Jade Snow Wong Image Courtesy of the Jade Snow Wong Family Teacher Packet © 2020 1 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Lesson 1. Jade Snow Wong: Breaking the Mold 5 Lesson 2. Drawing Together Jade Snow Wong’s Many Influences 9 Lesson 3. The Art and Science of Jade Snow Wong’s Work 12 Lesson 4. Jade Snow Wong: Crafting a Chinese American Identity 15 Lesson 5. Jade Snow Wong’s Writing: Shaping Her Story 19 Special thanks to Mark Ong for sharing his memories and insights into his mother’s life and work. 2 Introduction: Jade Snow Wong (1922-2006) was significant not just as a celebrated ceramics and enamels ​ th artist but also as one of the first writers on the 20 -century​ Chinese American experience. The ​ theme of “working with your hands” resonated throughout her life: she saw her immigrant parents laboring with their hands in their garment factory; she cooked and cleaned as a maid to pay for her college education; she wrote her best-selling memoirs by hand and on the typewriter; she personally handled matters (objects and tours) in her import/export and travel businesses; and, of course, she worked with her hands as a ceramics and enamels artist. This “hands-on” approach in all of her endeavors enabled Wong to create a strong sense of identity that withstood the expectations and judgments she faced as an Asian woman. The acclaim she received for her art and writing led the U.S. State Department to ask her to serve as a cultural ambassador speaking to audiences throughout Asia. Thus, Jade Snow Wong is worth studying not just for her work in the arts, but for the many ways she succeeded in sharing her perspective with the world. In the lessons below, teachers and students have the opportunity to explore the following: 1. Wong’s artistic style and the influences on her work 2. The ceramics- and enamels-making process 3. Wong’s memoirs and her family’s immigrant experience, including the conflicting age-, race-, and gender-related values that shaped her 4. The way Wong’s story was interpreted and dramatized for a short film (looking at the film itself as a work of art/historical artifact) 5. How Wong’s story might stir students’ thinking about their own identities and what it means to be “American.” th- th- Key words/subjects of study: ceramics, pottery, enamels, late 19 ​ and 20 century​ China and ​ ​ ​ America, Confucianism, the immigrant experience, race relations, gender roles, family relationships, identity formation, the American Dream, historical texts Grade Levels: The lessons below increase in the level of analytical thinking required of the ​ students, with Lesson 1 being accessible to all grade levels and the final lesson, Lesson 5, being more appropriate for Grades 9-12+. The lessons are not dependent on each other, and they draw from a range of disciplines and skills, so teachers may pick and choose the activities that are most relevant and appropriate for their classes. 3 Common Core State Standards Addressed: Lessons 1 and 2: Visual Arts 1.0: Processing, Analyzing, and Responding to Sensory Information Through the Language and Skills Unique to the Visual Arts Visual Arts 3.0: Understanding the Historical Contributions and Cultural Dimensions of the Visual Arts Visual Arts 4.0: Responding to, Analyzing, and Making Judgments about Works in the Visual Arts Visual Arts 5.0: Connecting and Applying What is Learned in the Visual Arts to Other Art Forms and Subject Area and to Careers K-12.SL.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade appropriate topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. Lesson 3: (Same as Lessons 1 and 2, plus the following) 2-PS1-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their observable properties. Lessons 4 and 5: ELA & Literacy: 6.L.2: Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g. visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study. 6-12.SL.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade appropriate topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. 7.SL.3: Delineate a speaker’s argument and specific claims, and attitude toward the subject, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence. 9-10.RI.7: Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g., a person’s life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account. 6-8.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for reflection and revision) and shorter ​ time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. History-Social Science: 1.4: Students compare and contrast everyday life in different times and places around the world and recognize that some aspects of people, places, and things change over time while others stay the same. 2.5: Students understand the importance of individual action and character and explain how the heroes from long ago and the recent past have made a difference in others’ lives. 11.11: Students analyze the major social problems and domestic policy issues in contemporary American society. 4 Lesson 1—Jade Snow Wong: Breaking the Mold Grades K-8 and above Duration: 1 45-min. class period Objectives: ● To understand how Wong was viewed by her community as a rebel in her choice of career and in her artistic style ● To practice using compare/contrast skills to identify the hallmarks of art from the Qing and Song dynasties, to understand how Wong’s work was initially judged ● To hone discussion skills through the use of Project Zero’s Artful Thinking Routines. ​ ​ Materials: ● Powerpoint of Images: Jade Snow Wong working in the storefront window; Song vs. Qing ceramics; Jade Snow Wong’s ceramics ● For older students, handout with quotes about the start of Wong’s career and discussion prompts. ● Post-its and pens/pencils Part 1: Discussion of Wong’s Nonconformity In her writing about the start of her artistic career, Wong recounts how she was unable to find an ​ ​ affordable rental space where she could make and sell her pottery. She ultimately struck a deal to work in the front window of a Chinatown store, a decision that helped her business to thrive but also drew her community’s disapproval. *For younger students (K-5), the teacher can simply tell this brief story and show the image of Wong ​ working in the window (Slide 2 of PowerPoint). Then, use the following Artful Thinking questions to encourage the students to share their responses to the picture: 1. What do you see in this picture? ​ ​ 2. What do think is happening this picture? ​ ​ 3. What do you wonder about this picture? ​ ​ After hearing a variety of responses, you can ask the students why working in the window might have been seen as a bold move on Wong’s part. What are the pros and cons of doing her work in public? To wrap up the discussion, you can make a connection to today and how there is now much more interest in “maker-spaces” and showing the process behind a product—can the students think of examples? (The proliferation of online how-to videos; open-kitchen restaurants where customers can see the chefs cooking, etc. If you’re interested in pursuing this topic, here is an article on the renewed “Arts and Crafts” movement: https://mymodernmet.com/arts-and-crafts-movement-revival/) ​ 5 *For older students (Grades 6-8 and beyond), in addition to discussing the picture above, you can also ​ have the students break up into small groups to read and discuss the quotes below: From the time I stepped into the window, I attracted crowds. I sold enough pottery to the general American public to convince that my style was acceptable. However, the Chinese community and my mother were not enthusiastic. With perpetually muddy hands, I had forsaken the 2500-year-old Confucian ideal of the scholar who studied to avoid getting his hands dirty. When I shopped for groceries, immigrant Chinese tradesmen laughed in my face. My mother would not look at me or at my work. Had I caused her to lose face in public? (Jade Snow Wong: A Retrospective 18) ​ ​ From the first, the local Chinese were not Jade Snow’s patrons. The thinness and whiteness of porcelains imported from China and ornate decorations which came into vogue during the late Ching [Qing] Dynasty satisfied their tastes. They could not understand why “silly Americans” paid dollars for a hand-thrown bowl utilizing crude California clays, not much different from the inexpensive peasant ware of China. That the Jade Snow Wong bowl went back to an older tradition of understated beauty was not apparent. They could see only that she wouldn’t apply a dragon or a hundred flowers. (Wong, No Chinese Stranger 22) ​ ​ Notes: 1. Even if the students haven’t yet studied Confucianism or Chinese history, they’ll be able to infer from the quotes the different cultural values that Wong was trying to reconcile. 2. You might want to clarify that Wong’s simple pottery style “utilizing crude California clays” reflected her admiration of not just the older tradition of Song dynasty art but also of the early 20th ​ century Arts and Crafts movement in America.