Guide to the Cynthia Tom papers CEMA 184
Mari Khasmanyan and Chelsea Lumidao, 2018.
UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara 93106-9010
special@library.ucsb.edu
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
Title: Cynthia Tom papers
Identifier/Call Number: CEMA 184
Physical Description:
3.30 Linear Feet
(3 document boxes, 1 oversize flat-box)
Date (inclusive): 1990-2017
Abstract: The Cynthia Tom papers consist of material donated by artist, curator, and community artist activist Cynthia Tom. As an arts
administrator she is founder and director of Place of Her Own, an arts-based healing and transformation program for women.
She also was board president and director of development and programs for the San Francisco-based Asian American Women's Association
whose mission is to advance the visibility and recognition of Asian American women in the arts through exhibitions, publications,
and public programs.
A third generation Chinese American and native of San Francisco, she is an award-winning cultural activist who advocates for
social justice for women. As a painter she works with mixed media and installation art work, her widely exhibited artwork
often being described as cultural and social surrealism. She has curated individual and group exhibitions, and also is a lecturer
on such topics as feminism in the arts and Asian American women in the arts. Tom is currently based in San Rafael, California.
The Cynthia Tom papers consist of visual images of her artwork, flyers, promotional material, exhibition files, organizational
files, correspondence, interviews, and additional ephemera dating from 1990-2017.
Physical Location: Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library
Language of Material: Collection is predominantly in English with some materials in Chinese.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Research Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Research Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the Department of Special Research Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of Item], Cynthia Tom papers, CEMA 184. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Cynthia Tom, 2016
Biographical / Historical
"Cynthia Tom uses visual art as a means to transform our souls. She is a visual mixed-media artist, painter and curator who
likes to play with the accepted norm, tossing non-verbal questions into the air for our consideration. Her art is known as
a source of inspiration for healing, empowerment, spirituality and change, fostering dialog and building community in innovative
ways. As a Cultural Curator and Community Art Activist, she is dedicated to artistically integrating cultural roots and community
needs to drive Social Change on a heart level.
Surrealism is the platform for her ideas to ruminate and take form, solutions discovered and rich color deeply informs her
work. Painting, mixed media, art installation, and curatorial projects are her means of expression.
Driven by a passion for social justice for women, she develops art based projects and programs designed to transform women
and their communities from the inside out. She believes in curating personal and group art exhibitions that challenge accepted
societal and cultural norms on multiple levels. A third generation Chinese American and native San Franciscan, she has been
a professional artist for 20+ years, a curator for 10+ and working formally to heal and transform community through the arts
for 6+ years. She is the founder and director of A Place of Her Own, an arts based healing and transformation program for
women.
Often described in terms such as cultural and social surrealism, her work has been exhibited at the Legion of Honor in San
Francisco, the De Young Museum, Rutgers's University, Los Gatos Museum of Art, Thoreau Center for Sustainability, SOMArts
Cultural Center, Woman Made Gallery - Chicago, Gallery Route One – Pt. Reyes, California Institute of Integral Studies, Yerba
Buena Center for the Arts, Chinese Culture Center, Towers Gallery, to name a few.
She lectures on her work, on issues related to women, feminism in the arts and Asian American women in the arts. She has won
numerous awards for her art and leadership, including the ABC/KGO Profiles in Excellence leadership award, The SOMArts Commons
Curatorial Fellowship, recognized nationally by NPR Radio in 2010 and 2011, National Association of Professional Women VIP
of the Year - 2013. Her art process and pro bono curatorial work with AAWAA has cemented her passion and processes for holding
the artistic space for women to heal and transform. Most currently manifested in her long term project, "A PLACE OF HER OWN,"
(a culturally informed arts based healing and transformation project).
Cynthia's art is a subject of discussion in text books, Women Artists' of the American West, Univ of Purdue, Susan Ressler
and a text book Asian American Art in Post-Colonial Times – University of Padua, by Dr. Laura Fantone, Professor SF Art Institute.
For both her art and her work in the community, which are inseparable, she has been featured in the New York Time's SF Arts
Monthly, SF Chronicle, Psychology Today, the Marin Independent Journal, DigitalJournal.com and on KPFA and KPOO radio."
Biography retrieved from Cynthia Tom's website: https://cynthiatom.com/about
For more information on Cynthia Tom and the Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA):
Fantone, Laura.
Local Invisibility, Postcolonial Feminisms: Asian American Contemporary Artists in California. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
Scope and Contents
The Cynthia Tom papers consist of material donated by artist, curator, and community artist activist Cynthia Tom. As an arts
administrator she is founder and director of Place of Her Own, an arts-based healing and transformation program for women.
She also was board president and director of development and programs for the San Francisco-based Asian American Women's Association
whose mission is to advance the visibility and recognition of Asian American women in the arts through exhibitions, publications,
and public programs.
A third generation Chinese American and native of San Francisco, she is an award-winning cultural activist who advocates for
social justice for women. As a painter she works with mixed media and installation art work, her widely exhibited artwork
often being described as cultural and social surrealism. She has curated individual and group exhibitions, and also is a lecturer
on such topics as feminism in the arts and Asian American women in the arts. Tom is currently based in San Rafael, California.
The Cynthia Tom papers consist of visual images of her artwork, flyers, promotional material, exhibition files, organizational
files, correspondence, interviews, and additional ephemera dating from 1990-2017.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into four series:
Series I. Personal and biographical files
This series consists of materials that document Tom's personal life and family history. It includes photographs, slides, resumes
and other files.
Series II. Professional files
This series consists of flyers, posters, publications, interviews, and additional files that document Tom's work with the
Asian American Women's Artist Association, and additional Asian American organizations in San Francisco and Oakland, California.
Also included are files related to the organization of "A Place of Her Own" exhibitions, workshops, and publications.
Series III. Subject files This series consists of publications collected by Tom that relate to Asian American women in art.
Series IV. Audiovisual files This series includes music and videos donated by Tom. Service copies of audiovisual items may need to be made before viewing
or listening. Please consult Special Research Collections staff for further information.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Asian American Women Artists
Asian American Artists -- California
Personal and biographical files
box 1, folder 5
Biographical files
undated
General
Folder contains biographical material on Cynthia Tom and family.
box 1, folder 6-7
Mock family history, photographs
undated
box 1, folder 8-18
Mock family history
undated
box 1, folder 19
Files and photographs
undated
box 1, folder 20-22
Cynthia Tom's father, Tom Sai Mon
undated
General
Folders contain background information on Tom Sai Mon. File reads: adopted under Tom Gunn
box 1, folder 23
Cynthia Tom's parents: Richard and Sue Tom, slides
undated
box 1, folder 27
Cynthia Tom, resume
undated
box 1, folder 1
Cynthia Tom flyers
2014-2017
box 1, folder 2-4
Place of Her Own booklet
2010-2015
box 1, folder 24
Oakland Cultural Center pamphlets
Dec. 2016
box 1, folder 25
Asia Week program guide
Sept. 2016
box 1, folder 28-29
San Francisco Chronicle's Stephanie Wright Hession interview
May 2012
box 1, folder 30
Work for others
2000
General
Folder contains flyers, contracts, and proposals.
box 1, folder 31
Group show, flyers
undated
box 1, folder 32
Group shows: Cynthia Tom as curator photographs
2003
box 2, folder 2-3
Slides
1997-2004
General
Folder contains slides of different artwork pieces.
box 2, folder 4-6
Asian American Women's Artist Association
2014
box 2, folder 7-18
A Place of Her Own, workbook
2016
box 2, folder 19-21
A Place of Her Own, flyers
undated
box 2, folder 22
A Place of Her Own, files
undated
box 2, folder 23-25
Cynthia Tom art photographs
1990-2003
box 3
Wong, Flo Oy, Nancy Hom, and Margo Machida.
Flo Oy Wong: 70/30, seventy years of living, thirty years of art. San Francisco, CA: Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center.
2008
box 3
Dong, Jim, Nancy Hom, Leland Wong, and Margo Machida.
Icons of presence: Asian American activist art : Jim Dong, Nancy Hom, Leland Wong. San Francisco: Chinese Culture Foundation.
2008
flat-oversize 4
Cynthia Tom's portfolio
2002-2016
flat-oversize 4, folder 1
box 2, folder 1
Asian American Women Artists Association press kit
2013 May 25
box 1, box 2
N. paradoxa. 1998. London: KT Press.
2017
box 1, box 3
Asian American Women Artists Association.
Cheers to muses: contemporary works by Asian American women. San Francisco, CA: Asian American Women Artists Association.
2007
box 1, folder 26
Band managed by Cynthia Tom CD
undated
