“Snake Goddess.” Photo by Uwe Gielen

St. Francis College is proud to present “A Celebration of Chinese American Art & Photography in NYC,” a month-long exhibition featuring photographs by psychology professor Uwe Gielen and art work by Linda Moses, two students of Chinese art and culture, beginning with the opening reception on Friday, Dec. 2 at 2 p.m.

“This show marks the evolution of my work, using innovative approaches and incorporating Asian aesthetics into abstract Western art,” said Moses, whose pieces make up half the show.

Gielen has spent the last several years chronicling the lives of Chinese-American youths for the book “Growing up Chinese in New York City.” Over the course of collecting those stories, he trained his camera lens on the vibrant culture of New York’s Chinatowns including lions, dragons, snake goddesses and other creatures that make their appearance during Chinese Lunar New Year parades and in Chinese opera performances.

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In addition to the exhibition, the reception will feature a calligraphy demonstration by Yvonne Kwok, Chinese music and dim sum from Oriental Garden restaurant. Guests can have their names written in Chinese and stamp a seal onto rice paper.

As Moses was approaching retirement after a career as a psychologist, she discovered Chinese brush painting. “Moving a brush loaded with sumi-e ink on rice paper was thrilling. So was capturing the essence and energy of my subject matter spontaneously. The show honors the two most important mentors in my artistic life, Jin Guang Yu and Nicki Orbach.”

Gielen grew up as a refugee in Germany, received a Ph.D. in social psychology from Harvard University and presently serves as the executive director of the Institute for International and Cross-Cultural Psychology at St. Francis College.

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