ABOUT CHRISTINE WONG YAP

Born in California, Christine Wong Yap holds a BFA and MFA from the California College of the Arts. Her work has been exhibited extensively in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as in New York, Los Angeles, Manila, Osaka, Poland, and Manchester (U.K.). Recent exhibitions include Make Things (Happen) (Interface Gallery, Oakland, CA) and Happiness Is... (Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA). Reviews of her work have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Art Practical.

She has participated in residencies at Chinese Arts Centre (Manchester, U.K.), Tides Institute and Museum of Art (Eastport, ME), Woodstock Byrdcliffe (Woodstock, NY), Montalvo Arts Center (Saratoga, CA), and Harvester Arts (Wichita, KS), as well as the Affiliate Artist program at the Headlands Center for the Arts (Sausalito, CA). Her work has been supported by the Queens Council on the Arts, the Jerome Foundation, the Center for Cultural Innovation, and the Murphy Fellowship in the Fine Arts. A longtime resident of Oakland, CA, she relocated to New York, NY in 2010. She is a current member of Ortega y Gasset Projects artists collective.

For more about Christine Wong Yap, visit christinewongyap.com.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

A discussion about Make Thing s (Happen)
Christine Wong Yap in conversation with Julie Perini and Lexa Walsh
Wednesday, May 27, 8–10 pm
Presented for PSU MFA in Art & Social Practice’s Assembly 2015
at Portland ‘Pataphysical Society | 625 NW Everett St #104, Portland, 97209

Christine Wong Yap will discuss a project she recently organized, Make Things (Happen), featuring 45 artist-created activity sheets to make things or make things happen. Activities range from hands-on, tangible art activities, instructions to facilitate interpersonal exchanges, and radical re-imaginations. Yap will be joined by Make Things (Happen) participants, artists Julie Perini (Portland, OR) and Lexa Walsh (Oakland, CA).

Intended to multiply creative activity, the worksheets are readily available to the public, downloadable online and freely available as printouts in recent exhibitions at Interface Gallery in Oakland, CA, NYU Tisch Department of Photo and Imaging, and the Nathan Cummings Foundation in NYC.

ABOUT THE PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Julie Perini makes videos, films, installations and live events. Her work explores the boundaries between fact and fiction, personal and political, self and other. She makes videos every day using outdated consumer cameras. Julie’s work shows at galleries, theaters, art venues and community spaces nationally and internationally. She is co-director, with Jodi Darby and Erin Yanke, of the recent community-based documentary feature film, Arresting Power: Resisting Police Violence in Portland, Oregon. Perini is an Assistant Professor of Art Practices at Portland State University. For more about the artist, visit julieperini.org.

Lexa Walsh is an interdisciplinary socially engaged artist based in Oakland, CA. Walsh has lived, worked, exhibited and toured internationally. She has been cultural worker in the Bay Area for many years and worked as a curator and administrator at CESTA, an international art center in Czech republic. She co-founded and conceived of the all women, all toy instrument ensemble Toychestra. She was Social Practice Artist in Residence in Portland Art Museum’s Education department and got her MFA in Art and Social practice at Portland State University. She was recently the Community Artist in Residence at Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, FL and an Artist Fellow at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. She organizes Oakland Stock, a micro-granting dinner series for artists’ projects. She is currently excited about an upcoming collaboration with her brother, painter Dan Walsh, at Williams College Art Museum in 2016. For more about the artist, visit lexawalsh.tumblr.com.

ABOUT ASSEMBLY
a co-authored social practice conference
May 27–31, 2015 | Portland, Oregon
Assembly 2015 Schedule

Assembly is a five-day set of presentations, discussions, interventions, and activities addressing and exploring topics related to art and social practice. The wide variety of public events is organized and curated by Portland State University Art and Social Practice MFA faculty, students, alumni, and partners. Venues include various locations on the PSU campus and surrounding institutions. An Assembly publication and website will create a formalized framework that the semi-autonomous activities exist within. All events are free and open to the public.

More about Assembly at psusocialpractice.org/assembly.


ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The Eve of… Recent works by Christine Wong Yap
Exhibition at Portland ‘Pataphysical Society | June 4–July 18, 2015
Opening Reception | Thursday, June 4, 6–8pm
Gallery Hours | Friday–Saturday, noon–5pm and by appointment
625 NW Everett St #104, Portland, 97209

For her first exhibition in Portland, Yap brings a series of sculptures and a stop-motion video examining uncertain psychological states. Mirrors, colored vinyl, Mylar, plastic bags, and asphalt-based paint are used to create props and scenes of light and darkness.

The project is inspired by the decisive moment after setbacks and before actions. The installation marks a shift in direction from the artist’s previous work in happiness and positive psychology towards more disruptive emotions and intuition. This exhibition is presented in partnership with c3:initiative, PDX Contemporary, and Portland State University.

ABOUT PORTLAND ‘PATAPHYSCIAL SOCIETY
The Portland ‘Pataphysical Society (PataPDX) is social club and exhibition space in downtown Portland, OR. As a collective group PataPDX examines what Alfred Jarry called both the “science of imaginary solutions” and “the science of exceptions.”

Hours are sporadic and sometimes limited to members only. It’s probably best to call ahead first. There is no dress code, but it is strictly enforced.

Support for PataPDX’s programming comes from individual donors and a generous grant from the Precipice Fund, which is administered through the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art and funded by the Calligram Foundation, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Art.

More information at patapdx.com.