, and I know that I will make things work out.”
Wennie Huang in Home Studio
“I allow my curiosity to guide me. I am wondering and questioning constantly. That’s what keeps me interested.”
Her life’s work as an artist equals her prowess as a teacher. She has exhibited extensively to critical acclaim and she is a frequent lecturer. Wennie Huang’s works are beautiful, wondrous and filled with the natural curiosity that guides her artistic direction, “I am curious. That’s what drives me. I allow my curiosity to guide me. I am wondering and questioning constantly. That’s what keeps me interested. I am a little bit childlike in my curiosity. That’s why I like Brooklyn… Art is satisfying, but I am never completely satisfied. It always leads to more. Art is the only way that I can bring freely all of my interests together.”
Heir/Air/loom (Hand to Mouth)
Silkscreen on Handmade Silk Kite
18 x 18 x 18 inches
2001
Courtesy of the Lower East Side Printshop