Last night, at about this time, we got to hear from another speaker in the immigrant community. This week our guest was Mr. Seexeng Lee, and Hmong artist and art teacher. Art in itself is a very elusive topic, but when I heard Seexeng explain it to us it made much more sense. He said that art was not the product itself, but the end prodct that displays the entire journey. Hmong art is a good discriptor of this because it's isn't really made to be looked at, but to be used. Traditionally, Hmong artists are silversmiths, blacksmiths, weavers, singers or embroiderers among other things. By far, the Hmong are most known for emboidery. One piece of embroidery, the Paj Ntaub, is used to intrigue the spirit so that it dosn't stray away. With time and the shift to America, Hmong art has been forced to change. Seexeng does not see this as a bad thing at all, he views the mixture of the two cultures as a blessing in disguise. As Hmong art continues to change, there have been many successes expecially here in the Twin Cities. Some of these include different hmong art organizations, the oportunity to obtain a MA or BA in art, and simply being able to share the story of the Hmong culture.
I thought it was very interesting to see Seexeng's art in the exhibit a few weeks back, and now being able to actually hear him speak, the pieces hold much more meaning. I almost had to laugh, when he started speaking about Folk Art and how Hmong art is not made soley to look at. I distinctly remember looking at his pieces at the exhibit and often quickly moving on to a more aesthetically pleasing piece. When I was viewing his pieces earlier, I didn't understand the importance of gold leafing, and the idea of art in a functional way such as intriguing the spirit. Last night's presentation helped me to have a greater appreciation of the art that we viewed a few weeks back.
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