Community Mural Painting & Multimedia Art Installation by Dr. Martie Geiger-Ho & Prof. Kong Ho

Part I: Monday, Sept. 10 to Friday, Sept. 21, 2012 JIS Arts Centre, Jerudong International School Jalan Universiti, Kampong Tungku, BE1408, Brunei Darussalam Tel: (673) 2411 000 Gallery Hours: Mon. to Fri. from 8am to 5pm, closed on Sat. & Sun.

Guest of Honour: Dato Paduka Ar. H. Idris B. H. Abas, CEO & Principal Architect, Arkitek Idris

Gallery Talk: Monday, Sept. 10, 2012, 4 to 4:30pm, followed by Open Reception, 4:30 to 6pm

JIS Arts Centre Mural Painting Workshops: 2 Friday Workshops: Sept. 14 & 21, 9am to 12noon

Part 2: Monday, Oct. 8 to Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012 UBD Student Centre, Universiti Brunei Darussalam,

Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong, BE1410, Brunei Darussalam Gallery Hours: Mon. to Thurs. & Sat. from 8am

to 5pm, closed on Fri. & Sun.

Gallery Talk: Monday, Oct. 8, 2012, 4 to 4:30pm, followed by Open Reception, 4:30 to 6pm UBD Student Centre Mural Painting Workshops: 2 Friday Workshops: Oct. 12 & 19, 9am to 12noon

Enquiries:

Prof. Kong Ho, Associate Professor of Art & Program Leader, orDr. Martie Geiger-Ho, Senior LecturerArt and Creative Technology, Faculty of Arts & Social Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam

Email: kongho99@gmail.com OR kilnlore@aol.comWebsite: www.kongho.com OR www.kilnlore.com

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Transcending Culture and Space: A Community Art Project

Introduction:

Transcending Culture and Space: A Community Art Project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State through the Overseas Federal Assistance Award and the U.S. Embassy Brunei Darussalam. Co-sponsors for this pilot scheme com-munity art project include Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Pusat Belia Ban-dar Seri Begawan (Youth Centre) and Jerudong International School (JIS). This art project is a practice-based research in community art in Brunei. This commu-nity art project showcases the diverse and inclusive universal symbolism that is shared between the cultures of the United States of America and Brunei Darus-salam. The thirty-foot long by six-foot high transportable mural was created by Bruneian youths, JIS students, UBD students, US Embassy staff, and the general public. Each time the mural was set up in a location both public and individual workshops were given on that site to help participants learn about mural painting.

Activities for the overall program included: mural painting workshops, a traveling multimedia art installation and public gallery talks. Together, these events are estimated to have reached 2000 people. Venues include a local youth centre, the US Embassy, a well-visited mall, UBD art studio, JIS Arts Centre, UBD Student Centre and the U.S. Embassy’s official 4th of July event at the Empire Hotel. The complete mural will become a permanent piece that will enliven the Student Centre of UBD. This community art project has aimed to encompass the most updated concepts about community art through the social inclusion of Bruneians from all walks of life. This inclusion is illustrated in the types of participants that came to work on the mural, like people from diverse age groups, socio-economic strata and people with various abilities. By being inclusive, the project was in support of its objective of adding to the foundation of social enrichments that are being used to help the Bruneian society to build a strong and vibrant community that counts art and other art supporting facets of the creative industries as part of its infrastructure.

Prof. Kong Ho & Dr. Martie Geiger-Ho

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Transcending Culture & Space Mural Design (Section view), 2012. 6’H x 30’W

Martie Geiger-Ho. Sunset Beach, 2001. Stoneware vessel with sprigged shell designs, 5”H x 9”W x 9”D

Kong Ho. White Costumed Shells (Section view), 2012. Digital print, 16”H x 16”W

The Story Behind Transcending Culture and Space MuralBy Prof. Kong Ho

Transcending Culture and Space Mural showcases the spirit and dreams of the diverse and inclusive culture of the United States of America through color and universal symbols such as stars and butterflies. These non-political symbols are meant to promote the concept of collaboration, diversity and inclusion that the modern world is striving for. This collaborative community mural highlights the im-portance of community art, diverse cultures and inclusive community spirit. Also, this community mural project aims to bring artists, youths, students, volunteers, community members and guests with diverse backgrounds and abilities together to work as a team. The notion of working together represents the concept of teamwork that leads everyone towards building a bright and inclusive future.

Perhaps my view of community art is based on my personal experience as a teaching artist with a physical disability. Even though I received my visual art education in a recognized university in the U.S., I was still excluded at times from participating in some community art projects. Psychologically, this exclusive ex-perience has become a driving force in my advocacy for inclusion in community art and collaboration in mural painting.

When I arrived in Brunei on a hot July day in 2011, I was curious to find out if any community murals existed in Bandar Seri Begawan, the city of Brunei. The first public mural that drew my attention was the mosaic mural, His Borneo, created by Pengiran Asmalee bin Pengiran Ahmad, a renowned Bruneian artist, installed

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Transcending Culture & Space Mural Painting Workshop at Times Square in July 2012

Transcending Culture & Space Mural Painting Workshop at Pusat Belia in June 2012

Transcending Culture & Space Mural Painting Workshop at the U.S. Embassy Brunei Darussalam in June 2012

Transcending Culture & Space Mural Painting Work-shop at Times Square in June 2012

on the façade of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Library in Bandar Seri Begawan. This mosaic, 20 feet by 100 feet, depicts the diverse indigenous people living in Borneo and their unique village cultures that merged with the theme of modernization in the center of the mural. The expression of this mosaic reveals a Cubist influence with its divided space and figures. Undoubt-edly, this mosaic is an outstanding example of public art in Brunei. However, according to contemporary mu-ral standards it is not a community mural in the sense that it was not a collaboration between the artist and the community members of Brunei.

Community murals showcase community art of the people in those particular communities, designed by the people of those communities and for the people of those communities. Based on my past experience as a community muralist, I always look for the opportunity to inform the public of the educational and cultural value of community murals. At the same time, I know it is not an easy task to direct a successful community mural project, which integrates diverse opinions into a real inclusive community art project.

Idealistically, community murals should be designed together with the involved community members and led by an experienced muralist. The mural designs represent the hopes, dreams, cultural heritage, diverse beliefs, values, and social issues of a given commu-nity. The final mural should become a landmark, which the community members can be proud of because the

mural represents their artistic choices along with the community’s collaborative efforts and endeavors. How-ever, it is difficult for the leading muralist to direct the community members if they are weak in art apprecia-tion or lack design awareness. An experienced mural-ist will select a direct approach towards integrating the opinions of community members into the mural design through open forums and interviews with community members to collect diverse ideas. Turning these di-verse ideas into tangible visual images with aesthetic consistency in regard to the major theme of the mural is not an easy task. At the same time, it is hard for some muralists to understand their real roles in community mural projects, which are not about presenting their own art but working as mentors and team members to help community members to visualize their ideas on their community murals and to bring out the best artistic value from those collaborative community murals.

The ideal community mural designs allow flexibility for involved community members to add their opinions or expressions directly on the mural but at the same time their remarks or colorful additions won’t take over the aesthetic value and throw off the wholeness of the design. From a technical perspective, if the mural de-signs offer some simple flat areas for people with less painting skills to work on, then it will definitely help to build a harmonious working environment and a bridge among experienced artists and amateurish communi-ty members. Mural participants gain a lot of valuable experience in hands-on mural painting workshop by

4Kong Ho. Transcending Culture & Space Mural Design, 2012. Digital Print, 3.25”H x 16.25”W

Cold Winter, 2012. Digital print, 10”H x 24”W

working side-by-side with professional muralists and experienced artists. During the workshops, participants share their opinions related to their particular communi-ties and build mutual trust with each other. The feeling of being included or recognised in a team becomes the driving force for some community members who volun-tarily engage in extended lengths of time that may last for a whole month.

Based on my past experience of designing community murals for wider-audience-based community art proj-ects, I intended to design a framework for the Tran-scending Culture and Space Mural, which allowed for the maximum inclusion of participation. I wanted to give participants an opportunity for maximum diverse expressions in a consistent artistic mural. Of course, it is not an easy assignment to start a community mural project in Brunei, because community art is not a popu-lar art form. Instead of applying the realistic or figura-tive mural style, which is dominant style in Philadelphia, U.S.A., I opted for a semi-abstract and symbolic style for this mural’s design.

The symbolism behind the conceptual idea of diversity and inclusion can be seen in the use of digital synthe-sized butterflies and graphic star shapes that represent the “going beyond” and “metamorphosed” spirit. The diverse forms and marvelous colors of butterflies also suggest diversity and inclusion in our natural world. By combining the various sizes of a single butterfly, I have digitally created a dynamic spiral composition within a wide-screen mural format to emphasize the constant rejuvenation that a healthy society experiences. I also wanted to show the diverse and dynamic cultures that exist within today’s global communities.

Further design interest is added to the composition through the layers of geometrical circles and stars formed by the pixelated half-tone effect of Photoshop. Further adding to the murals interest are the radial lin-ear stained glass design and circular decorative pat-terning behind the synthesized butterflies and moving stars. All these geometrical shapes and stained glass patterns not only generated a kaleidoscope like compo-

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Transcending Culture & Space Mural Painting Workshop at Empire Hotel in July 4, 2012

sition but also provided uncluttered flat surfaces where participants were able to add colors or collaged decorated shapes and written comments onto the complex mural design. Since inclusion and collaboration were significant themes of this community mural, the mural was designed to have more flat areas for participants with less art background to actively engage in the mural production. The whole mural design reveals a sort of dynamic movement that is created by the rhythmic pattern and waving elements that divide the composition into an asymmetrical vignette with intriguing imaginative space. Also, the composition features con-trasting elements between the warm and cool contrasting colors, and the swirling synthesized organic butterflies and floating geometric stars.

By using four different species of butterflies--Blue Morpho, Tiger Swallowtail, Cloudless Sulphur and Rajah Brooke Birdwing, I have introduced a rich palette of contrasting colors, textures and shapes to the mural’s design. These colors create various moods. My fanciful images were drawn from actual butterfly pho-tographs. I selected images for the collaborative community mural, which were conducive to the mural’s theme of artistic celebration, diversity and inclusion. The rhythmic motion of the twisting synthesized butterflies and roaming stars ties the whole composition together. The mural’s composition moves rhythmically from left to right and from front to back. Read as a whole image bursting with colors like bright fireworks, this mural is a jubilant expression of Brunei Darussalam’s bright future.

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Transcending Culture & Space Mural Painting Workshop at Times Square in June 2012

Transcending Culture & Space Mural Painting Workshop 2 at Pusat Belia in June 2012

Transcending Culture & Space Mural Painting Workshop 1 at Pusat Belia in June 2012

Transcending Culture & Space Mural Painting Workshop at Empire Hotel in July 2012

Taking Another Look at the Transcending Culture and Space MuralBy Dr. Martie Geiger-Ho

Diego Rivera (1886-1957) left a legacy as a great Mexican muralist whose works were a tour d’ force in the study of political propaganda and a call for the liberation of the working class through civil action in his country. His murals, whether they were painted in Mexico, or the United States, inspired controversy throughout both the spheres of the art world and the political world of his time. Diego’s murals derived much of their power from his talents as an artist. His ability to unify his compositions depicting people from all walks of life into a taunt, highly charged interlocking image that seemed to exude the life-forces of its subjects, is one of the foremost hallmarks of his genius. According to Stokstad (2009), the Rivera and other major Mexican muralists of the social muralist movement of the 1920’s and 1930’s were indebted to the traditions of the Italian Renaissance frescoes and the ancient indigenous sites in Mexico that also had large mural paintings.

Today, artists are still creating murals and other works of art that spotlight the plight of the poor or showcase the culture and dignity of the marginalized lower masses of people though out the world. However, one type of mural, the com-munity mural, does more than bring attention to the struggles of the working class, it is a kind of art produced within the communities themselves that helps to showcase the pride and special culture that is found within the citizens of that community. Recently, it has become more common for community murals to be designed and executed by the community members themselves, rather than be-ing painted and, or designed by one person.

There are many ways in which a mural can come about, however, public com-munity murals are ones that project a topic that is important to the welfare of that community. For example, the mural project, 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Mural, completed on July 2010, in Columbus, Ohio, and organized by VSA Ohio, was jointly designed by Prof. Kong Ho, who is also a teaching artist with disability, and a community of artists with disabilities in Ohio. These artists provided artwork images for use in the mural’s composition. The complete mural was painted on five, six foot high by six feet wide movable can-vas panels and were displayed at the Ohio Statehouse during the celebration ceremony for 20th anniversary of ADA in Ohio on July 9, 2010. After that, the movable mural traveled to thirteen different locations in Ohio and finally collected by VSA Ohio. The subject matter of this mural depicts people from all walks of life with disabilities and expresses their struggles in life through art. This type of mural is different from those painted by Diego Rivera because a group of people had a say in the subject matter of the mural in addition to how the composition of the work would communicate this statement.

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US Ambassador Daniel Shields participat-ing in mural painting workshop at the U.S. Embassy Brunei Darussalam in June 2012

Transcending Culture & Space Mural Painting Workshop at UBD FASS art studio in June 2012

Transcending Culture & Space Mural Painting Workshop at Times Square in July 2012

Another type of community mural is one where lay-people or non-artists share their ideas about a public mural and they not only contribute drawings and im-ages to the mural, but also help to paint it as well. With this type of mural, a lead muralist working either alone or with several other experienced muralists and artists take the suggested input and art sketches from a solic-ited group of community members, or in many cases, from students in a classroom, and help merge them together so that the resulting design works in the se-lected public mural space. The head muralist will not only consult with community members over the mural’s design development, but he/she will make sure that all of the necessary funding, permits, materials and sites are available for the mural. The muralist is also respon-sible for publicity.

Transcending Culture and Space: A Community Art Project, was a multi-faceted program of events in Bru-nei Darussalam that revolved around the circulation of a community mural. The resulting mural is special because it is assembled from a continuous image that was divided into portable panels for ease of transpor-tation to various sites in Brunei where painting work-shops were held. All of the panels were worked on si-multaneously at each venue.

My experiences as a seasoned muralist painting side-by-side with Bruneians who were not from the art com-munity showed me how the average person in Brunei automatically embraces art when the opportunity aris-es. Even if mall pedestrians did not select to paint on the mural, many of them enjoyed watching the painting process and they often took photos of the workshops in progress. The greatest response to the mural came from parents who had children that wanted to add their own color and creativity to the mural. Parents were very interested to see their children working on the mu-ral and wanted to know where they could find more free and creative art activities for their families.

Bruneians were very positive in their comments about the aim of the mural and they were happy to see that the American Embassy was working with Kong and I and our students from UBD to help lead the mural and pass our knowledge on to the public at large. The upbeat content of the mural along with its bright de-sign did seem to foster a feeling of friendship and com-munity between everyone from various countries and walks of life who on some level became involved with the mural project.

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Participating volunteers and community members of the Transcending Culture & Space Mural Painting Workshop at Times Square in July 2012

Artist’s Statement by Prof. Kong Ho Timeless Moments & Spotless Places

My new body of artworks, including meditative symbolic paintings, mem-oiristic digital photographs, complex spiral digital art and dissolving motion video, is about new sensory experiences mingled with memories of familiar old one. It’s about sharing the experience of transition, which is an experi-ence that everyone is familiar with. What I hope to present to viewers of my exhibition is a sense of the bitter-sweet—of the time in-between—a feeling of the loss for the old environment that I left behind, and the excitement of the new world when I came to Brunei Darussalam to start a new phase in my life. I can pinpoint the moment when I first embraced the essence of what marked the place of my new beginning. It happened on July 2011, and as I was leaving the hotel apartments in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, the starting point of my new journey in life, and a place some 6,700 miles away from my hometown, Bradford, Pennsylvania. I noticed that while watching the golden-yellow sunset, that I was encountering a moment of timeless being that came from feeling that I was a person of the world and a creature of nature. This feeling is of the kind of transcendental feeling that comes from feeling lost in the enormity of nature. This sort of experience has led artists to try and paint the sublime and over-whelming nature of the elements that make up the patterns of nature. Even though I have relocated to many places in my past 20 years: from humid Hong Kong to dry Texas; hot Texas to cold Pennsylvania; and from snowy Penn-sylvania to sunny Brunei, the way the sky looks when the sun sets with its peaceful sunbeams, is the one thing that feels the same and familiar to me.

The golden-yellow clouds against the ultramarine blue backdrop of the sky on that particular evening might have been familiar; there were some as-pects about it that were unique. I took several photographs of that unique moment with my cell phone camera. After that, I started taking photo-graphs of the sky, beach, flowers, leaves, geckoes, butterflies, trees and landscape around my new tropical environment and seashells and pebbles which I picked up along the Muara Beach close to my living place in Brunei. Later, I used imaging software to merge and transform some of the images collected in Brunei as well as the images I took from my backyard wooded scenery in Pennsylvania, I also used cityscape images from my childhood in Hong Kong to work into digital art. Other types of digital images include computer-generated digital art prints, panoramic photographs and dissolv-ing motion videos.

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Those digital images taken in different places where I have lived before still feel timeless to me, but slightly intangible when I transfigure them. Nev-ertheless, I transform them in an intuitive manner, though my final visual composition sometimes remains unclear to me. Digital imaging creates layers, colors, textures, dimensions, repetitions, rotations and transforma-tions, which are different from hand-painting artworks. I cannot visualize the final images but they always remind me of the free-floating memory with no defined space or time in a spiral, panoramic, elongated, or overlap-ping manner. It may end up resembling a place with no beginning or end, or it may be more like the interweaving of time and space. I am not too sure how to depict that timeless moment and spotless place. But repeatedly I transfigure those moments into visual images and these digital images affect almost every aspect of my art and life. My art is about the timeless moments and spotless places I experience in my past and present living environment. It is very true that with the Internet connection, photographic images and human imagination, I can mentally almost exist in different time and several places at once. These times and places include my physi-cal desk in my present office in Brunei, my virtual Pennsylvania home and my past living places in Hong Kong. At the same time, my photographs, digital art and video define not only the time and space which I have trav-eled but also myself and my own psyche.

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Martie Geiger-Ho. Partial view of installation South China Sea Tides: Red Tide, Rip Tide & Low Tide. 2012. Digital print, 39.5”H x 39.5”W.

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Artist’s Statement by Dr. Martie Geiger-HoNew Directions in Art with Materials from the South China Sea

Brunei is a land of many contrasts and wonderful places to explore. As a new faculty member of the University of Brunei Darussalam, I wanted to create artworks that would address my eagerness to experience the cul-ture and terrain of Brunei and would at the same time offer a chance for my ceramic/sculpture students to follow my ideas and actual execution of the work that I have produced for this exhibition. My concept for the two sculp-tures, Sign In: Brunei Darussalam and Sign Out: Bradford, PA, served both of these criteria admirably.

The concept for this set of sculptures is about change and ways of con-necting with my new identity through a sense of place. The actual realiza-tion of how to address my feelings about changing my work position from teaching at a regional campus in a small town in the US, to teaching at a major university in Brunei Darussalam came to me shortly after my arrival in Brunei. I was collecting driftwood and seashells on the Maura Beach when I realized that I could connect my last body of ceramic work with something new through the use of beach combed objects gathered from the South China Sea. Because my last body of work, China from the South China Sea, relied heavily on my use of shards (broken ceramics) that I routinely collected off of the coast of Hong Kong, I felt that if I could use the driftwood and washed up boards from buildings, found on Brunei’s South China Sea beaches, that a new series of artwork would begin to evolve. I quickly realized that if I could relate the wood to places in Brunei in a way that was similar to the means by which my conceptual ceramic pieces, made with found porcelain and stoneware shards, echoed back to China and its rich heritage of ceramics, that I would be able to make meaningful work that would help to ground me in my new location.

The notion for making a sign-post came to mind when I began collecting flat pieces of wood in addition to more appealing beach scoured tree vines and other art sinuous water-sculpted pieces of driftwood. I was immediately excited about this idea because, in addition to the free weathered boards, I thought that the possibilities of working with names and places was very rich. I knew that I wanted a simple but sturdy rustic wooden stand that I could mount my signs on, so I went to a local hardware store in Berakas, and I ordered two to be built to my specifications. At first I thought that one sign-post would be enough, but when I leaned that the cost for nailing together the basic structure for my future sculpture only came to $26.00 Brunei dollars, I ordered two of the structures. My decision turned out to M

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be for the best because once I began to paint the posts with bright and wild abstract colors and splatters, I started to explore the idea of making one sign-post loaded with various signs indicative of the general region of Pennsylvania, where I had just come from, and the other sign-post would hold the names of places that evoke feelings and important memories for me that I experienced in Hong Kong and Brunei Darussalam. (Although I am new to Brunei, I already have a list of favorite places, which includes rivers, beaches, rainforests, and other natural environments.)

As I began to paint the wood, the colors and textures of the salvaged planks began to suggest their own aesthetic appeal and character. I de-cided to listen to the underlying quality of each wooden slat and plank as I worked paint into the raw wood. The more I worked the more the planks and shattered bits of wood seemed to each remind me of a place, a saying, or a mood that I knew was representative of either Pennsylvania or Brunei with a little Hong Kong thrown in for good measure.

Not long after I had begun painting the stands and getting the base colors rubbed and brushed onto the slats of wood, Kong took notice of what I was doing and he offered to hand write the various signs according to my specifications. Kong’s precise lettering lent still another dimension to the over-all cohesiveness of the two sculptures. Because he was using the same paints as I was, the colors and tonality of the signs were matching up well. As I glued and nailed my sculptures together I began to spend more and more time making sure that they appeared interesting with just enough tension to make the lines, colors, words, and angles of the composition feel natural and not forced.

When I work with found and beach combed objects I like to work without restraint and to allow myself as much freedom as possible without compromising the integrity of my artwork’s structure. Craftsmanship is important to me and I try to push my materials to the limit (whether wood or clay) to see if I can squeeze more visual interest out of them. I believe that the playful nature of the sign-post sculptures will invite viewers to spend time exploring the various elements and place names of each piece. The close-proximity of the place names will undoubtedly cause some conceptual mixing of memories and experiences in the minds of viewers, while other signs will evoke a new sense of place because of the colors and manner of their depiction. Like the mural, Transcending Culture and Space Mural, my sign-post sculptures also aim to transcending space and culture by shifting their place of representation through the relocation of their pin-point memories in the viewer’s mind.

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Kong Ho’s Biography

Prof. Kong Ho utilizes his bicultural background as a teaching artist profes-sionally trained in both Chinese and Western art to teach as associate profes-sor of art and program leader of the art and creative technology program at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Brunei, since 2011. He received a Fulbright U.S. Scholarship (2009-2010), taught mural painting at the National Academy of Art in Sofia, Bulgaria, for 5 months, VSA arts Teaching Artist Fel-lowship (2008-09), Hong Kong Baptist University Fellowship (2006), American Association of State Colleges and Universities Sasakawa Fellowship (2005), University of Pittsburgh Faculty Diversity Fellowship (2003) and Hong Kong Arts Development Council Fellowship for Artistic Development (1999).

Always looking for new opportunities to inform the public of the educational and cultural value of community mural, he founded the Hong Kong Mural So-ciety in 1997 and started teaching mural painting from middle school to uni-versity level. Since then, he has organized and directed more than 35 grant funded public murals with 20 solo commissioned murals in the past 15 years. Although he wears a leg brace as a result of polio that he contracted at one year old, he has boundless energy and enthusiasm when it comes to the physical demands of painting a large community mural.

In addition to his community mural, his structured painterly abstraction coupled with realistic and spiritual symbols paintings, memoiristic digital photographs, complex mystical digital art and dissolving motion videos have been exhibited in more than 90 international and national exhibitions in venues such as the United Nations General Assembly Building and Chelsea Art Museum in New York; the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Union Stations, and the World Bank Art Gallery in Washington, DC; the Clymer Museum & Gallery in Washington; the Fine Arts Museum in New Mexico; the Texas Tech Univer-sity in Texas; the Pennsylvania State Capitol and the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford in Pennsylvania; the Ohio Statehouse and the Ohio University Lancaster in Ohio; the US Ambassadors’ Residences in Macedonia; Joseph D. Carrier Gallery in Canada; the New Bulgarian University in Bulgaria; the Osaka Perfecture University in Japan; the National Institute of Education Art Gallery in Singapore; the Peking Museum of Art in China; the Hong Kong Baptist University, the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology and Hong Kong Museum of Art in Hong Kong. His peer-reviewed papers have been published in Teaching Artist Journal in 2012 and 2010; The International Journal of the Arts in Society in 2007; and Perspectives in 2006. His work has been reviewed in Studio Visit Magazine, Direct Art, New Art International, Who’s Who in American Art, Art in Embassies Program, Contemporary Hong Kong Art Biennial, Asian Art News, The New Art Examiner and Art in America.

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Kong Ho. Shell Becoming a Parrot (Section view), 2012. Digital print, 16”H x 16”W

Prof. Kong Ho, Associate Professor of Art & Programme Leader, UBD

Kong Ho. Transfigured Innocence (Section view), 2011. Acrylic on canvas, 19.5”H x 19.5”W

Martie Geiger-Ho’s Biography

Dr. Martie Geiger-Ho earned a Ph.D. (Fine Arts Interdisciplinary) with an em-phasis in art education at Texas Tech University, Texas, in 2003. Her disserta-tion, “Pathways of Transmission: Investigating the Influence of Chinese Kiln God Worship and Mythology on Kiln God Concepts and Rituals as Observed by American Ceramists” is an ethnographic study of the worship practices associated with the ceramics industry in Jingdezhen, China. In 1994 she earned her M.F.A. in ceramics and painting from Texas Tech University and in 1987 she received an M.A. from the University of New Mexico. Dr. Geiger-Ho earned her B.F.A. from Arizona State University in 1984, with the honour of Distinction in Ceramics. Dr. Geiger-Ho began her art career as an Arts and Crafts Specialist in the United States Army, 1974 to 1977.

Prior to teaching at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) as senior lec-turer in the art and creative technology programmme, Dr. Geiger-Ho worked as a visiting assistant professor of art and taught ceramics and art history at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford from 2004 to 2011. Additionally, she served as the associate degree in visual arts coordinator and taught ceramics and sculpture at the Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, for two years. She was an assistant professor at Mississippi University for Women from 2001 to 2003.

In 2006 Dr. Geiger-Ho awarded a five-month University Fellowship from the Hong Kong Baptist University and worked at the Academy of Visual Arts, where, in addition to conducting research on kiln gods she organized the ce-ramic studio and assisted with the curriculum development of their visual arts programs. She also served on the proposal committee for the M.V.A. program in arts administration. Dr. Geiger-Ho is also an art educator (life-time Texas teaching license), and she has taught full-time in both public U.S. schools and at the private Hong Kong International High School. Before going to work in Hong Kong as the Assistant Director of I-Kiln Studio, 1996-1999, she under-took a one-year teaching assignment as a visiting assistant professor of art at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota, 1995-1996.

During her previous years in Hong Kong and the United States, Dr. Geiger-Ho participated in 80 regional and international art exhibitions including 14 solo exhibitions, and she was a recipient of several individual Hong Kong Arts De-velopment Council Grants. Dr. Geiger-Ho was also a frequent lecturer and art instructor at the Pottery Workshop, Hong Kong Art Center, Hong Kong Visual Arts Center and the Hong Kong Museum of Art. Dr. Geiger-Ho was a part-time visiting lecturer at the School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University in

Geiger-Ho, M. (2012). The Worship of Kiln Gods. Parker, CO: Outskirtspress.

Dr. Martie Geiger-Ho, Senior Lecturer, UBD

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Martie Geiger-Ho. Blue Waterfall, 2008. Stoneware vessel with glaze, 7.5”H x 5”W x 5”D.

the fall of 1998. In August of 1997, she facilitated a forum on Hong Kong’s censorship policies entitled “Uncensored Censorship” at the Fringe Club. Dr. Geiger-Ho’s ceramic work has appeared in numerous publications to include a four page bilingual feature-article, “Kiln Lore” in Today’s Living, Vol. 134, September 1998. In May 2007 she published, “Playing with Fire and Kiln Gods,” Ceramics Technical, No. 24, and “Guardian’s of Fire and Clay: The Legacy of Chinese Kiln God’s,” Studio Potter, Vol. 28, No. 2 in July 2000. Most recently, Dr. Geiger-Ho has published her new book, titled The Worship of Kiln Gods: From Temples of China to the Studios of West-ern Potters, by Outskirtspress. Her work has been exhibited and collected in the United States, Hong Kong, China, Japan, and Canada.

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Martie Geiger-Ho. Sign In (Partial view, partially complete sculpture), 2012. Drift wood sculpture, 78”H x 28”W x 28”D

Martie Geiger-Ho. Sign In and Sign Out (Par-tial view, sculpture under construction), 2012. Drift wood sculpture, 78”H x 28”W x 28”D

Martie Geiger-Ho. My Love Combined, 2012. Silver clay, cubic zircons & mixed media, 2.75”H x 2”W x 0.5”D

Martie Geiger-Ho. Splashing Water, 2012. Stoneware vessel with glaze, 4.5”H x 7.5”W x 7.5”D

Martie Geiger-Ho. Liquid Organic Pen-dant, 2012. Silver clay & cubic zircons, 1.5”H x 1.25”W x 0.25”D

Martie Geiger-Ho. Ribbon of Gold, 2007. Stoneware vessel with glaze & luster, 6.5”H x 9”W x 9”D

Martie Geiger-Ho. Partial view of instal-lation South China Sea Tides: Red Tide, Rip Tide & Low Tide. 2012.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This pilot community art project in Brunei Darussalam will not be possible without the genuine friendship and support of caring community members, volunteers and UBD art students. Therefore we would like to thank the following gen-erous supporters for their belief in this community art project. First we would like to thank the Ambassador Daniel Shields of the U.S. Embassy Brunei Da-russalam. Without the sponsorship from the U.S. Overseas Federal Assistance Award, we would never have been able to launch the community mural painting workshops and traveling art exhibition in Brunei Darussalam this year. Also, we wish to thank the co-sponsorship of Universiti Brunei Darus-salam (UBD), Jerudong International School (JIS) for this exhibition and related art events. Moreover, we would like to thank our Guest of Honour, Dato Paduka Ar. H. Idris B. H. Abas, principal architect. Finally, we would like to express special thanks to the participating UBD art and creative technology major students, youths of the Pusat Belia (Youth Centre), JIS students and their art teachers, the U.S. Embassy Brunei Darussalam staff, guests of 4th of July, and the community volunteers from the Times Square open mural painting workshop. Special thanks to Annant Whalen for her keen artistic insight and contribution as an artist.

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Kong Ho. True Nature of Philosophy (Section view), 2011. Acrylic on canvas, 19.5”H x 19.5”W

Martie Geiger-Ho collecting driftwood from the Muara Beach in Brunei Darussalam

Kong Ho. Fashion Loves A Statement (Section view), 2012. Digital print, 16”H x 16”W

Martie Geiger-Ho. Unwinding Spiral Pendant, 2012. Silver clay, cubic zir-cons & paint, 1.5”H x 1.25”W x 0.25”D

Des

ign

© K

ong

Ho

2012

Co-sponsored by:

The U.S. Embassy Brunei Darussalam proudly sponsors the

Transcending Culture and Space: A Community Art Project