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here to visit our blog.We are saddened by the death of beloved poet Al Robles on Saturday, May 2, 2009. He provided tremendous inspiration, mentorship and joy to all of us and he is one of the main reasons why many of us became so involved in the arts in the community. Please read on, poet Genny Lim has shared with us a few reflections about Al.
Thank you Al, we miss you.
Francis Wong
Co-Founder and Creative Director
Asian Improv aRts
From
Genny Lim
Eyes closed, he nodded slightly when I asked him if he would like to
be read some Zen poems. I read Zen Master Jakushitsu's poems about remote
mountain temples hidden under clouds. about solitude and aging, serenity
and truth. The morning silence transformed the small hospital room into
a retreat hut. Al embodied serenity, an innate quality of simplicity
and humility, attributes of a dying breed of salt-of-the earth, free-spirited
Manongs, who were undying lovers of music, dance, poetry, nature, love
and joy. It was this spirit of joy which emanated from Al's love of
humanity which drew people to him.
Al's
love of art was not confined to galleries and museums, nor were his
poems to lecture halls or posh sitting rooms. His poems, often written
on rice paper scrolls in calligraphy, belonged to the canvas of the
sky and the streets of the city. He was the only Community Artist, whom
I consistently ran into at airports, enroute solo to a beach hut in
Hawaii, to a pueblo in New Mexico. We traded adventure stories at the
crossroads, promising to join trails at some future juncture. That future
juncture would never happen in this physical world.
Manong Al Robles was an itinerant poet in the tradition of the wandering bards of old, cut in the same cloth as Basho, Tufu and Jakushitsu. The world was his oyster and his poems were pearls smoothed and worn by years of walking in this world and observing deeply the suffering of people, especially his own. Gentle and giving as the ocean tide, which sustains the earth, again and again, Al's generosity of spirit will live on in each of us who knew him, day after day.
Genny Lim
May 3, 2009
The California Arts Council has done a tremendous job in working it's way back to what it was. Please help all Californian's by supporting the arts by puchasing an California Arts License plate! Proceeds from the sales go the California Arts Council which support individual artists and organizations up and down this wonderful state! Click on the logo below for more information:
Visionary composer/instrumentalists Jon Jang (piano) and James Newton (flute) will perform in a rare Bay Area duet concert appearance at Yoshi's Oakland Jazz Club.
For tickets and more information click here
Asian Improv aRts is proud to continue our arts education programming in San Francisco. We are currently supporting after school art enrichment at the Chinatown Beacon Center through an NEA Learning for Children in the Arts grant. We are also partnering with Genryu Arts for a residency by Melody Takata at Clarendon Japanese Bilingual Bicultural Program as well as providing technical assistance for Genryu Arts afterschool residency program at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California. Additionally, we are proud to provide technical assistance to Jon Jang's afterschool residency at Alice Fong Yu School.
Asian Improv aRts is a proud co-director of the California Asian and Pacific Islander Arts Network. Along with Visual Communications, Asian Improv aRts works to develop the arts infrastructure of the APA community in California and beyond. Please join the CAAPIAN listserv at: http://www.caapian.org. CAAPIAN is supported by the California Arts Council to help strengthen communities in California.
Asian Improv aRts encourages the public of San Francisco and California to participate in the civic activities of your communities. We have seen statewide what has happened to the California Arts Council. The now almost defuct California Arts Council has left a huge void in support for artists and communities benefiting from the cultural enrichment and economic activity the arts brings.
Asian Improv aRts is proud to announce the completion of the San Francisco Arts Task Force report. It can be downloaded on the San Francisco Arts Commission website.
Prop H Community Advisory Committee. Prop H was passed in the City and County of San Francisco back in 2004 and was to provide funding from the city to the school district for the purposes of supporting arts, libraries, and sports.
We encourage all to come and attend the public meetings and voice your opinions. Vinay Patel of Asian Improv aRts sits on both of these boards and is available to hear your suggestions. Please call him at: 415-908-3636.