Guide to the Jim Dong papers CEMA 193

Finding aid prepared by Calli Force, 2019.

UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections

University of California, Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara 93106-9010

special@library.ucsb.edu

URL: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/special-collections

2019 October 2

Title: Jim Dong

papers

Language of Material: English

Contributing Institution: UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections

Physical Description: 5.59 linear feet 3 document boxes, 1 flat-oversize container, 1 flat-file drawer Large-format graphic prints, black and white photographs, digital photographs, and publications

Creator:

Dong, Jim

Date (inclusive): 1972-1986

Identifier/Call Number: CEMA 193

Abstract: This mixed-media collection consists of

Jim Dong's

graphic artwork, photographs, and slides of the Asian American Theater Company, Kearny Street Workshop, Asian American Dance Collective, and the Asian American Jazz Festival. Other ephemera in the collection includes newspaper clippings, pamphlets, brochures, and flyers.

Physical Location: Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

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],

Jim Dong

papers, CEMA 193. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Acquisition Information

Gift of

Jim Dong

, 2019.

Biographical Note

James Gong Fu Dong, or

Jim Dong

, is a renowned printmaker, muralist, illustrator, and photographer who has exhibited widely in major museums and galleries around the San Francisco Bay Area. His mural paintings have been reproduced in national and international publications.

Born in 1949 in San Francisco's Chinatown,

Jim Dong

was raised at the Ping Yuen Federal Housing Projects. He attended San Francisco State University where he studied printmaking in 1967, earning his undergraduate degree, followed by a master's degree in drawing and printmaking in 1973. He has taught studio art at UC Berkeley and at San Francisco State University. He was a founding member of the Jackson Street Gallery (San Francisco, 1974-1978) and was the gallery's chief curator and artistic director.

Since 1990

Jim Dong

has been an instructor in drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, design, illustration, and art history at the Kamehameha Secondary School's Kapālama Campus's Visual Arts Department in Hawaii. He and his family are residents of Kaneohe on Oahu Island since September of 1989.

Jim Dong

applied his skills in printmaking by bringing to public attention many pressing national and international social and political issues and local concerns about his community. He founded the Kearny Street Workshop in San Francisco that became the most influential Asian American cultural arts center in the country and a model for grassroots community arts centers nationally during the mid-1970s. He served as the Workshop's director for its first 15 years.

Scope and Content

The

Jim Dong

Papers were established in CEMA in 2018 and presently consist of his graphic art work, photographs, and slides of the Asian American Theater Company, Kearny Street Workshop, Asian American Dance Collective, and the Asian American Jazz Festival.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into seven series; however, large-format graphic materials such as silkscreen prints, photographs, and other large-print items are arranged by size, shape, and storage needs in oversize boxes or flat-file poster drawers.

Series I, Slides: Contains color slides of various activities carried out by the Asian American Theater Company, Asian American Dance company, and the Chinese Cultural Center, inlcuding dance rehearsals, set designs from various plays, and outtakes.

Series II, Photographs: Contains mostly black and white and some color photographic prints of Asian American Dance Collective and Asian American Theater Company productions and performances, Kearny Street Workshop events such as the Asian American Jazz Festival, portraits of Asian American performers, and other events.

Series III, Ephemera: Contains flyers, announcements, and posters.

Series IV, Publications: Contains an illustrated children's book, various foundation and organization publications, a photograpic anthology, and articles.

Series V, Artwork: Contains graphic materials such as greeting cards, posters, and screen prints designed by Dong. A calendar from 1985, which compiles works from various Asian American artists from the Kearney Street Workshop, includes designs by Rich Tokeshi, Wes Aoki, Wes Senzaki, Mitsu Yashima, Nancy Hom, Stephanie Lowe, Barabra Jee Burgess, Leon Sun, Lena Chow, Gail Aratani, Chester Yoshida and

Jim Dong

Series VI, Audio-Visual Material: Contains two LPs for which Dong provided the cover art.

Series VII, Born-digital Material: Contains digital folders arranged chronologically that include digital portraits of

Jim Dong

, photographs and scans of Dong's artwork, and some duplicate records of analog items from previous series in the collection.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Artists -- California -- San Francisco

Asian American Artists -- California -- San Francisco

Audiovisual materials

Born digital

Photographs

Posters

Printed ephemera

Publications (documents)

Screen prints

Slides (photographs)

Dong, Jim

-- Archives

Asian American Theater Company

Kearny Street Workshop

Asian American Dance Collective

Asian American Jazz Festival

Slides

box 1, folder 1

Food Dance Outtakes circa 1977

box 1, folder 2

Asian American Theater Company circa 1980

box 1, folder 3

Asian American Dance Company 1978, 1979, 1982

box 1, folder 4

Philip Gotanda's Avocado Kid at the Chinese Cultural Center circa 1980

box 1, folder 5

Philip Gotanda's Avocado Kid at the Chinese Cultural Center circa 1980

box 1, folder 6

Philip Gotanda's Avocado Kid at the Chinese Cultural Center circa 1980

Photographs

Scope and Content

notes

box 2, folder 1-14

Asian American Dance Collective undated

box 2, folder 15-26

Asian American Theater Company undated

box 3, folder 1-17

Jazz in Japan town: Kearny Street Workshop and Asian American Jazz Festival 1975-1984

General

Folder 1 of Box 4 contains a black and white photograph that inspired

Jim Dong's

silkscreen print depicted in the 1985 JAM Workshop Calendar for the month of December, which is located in Box 5, folder 4.

box 3, folder 18-22

Portraits of "Paper Angels," Angel Island Genny Lim undated

box 3, folder 30

Opening of New Chinese for Affirmative Action's Office with Exhibit by Kearny Street Workshop undated

flat-oversize 4, folder 4

Artwork on the I Hotel circa 1977

General

Photographic print of mural by

Jim Dong

and Nancy Hom.

flat-oversize 4, folder 4

Mounted black and white photograph of mural in progress undated

Ephemera

box 3, folder 27

Celebrating Two New Murals for Chinatown flyer 1986

box 3, folder 29

Chinatown Playground Spafford Mural 1982-1986

flat-oversize 4, folder 3

Images from Rejoice poster 1983

Publications

box 3, folder 23

Vanguard Public Foundation. San Francisco, Calif: The Foundation. 1981

box 3, folder 24

Kearny Street Workshop. Texas long grain: photographs. San Francisco: Kearny Street Workshop Press. 1982

box 3, folder 25

Robles, Al, and Jim Dong . Looking for Ifugao Mountain = Paghahanap sa Bundok ng Ifugao. San Francisco: Children's Book Press. 1977

box 3, folder 26

Koret Foundation. Serving elders in our community. San Francisco, Ca: Koret Foundation, Koret Fund. 1987

flat-oversize 4, folder 2

San Francisco Tenants Union. Tenant times: newsletter of the San Francisco Tenants Union. San Francisco, Calif: The Union. July 1987

Artwork

Access Restrictions

Oversize materials in flat files. Inquire at Special Research Collections for access.

box 3, folder 28

Greeting card designed by Jim Dong undated

flat-oversize 4, folder 1

I Hotel Calendar, cover art 1977

General

International Hotel low income housing calendar with cover art depicting a photograph of a mural by

Jim Dong

and Nancy Hom. Photography by Chris Huie and Chris Fujimoto. Design and layout by Nancy Hom.

flat-oversize 4, folder 5

Japantown Art and Media (JAM) Workshop 1985 Calendar 1985

General

A limited edition collection of 12 original silkscreen prints by JAM Workshop artists: Rich Tokeshi, Wes Aoki, Wes Sanzaki, Mitsu Yashima, Nancy Hom, Stephanie Lowe, Barbara Jee Burgess, Leon Sun, Lena Chow, Gail Aratani, Chester Yoshida, and

Jim Dong

. Japantown Art & Media Workshop 1730 Filmore Street, San Francisco, California 94115.

flat-file 21

Angel Island 1923 1981

Physical Description: 22 x 28 inches

General

The first of two prints of this silkscreen in the collection, both of which are signed by

Jim Dong

Image description: A light purple room blends into a darker color at the floor, where two orange fruits lie on the ground, one near a shattered bowl. A man eating out of a bowl points his chopsticks directly at a soldier across the room. The soldier faces forward with sunglasses shielding his eyes from view. Three green lamps hanging from the ceiling cast a glowing, yellow light onto the two men who are separated by a large table and two benches.

flat-file 21

Angel Island 1923 1981

Physical Description: 22 x 28 inches

General

The second of two prints of this silkscreen in the collection, both of which are signed by

Jim Dong

flat-file 21

Tai-chi on the Rooftop 1984

Physical Description: 17.25 x 23.5 inches

General

Image description: A grandmother wearing black pants and blue top and granddaughter wearing purple pants and pink top are practicing tai chi on the rooftop of a building in San Francisco. Light mint green blankets are hung on a laundry line blowing with the wind. There is a black painted skyline in the background.

flat-file 21

Title unknown undated

Physical Description: 22 x 29.5 inches

General

Image Description: The print is composed of light blue, dark blue, and black inks to compose a family portrait on the left and a pilot in uniform sitting inside of a fighter plane on the right. The family portrait has a total of five family members in blue ink while the pilot is created out of black ink. The background is white from the paper it is printed on.

flat-file 21

Title unknown undated

Physical Description: 19 x 25.25 inches

General

Image description: Two women are handing off an orange fruit to one another while a fish in the top left corner jumps out of a cage that is composed of brown wooden panels. One woman is wearing a white robe with black trimming while the other woman is wearing a red robe with white trim as well as purple and red bottoms with black shoes. The background of the print is a solid tan with wood grains in red and purple.

flat-file 21

Kings of the Wild West 1971

Physical Description: 17 x 23 inches

General

Image Description:Two boys stand in the center with an orange tiger lying down behind them. The boys stand in the middle of nature with trees, mountains, and waves in the distance. The boys are in matching outfits with brown shoes, blue pants, black vest with a white long sleeve underneath, and a brown raccoon tail hat. The background in composed of light blue and light shades of green. On the bottom right corner of the print is a signature from the artist,

Jim Dong

flat-file 21

Year of the Tiger 1972

Physical Description: 17.2 x 23 inches

General

Image description: A boy wearing blue pants and a green shirt with suspenders rides an orange and yellow tiger. As the boy rides the tiger, he is holding a yellow spear. Both the boy and tiger are in the middle of gray mountains as a river runs down the valley of the mountains in the background, but both figures stand over a portion of the mountain printed in black.

flat-file 21

Myths and Realities/ Past, Present and future of Earth, Heaven and Hell 1981

Physical Description: 19.5 x 32 inches

General

Image description: The print contains three evenly divided images. The first image is the side profile of a man in a blue shirt while the background is split between a yellow sky with circles add a white and orange ground floor. The second image is the back of the man as he shoots a bow and arrow in the sky, creating a split in the ground. The third image shows a mountainside with water flowing beneath it and an orange-to-red gradient sky as the sun sets in the distance. Beneath these three images is another image that consists of a dark brown ground with a blue design that is surround by red splatters.

flat-file 21

1911 1981

Physical Description: 35 x 40 inches

General

A muscular man surrounded by an octagon is cutting off his braid with a knife. The print is focused on the right side of the poster. The man has a mustache and is wearing brown t-shirt displaying his physique. The octagon is orange with a gold border.

flat-file 21

Title unknown undated

Physical Description: 25 x 38 inches

General

Image description: This print depicts a man fishing at the top of a mountain. Behind him is a large orange fruit. There are white clouds rolling through the purple mountainside. At the bottom of the mountain is a white Harley Davidson parked on the green grass. The sky is a purple to pink gradient with white lightening bolts coming out of the sky.

flat-file 21

Nam Exit 1971

Physical Description: 22 x 30 inches

General

Image description: The black and white print shows two soldiers helping carrying another person in the center. Behind them is an old woman sitting in bed while the bed sheets drape in the background forming the three figures. The woman is holding a bowl and spoon while her head has a shawl over it. There is a signature by the artist in the bottom right corner.

flat-file 21

Vietnam 1949-1975 undated

Physical Description: 32 x 40 inches

General

Image description: A bleeding man rests in the arms of another person who is wearing a grey head scarf. The image background is blue with a thick red border. Black text underneath the image includes a quote and a song relating to the Vietnam War.

flat-file 21

Nam Street Kid 1970 and 1983

Physical Description: 24 x 30 inches

General

Immage description: A soldier, depicted by six figures, slowly shifts into the form of what looks like a Coca-cola bottle. The background depicts a barren field, a woman, a man, a bull, and an ox working on the field against a red and purple background.

flat-file 21

Reborn 1968

General

Image description: The top half of this print is a gradient from a deep indigo to navy blue which sharply becomes white where a red and pink circle suddenly appears on the left with a replica of the circlular imgae stamped into the paper on the right. Beneath the two circles is a block of blue to black gradient. The pink and red circle print has some white details with portions in navy blue. The figure of a body lying down beneath the red and pink colors appears with the head in the foreground and feet outsreteched into the background at the bottom half of the circle.

Audiovisual

Separated Materials

LPs are cataloged separately. Items can be found in UCSB Library catalog.

Blues, Myself, and I, Raymond Collins (KRC-BMI) 1981

General

LP cover photo art by

Jim Dong

United Front OHM: Unit of Resistance (RPM Records) 1981

General

LP cover photo art by

Jim Dong .

database collection files

Born-digital 1967-2018

Physical Description: 1.02 GigabytesDigital folders consist of approximately 57 JPG and PDS image files and 11 PDF files.

Access Restrictions

Please contact UCSB Library Special Research Collections to access digital files.