Hmong Family Day at Chazen Museum
Back to traditional values
Back to traditional values
By Laura Salinger
Families gathered at the Chazen Museum of Art on the UW-Madison campus on March 28 to
celebrate the Hmong culture. In conjunction with the textile exhibition “Writing with Thread:
Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities,” Chazen hosted an afternoon featuring Hmong
music, hands-on activities, storytelling and traditional Hmong performances. “Tradition and
Technique: A Celebration of Hmong Culture” brought together young and old to partake in a
culturally rich and activity-filled event.
“Today’s family day celebrates Wisconsin’s Hmong culture with music, metal demonstrations and
hands-on embroidery lessons,” Chazen Assistant Director for External Affairs Mary Carr Lee said.
“During today’s event, we estimate between three to four hundred children and family members were
able to celebrate these exquisite and rare textiles and celebrate Hmong culture.”
Chazen’s family day helped bring to light a culture that is often misunderstood.
“We are one of the newest groups in Wisconsin,” event emcee Mai Zong said. “Even though we’ve
been here for three decades, not much is known, especially about the art and leisure skills of the
Hmong. This was a chance for us to introduce the Hmong community to the Madison community.”
The day was filled with a number of different, hands-on activities for museum guests. First grader Zoe
Guderyon, a seven-year-old who was adopted from China, sat down with a woman from Kajsiab House
to learn embroidery. Older adults gathered around jeweler and blacksmith Vanchai Xiong’s table to
learn about Hmong jewelry. The women of Kajsiab house explained the migration story of the Hmong
by sharing their embroidered story quilt. Dang Vang performed traditional Hmong music, Mai Zong
shared Hmong stories, and singer Amy Vue sang traditional Hmong songs for the crowd.
Just up one flight of stairs was the exhibit that inspired the Hmong family day event. “Writing with
Thread: Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities,” thought to be the largest collection of
its kind to-date, features a vast array of southwest Chinese ethnic minority costumes. Fifteen ethnic
groups and nearly 100 subgroups are represented in this colorful and visually stunning collection
featuring clothing, jewelry, baby carriers, quilt covers, festive and religious vestments, embroidered
silk valences, and wax-resist dyed curtains, plus a loom, weaving tools, and embroidery cases.
For nearly 20 years, the Evergrand Museum in Taiwan, under the direction of Huang Ying-Feng,
has been assembling textile arts from China’s southwest region.
“It is possibly the best collection of Chinese minority costumes in the world,” exhibitions
coordinator Mary Ann Fitzgerald said. “It’s one man who as been collecting for around 20 years. He
has put years of research into these pieces.”
The collection features some the finest and rarest textiles and ornaments from the Miao (Hmong),
Yi, Dong, Tujia, Shui, Zhuang, Dai, Buyi, Yao, Hani, Gelao, Li, Jingpo, Maonan and Zang. For these
societies that lack a written language, oral traditions are crucial to the preservation of their culture.
Textile arts, however, prove to be another window into the soul of these cultures. According to
exhibitors, “the textiles and silver ornaments, as complements to their oral traditions, record and
transmit ideas and concepts that are important for the preservation and reconstruction of the identities
of their makers and users.”
When Fitzgerald toured the exhibit with Hmong elders from Wisconsin, she said several of them were
excited to recognize certain pieces. It was a connection to a time past, but also a time present. The
textile arts are a visual, interactive way to reconnect to a culture that has faced numerous changes
throughout the years.
For the Chazen Museum of Art, it was also a way to reach out and connect with the Hmong
community. Hmong leaders collaborated with the museum to help with the exhibit and family day
event.
Families gathered at the Chazen Museum of Art on the UW-Madison campus on March 28 to
celebrate the Hmong culture. In conjunction with the textile exhibition “Writing with Thread:
Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities,” Chazen hosted an afternoon featuring Hmong
music, hands-on activities, storytelling and traditional Hmong performances. “Tradition and
Technique: A Celebration of Hmong Culture” brought together young and old to partake in a
culturally rich and activity-filled event.
“Today’s family day celebrates Wisconsin’s Hmong culture with music, metal demonstrations and
hands-on embroidery lessons,” Chazen Assistant Director for External Affairs Mary Carr Lee said.
“During today’s event, we estimate between three to four hundred children and family members were
able to celebrate these exquisite and rare textiles and celebrate Hmong culture.”
Chazen’s family day helped bring to light a culture that is often misunderstood.
“We are one of the newest groups in Wisconsin,” event emcee Mai Zong said. “Even though we’ve
been here for three decades, not much is known, especially about the art and leisure skills of the
Hmong. This was a chance for us to introduce the Hmong community to the Madison community.”
The day was filled with a number of different, hands-on activities for museum guests. First grader Zoe
Guderyon, a seven-year-old who was adopted from China, sat down with a woman from Kajsiab House
to learn embroidery. Older adults gathered around jeweler and blacksmith Vanchai Xiong’s table to
learn about Hmong jewelry. The women of Kajsiab house explained the migration story of the Hmong
by sharing their embroidered story quilt. Dang Vang performed traditional Hmong music, Mai Zong
shared Hmong stories, and singer Amy Vue sang traditional Hmong songs for the crowd.
Just up one flight of stairs was the exhibit that inspired the Hmong family day event. “Writing with
Thread: Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities,” thought to be the largest collection of
its kind to-date, features a vast array of southwest Chinese ethnic minority costumes. Fifteen ethnic
groups and nearly 100 subgroups are represented in this colorful and visually stunning collection
featuring clothing, jewelry, baby carriers, quilt covers, festive and religious vestments, embroidered
silk valences, and wax-resist dyed curtains, plus a loom, weaving tools, and embroidery cases.
For nearly 20 years, the Evergrand Museum in Taiwan, under the direction of Huang Ying-Feng,
has been assembling textile arts from China’s southwest region.
“It is possibly the best collection of Chinese minority costumes in the world,” exhibitions
coordinator Mary Ann Fitzgerald said. “It’s one man who as been collecting for around 20 years. He
has put years of research into these pieces.”
The collection features some the finest and rarest textiles and ornaments from the Miao (Hmong),
Yi, Dong, Tujia, Shui, Zhuang, Dai, Buyi, Yao, Hani, Gelao, Li, Jingpo, Maonan and Zang. For these
societies that lack a written language, oral traditions are crucial to the preservation of their culture.
Textile arts, however, prove to be another window into the soul of these cultures. According to
exhibitors, “the textiles and silver ornaments, as complements to their oral traditions, record and
transmit ideas and concepts that are important for the preservation and reconstruction of the identities
of their makers and users.”
When Fitzgerald toured the exhibit with Hmong elders from Wisconsin, she said several of them were
excited to recognize certain pieces. It was a connection to a time past, but also a time present. The
textile arts are a visual, interactive way to reconnect to a culture that has faced numerous changes
throughout the years.
For the Chazen Museum of Art, it was also a way to reach out and connect with the Hmong
community. Hmong leaders collaborated with the museum to help with the exhibit and family day
event.
First grader Zoe Guderyon learns embroidery from a
woman from Kajsiab house.
woman from Kajsiab house.
“The Chazen Museum of Art has been overjoyed with the response to ‘Writing with Thread: Traditional Textiles of
Southwest Chinese Minorities,’” Carr Lee said. “We have enjoyed partnering with Hmong leaders to bring the exhibit into the
community and the community into the exhibit.”
The exhibition was organized by the University of Hawai‘i Art Gallery and the Evergrand Art Museum, Taoyuan,
Taiwan, and is supported by the University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate
Education, John Young Foundation, Blakemore Foundation, Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts through
appropriations from the Legislature of the State of Hawai‘i and the National Endowment for the Arts, Joseph and Vera Zilber
Family Foundation, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Center for Chinese Studies/Confucius Institute, Carolyn and Warren
Luke, Blodwyn Goo Endowment, University of Hawai‘i Women’s Campus Club, Gulab and Indru Watumull Grant for Museum
Studies in the Arts, Commercial Data Systems, Wing Tek Lum and Chee Ping Lee Lum, and private contributions.
Generous local support for this exhibition has been provided by the Chazen Museum of Art Council, The Great Dane Pub &
Brewing Co., Group Health Cooperative, J.H. Findorff & Son Inc., UW Health, Executive Management, Inc., Hilldale Fund,
and Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Southwest Chinese Minorities,’” Carr Lee said. “We have enjoyed partnering with Hmong leaders to bring the exhibit into the
community and the community into the exhibit.”
The exhibition was organized by the University of Hawai‘i Art Gallery and the Evergrand Art Museum, Taoyuan,
Taiwan, and is supported by the University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate
Education, John Young Foundation, Blakemore Foundation, Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts through
appropriations from the Legislature of the State of Hawai‘i and the National Endowment for the Arts, Joseph and Vera Zilber
Family Foundation, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Center for Chinese Studies/Confucius Institute, Carolyn and Warren
Luke, Blodwyn Goo Endowment, University of Hawai‘i Women’s Campus Club, Gulab and Indru Watumull Grant for Museum
Studies in the Arts, Commercial Data Systems, Wing Tek Lum and Chee Ping Lee Lum, and private contributions.
Generous local support for this exhibition has been provided by the Chazen Museum of Art Council, The Great Dane Pub &
Brewing Co., Group Health Cooperative, J.H. Findorff & Son Inc., UW Health, Executive Management, Inc., Hilldale Fund,
and Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
| Mai Zong Vue with two of her children enjoying Family Day at Chazen Museum |
Attendees enjoyed the Hmong sound of music with the Qej.