Display presents liuli culture to US audiences

LOS ANGELES — An ongoing liuli (colored-glaze) art exhibition in the US city of Costa Mesa in southern California showcases the heritage and innovation of an ancient Chinese craft.

The show that kicked off on Thursday at South Coast Plaza, the largest shopping center on the US West Coast, coincided with the plaza’s Asian-heritage month festivities.

Goodbye Movies, Hello Liuli — The Liuli Art of Loretta H. Yang and Chang Yi presents to US audiences the craftsmanship of well-known artist Loretta H. Yang, or Yang Huishan, and that of her husband, Chang Yi.

Yang, a former award-winning film actress, co-founded with her husband the Colored Glaze Workshop in Taiwan in 1987 that, together with the Shanghai-based Liuli China Museum, provided the artworks for the ongoing US exhibition.

The couple told media at the opening ceremony that they were committed to the research and revival of the liuli pate-de-verre technique that dates back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220).

“In the course of 32 years, we strove to display the essence of Chinese culture as well as Chinese people’s aesthetic explorations through liuli,” says Yang.

“It is our hope to pass on and enrich this Chinese culture through constant innovations.”

Her fast-growing liuli workshop has become a popular luxury brand in China and is gaining momentum in Asian, North American and European markets.

“Using liuli art as a means of communication, we share Chinese values with an international audience,” says Chang.

Carmela Spinelli, a fashion historian visiting from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, Georgia, was astounded by the beauty of the exhibits.

“I got chills walking through,” she says, adding that she was impressed by the sense of tranquility, the exquisite glass sculptures, videos, matching poetry and lighting.

“And even the bases the sculptures rest on are all finely conceived and integrated into an astoundingly complex, multifaceted, cohesive whole that makes your spirits soar,” she adds.