Chance to See Chinese Artists in Action Not to Be Missed

“Can you imagine,” said Peter Keller, president of the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana, “asking Andrew Wyeth to come in and paint in the round. Who knows what that would be worth?”

We were discussing the Oct. 5 Bowers fund-raiser, “La Fiesta: Under a Chinese Sky.” The Bowers has brought in some of the world’s biggest names in Chinese Art--the Andrew Wyeths of that field--and asked them to paint a series of 24 Chinese lanterns, huge round paper bulbs, which will be auctioned off during the festival.

Keller was among those explaining to me that they had no idea what these lanterns would bring in at auction.

“Auctioning this work is not really a Chinese tradition,” laughed Anne Shih, who heads the Bowers’ Chinese Cultural Arts Council. “We’re creating a new tradition.”

I confess not knowing a great deal about Chinese art, except that what I’ve seen so far has been magnificent. Names like Lo Ch’ing and Shaw-Ping Liao do not mean anything to me. But at a preview party last week at the Fluor Daniel corporate headquarters in Irvine, guests were gushing that the Bowers had been able to come up with so many artists of this caliber.

On Saturday, you have a chance to see these artists at work. They will paint original designs on the 24 lanterns from 2 to 4 p.m. at the museum. The lanterns will be on display at the Bowers through the following Saturday.

“It’s going to be quite an experience,” said Louise Kuo Chen Tsain of Huntington Beach, who is among the artists. She teaches Chinese painting at Saddleback College, where she says her students come from a mix of ethnic backgrounds. I asked her to describe Chinese art.

“It comes from the mind and the heart,” she said, “with a lot of Chinese philosophy.”

Tsain is the former president of the Bowers’ Chinese Cultural Arts Council. She and others insisted that Anne Shih, the current president, is responsible for talking the Bowers into this particular festival. Shih smiled humbly when I told her about the praise others had heaped upon her.

“I only hope to be a bridge between the Pacific Rim and the people of this county,” she said.

I got a special kick out of this preview party because of the setting. The guest list was loaded with some of the county’s wealthiest citizens. Yet they, like me, were in awe of the plush surroundings. Whatever your image is of what a set of corporate offices is supposed to look like, I doubt it comes close to how they live on the penthouse floor at Fluor Daniel.

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Optimism or Fantasy? We’ve heard the Democrats and Republicans argue in recent weeks about which party has the real optimists. I saw the most optimistic of them all in action the night of President Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention.

Many local Democrats watched the speech on a big screen TV at the Democrats’ 70th Assembly district headquarters in Irvine. Afterward, Democratic county chairman James Toledano told the gathering he was convinced Clinton could carry Orange County: “We could make world history.”

That brought lots of wild cheering--and laughs. Even Toledano had to smile at his own audacity.

Even as he carried California four years ago, Clinton got thumped like a bass drum by George Bush in Orange County. Republicans outnumber Democrats here by some 50%.

I was a little surprised at this group’s genuine enthusiasm for Clinton’s lengthy speech. The heaviest local applause came when Clinton made pro-Hillary and pro-choice comments.

Phyllis Baker, who’s been voting as a Democrat since the FDR era, said she considers Clinton as exciting as John F. Kennedy. Clinton, she said, “is young, handsome, educated and a good Baptist. What’s not to like?”

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A Jungle Out There: We can only hope that the nice folks at Disneyland will come to their senses and let that case against Jungle Cruise operator Larry Kaml fade away.

Kaml had worked at Disneyland for 11 years but was moving north because his wife had taken another job. It’s a tradition among Jungle Cruise operators to toss an employee into the water on his or her last day. Kaml, who saw his colleagues waiting on the ramp for him as he came in from his last cruise, decided to beat them to it and simply jumped in. In the past, other final-day operators have chosen to jump in too, he said.

But Disneyland called the Anaheim police, and Kaml was cited for trespassing, a misdemeanor. Disneyland officials said Kaml had created a safety hazard. His court date is set for Sept. 19.

Over Labor Day weekend, Kaml was on a KFI-AM radio talk show, and its callers--including a fellow Disneyland employee who used a fake name to protect his job--were overwhelmingly supportive of Kaml.

“We’ll be there for you when you go to court, Larry,” the Disneyland employee said. This caller also complained that after the Kaml incident, a park visitor had jumped into the water on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (a would-be pirate) and this person was merely escorted out of the park--without being cited for a misdemeanor violation.

Kaml told listeners he hopes that Disneyland will drop the whole thing: “I can’t help but think they’re overreacting. I mean, I was just following tradition.”

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Wrap-Up: Over the weekend my wife and I attended a gathering to welcome home two good friends who had been living in Vietnam. We didn’t know many of the people there. Because I was writing about the Bowers, it caught my ear when one small group at the party began discussing the museum and how fortunate Orange County was to have it.

“Bowers brings in art we don’t get anywhere else,” one man said.

The conversation brought to mind the Bowers’ upcoming exhibit, which ties in with its La Fiesta theme: “Seeking Immortality: Chinese Tomb Sculpture from the Schloss Collection.” The 200-piece exhibit will preview at the La Fiesta celebration and remain open until next March.

Thousands of years ago, the Chinese believed in burying clay artifacts with the dead, not only to honor them, but “also to appease spirits and ghosts,” writes the museum’s Asian art curator Janet Baker. “Failure to fulfill funerary obligations could result in malevolent retribution.”

Baker has worked with Lillian Schloss of New York City to put together a traveling exhibit of some of the pieces from her famous collection.

“Since most paintings from this important time in Chinese history did not survive, tomb sculpture offers a unique glimpse into all aspects of Chinese society,” Bowers president Keller writes in a catalog of the pieces.

Some of the clay pieces are farm animals, horses, or dishes. Many are figurines of soldiers and court ladies.

It’s a glimpse into the past that not only makes Chinese-Americans proud, it’s another step across that bridge to the Pacific Rim that Anne Shih talks about.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by call-ing The Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax at (714) 966-7711 or by e-mail at jerry.hicks@latimes.com.