San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
CCA RAISES $1.2 MILLION, HONORS KAY WALKER
California College of the Arts shattered its previous fundraising records on May 23 as it honored board trustee Kay Kimpton Walker — and raised a whopping $1.2 million for student scholarships.
This stylish arts champion and former contemporary gallerist drew an artistically stellar crowd (including her husband, architect Sandy Walker, and daughter, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jennifer Egan) to this annual dinner led by co-chairs and CCA trustees Cathy Podell and designer Stanlee Gatti.
Chic in a black-and-white ensemble, Walker had no idea she’d coordinate with Gatti’s decor — beneath a clear tent, Casablanca lily centerpieces sat atop tables draped in white linen trimmed with black piping.
“Kay’s always so elegant, that palette was a natural choice,” said Gatti. “But more important, Kay is an amazing CCA trustee: a true leader and accomplished force on the board who understands arts education.”
Walker also holds a CCA gala record: Since 2006, she’s organized and cochaired seven such soirees, helping to raise more than $4 million for the scholarship program.
CCA President Stephen Beal led the fete’s tributes, noting the 111-year-old school is on the cusp of expanding its San Francisco campus with more student housing in a configuration that will also seed organic interactions among disciplines.
Prior to an announcement by emcee Liam Mayclem that CCA further honored the honoree by creating the Kay Kimpton Walker Endowed Scholarship, graduating seniors Daniel Ortiz and Arleene Correa Valencia shared their experience of pursuing an arts education, thanks to CCA scholarships.
Coupled with critical study and freedom to experiment, that support equals more than just a degree. Correa Valencia now feels empowered to embrace her culture and take pride in being an undocumented Mexican artist.
“You and CCA have given me everything my parents believed they could give me by crossing the border. I am Arleene. I am undocumented. I am DACA,” she declared. “I am and continue to be a dreamer. But I couldn’t have done that without every single one of you.”
Food for thought: Before breaking bread at the St. Regis Hotel during MoAD’s Diaspora Dinner, Oakland theologian Marvin K. White mingled poem with prayer as he paid tribute to the culinary toils of uncelebrated African American women who faithfully fed their families for generations.
He recalled his late grandmother, Bessie Lee Blow-Ford, who worked as a maid in the tony Oakland hills but lived in Section 8 public housing.
“I remember her getting up way before the sun even thought about it, to ride the bus from the flatlands of our public housing to the Oakland hills of theirs,” he recited.
Growing up, White sensed the emotional weight his grandmother felt with every ounce of aid she received or block of cheese she melted — and, he said, it extracted a toll on her soul.
“Being a ‘star chef,’ ” he declared, “meant making the universe out of nothing and feeding a family off that.”
The evening also honored awardwinning chef Tanya Holland, founderowner of the beloved soul food spot Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland.
And White gave a loving shout-out to Holland for breaking through the traditional kitchen patriarchy. “You are the finger in the center of the cake springing back to life.”
Led by Bryant Terry, now in his fourth year as chef-in-residence, and museum director Linda Harrison, 100 guests savored Holland’s menu of Southern specialties (Creole gazpacho, watermelon salad, blackened chicken, sweet potato gratin, black-eyed peas salad) executed by St. Regis Banquet chef Victor Parra.
It was delectable food for thought. “This dinner is for people to share a bite, and from that bite comes inspiration for our guests to share their world, their lives, connecting with each other over food,” Harrison said. “That leads to connection with someone you may not know and conversations about ourselves: Where is your world? Why do you eat what you eat? What do you do?”
Terry, a food activist and author, dreamed up this dinner to celebrate the history, diversity and complexity of African American cuisine.
“When people think about African American cuisine, they reduce it to comfort foods: the deep-fried fatty meats and sugary desserts, as if all black folks are eating fried chicken every day and
red velvet cake for lunch,” he said, with a laugh.
Holland, elegant in a black cocktail dress, was delighted to join guests instead of working the stoves. She also participated in a conversation with social justice-food writer Shakirah
Simley, who, among other topics, asked Holland about the #MeToo movement in the kitchen.
“The industry has been really slow to change, and I can’t believe I still have to talk about kitchen inequity. Even though I was the darkest person in many rooms, I often felt invisible,” recalled Holland. “I was seeking acknowledgment by my male colleagues; I didn’t intend to be an activist.”
Holland also feels a sense of responsibility to create a collegial community with her purveyors and mentor the women coming up behind her in the kitchen.
“Sometimes I feel the African American community is still, like, everyone wants to be the one, the only, the first. ‘I got mine, now you get yours,’” Holland said. “But I’m just not about that — I think there’s plenty of room for everybody.”
“This dinner is for people to share a bite ... to share their world, their lives, connecting with each other over food.”
Linda Harrison, MoAD director