Asking questions, one layer at a time: Mixed media artist Karen Chew collects past, present and future

“I like the history of building up layers because it becomes something else,” she said. “Things get integrated and then it becomes something that maybe you didn’t expect.”

From event advertisements to political commentary, the chronologies Chew uncovered offered slivers of a city’s history that she couldn’t see at first glance. Piecing together moments from trips with scraps of paper or fabric offers Chew a chance to learn from and reflect on her travels long after she has returned from her trips.

In May, Chew will invite those who view her work to ask similar questions at the upcoming art exhibit “Shifting Movements: Art Inspired by the Life and Activism of Yuri Kochiyama.” From May 4 to May 25, mixed media pieces inspired by Chew’s trip to Portugal some three years ago will join the work of 40 other artists paying tribute to the Japanese-American activist known for opposing structural racism in policies such as the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and standing up for the civil liberties of immigrants, refugees and minorities.

Chew said she felt some of the Portuguese posters, with messages questioning the government and advocating for fair labor practices, she found in a recent trip there fit with the passion for equitable treatment Kochiyama supported in her work. She said she hoped her work would give viewers insight into an Asian-American perspective when traveling.

“No matter what we do, our work reflects who we are and where we fit,” she said.

For Chew, a fourth generation Asian-American, focusing on the rich experience crossing borders makes sense. She was inspired to devote time to the artistic tendencies she developed as a child when she met fellow artists during a trip to Italy some 20 years ago. Once a building inspector for Redwood City and now a building designer who works on home design projects, Chew, 57, has learned to carve out time for her craft. She said biannual trips to Florida, where she can visit her mentor, allow her to surround herself with the peace and quiet she said is the only preparation she needs to create new pieces.

Though Chew thrives on solitude to start her work, she delights in the opportunity to engage with those viewing her work, an experience that yields other windows into her work she couldn’t have imagined on her own.

“I’ve learned not to assume what viewers are going to see,” she said. “Different people will look at it and tell me things I didn’t see.”

She said some have focused on the dates and others on the different languages peeking through clouds of paint, paper and shapes, creating their own story lines depending on the experiences they bring to her work.

Chew’s other work similarly reaches for new perspectives, whether she is creating journals from pieces of leather and blank postcards or participating in mail art, which allows her to exchange her work with other artists across the world. The focus on textures in each one of Chew’s pieces invokes the physicality of the way she works, which may involve dipping rice paper in paint and crumpling it against posters in mixed media piece or stitching thick paper together with book bindings.

Though her endless curiosity about the materials she finds, their histories and what they might tell her about identity seems to be the genesis of her work, it also seems to be result.

“Art makes us ask questions, and it should,” she said.

View Chew’s work at Shifting Movements starting May 4 through May 25 at San Francisco’s SOMArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan St. Visit aawaa.net/programs/exhibitions/shifting-movements/ for more information about the exhibit.

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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