"Taiwanese culture lives in Susan Liu" By Tom LaVenture
Asian American Press June 4th, 2004
MAPLEWOOD (May 18, 2004) A self-described traditional childhood in the small town of Tainan, Taiwan, Susan was raised on the farm, worked hard and enjoyed learning about art whenever she could. "My passion on painting was built with many of my childhood days sitting at a corner, listening to my father talking about art and music with my big brother and his friends," said Liu.
Susan graduated from Tunghai University in Taiwan, and completed a social work degree from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. One day about 16 years ago, Susan was redecorating and her mother-in-law, who was impressed with her paintings in the basement recommended that she display them rather than buy paintings. The compliment was enough to spark an interest in painting more often and to take courses and workshops, visit art galleries, and study books to hone her skills and discover a long-lost talent.
She prefers the rich, thick texture of pastels and oil to watercolors. Her work varies from Taiwanese and American pastoral settings, to enthusiastic depictions of daily life in rural Taiwan at the end of World War II. The paintings depict children playing games, roasting sweet potatoes in a makeshift rock oven, and other activities that would be lost to history. The children and adults are rarely alone. The paintings are very busy with activity. "Taiwan is a very crowded place," said Liu, "There has to be lot people. It is a lot of work to paint people."
Friends notice that Liu places people she knows in paintings, but she does not always realize it. Sometimes the likeness is not always actual, yet conveys the personality. She believes that a painting is connected to an artist's inner self. While her mother was visiting her in St. Paul a few years ago, Susan was working on a large painting (now on permanent display at the St. Paul Companies). Two weeks after it was completed, her mother passed away, and the families who came to the funeral saw the painting and found that one of the elderly women in the painting resembled her late mother, painted subconsciously.As an active member of the Taiwanese Association of Minnesota, she specializes in cultural art. Her work caught the eye of the organization, and she received a few commissions, including a 14' by 8 1/2' mural depicting several Asian peoples, commissioned by Surya Sukumar, president of the Asian Student Center at the renovated University of Minnesota Coffman Memorial Union. Liu is a frequent volunteer with the Taiwanese community at the Festival of Nations where her work in 2004 with the "New Year" theme painting for the cultural booth helped to capture the coveted "Award of Excellence" for Cultural Exhibits. The organization is a regular winner of the honor thanks in part to Liu's depiction of a Taiwanese culture that is disappearing with the modernization of Taiwanese society. "Susan always uses art work to inspire," said Ray Tsai, president of the Taiwanese American Association's Minnesota Chapter, who described Liu as a wonderful lady who has produced a great amount of artwork for the Taiwanese and other communities. Tsai is sensitive to the loss of the culture to modernization as the elder generation remembers growing up, and credits Liu with depicting that pastoral time, with living images that breathe life to the painting. "Susan really uses her art to demonstrate our Taiwanese culture and reflect what we were ten to twenty years ago," he added.
Liu has taught dozens of Asian and non-Asian students the art of painting in a self-paced style. She likes for the students to choose something familiar to paint so that she can gauge progress and then move on to more imaginative work as their skills develop.
Susan with a painting that depicts children playing on the farm. The realism and personality in the faces are depictions of Susan's nieces and nephews, along with memories and imagination.