by Melissa London
NW Asian Weekly
Chun O Lu has spent nearly a lifetime being deaf and creating art. Now he wants to help others by organizing an exhibit of artwork by deaf people from around the globe.
Lu, who is also a former restaurateur and newspaper photographer, is a master calligrapher and Chinese brush artist. He enjoys imitating the style of famous Chinese painters, but the 75-year-old spends much of his time these days helping to further the careers of other deaf artists through a foundation he started several years ago.
"I was very concerned with the social community," Lu explained, through a translator. In 1990, he returned to his native China and Taiwan to visit other deaf artists and develop his cause.
"There's a lot of talent among deaf people," he said. "They are many very good artists, but they are deaf." He estimated that in China alone some 270,000 artists are deaf.
In 1995, he started the Edison Foundation, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization dedicated to helping deaf artists from around the world come to the United States to study. Because the foundation has just began, few artists have benefited to date. However, Lu has high hopes.
Among goals, he hopes to put the foundation in the spotlight next summer during an international exhibition of the work of deaf artists. The event, which will be the first of its kind in the Pacific Northwest, is to be held at the Seattle Center next August.
But whether it really happens depends upon support from fellow artists. Lu tried to organize the event once before and had difficulty getting enough entries.
This time, so far, the call seems to be working: 18 artists have sent him samples of their work already. Lu said he needs about 70 to hold the exhibition.
A seed planted
The foundation is an arm of the International Deaf Sign Language Institute, based in South Seattle. The institute has about 100 members, as well as a branch office in Shanghai, headed by Jiang Jun Yi.
The seed of the idea for an exhibition was planted years ago. Chun O Lu was the second-place winner, for his painting "Auturn Insect," in a National Art Exhibition for the Artistic, held in 1952 in the Republic of China. Some 3,000 artists entered, but only 100 Chinese paintings - Lu's included - were accepted for the show. First prize went to the great master, Huang Chin Pi, for a scenic painting.
Lu is more than an artist and social do-gooder.
Born to a wealthy family in the China province of Yangzhou, Lu became deaf at the age of 5 when he contracted meningitis. When he was 14, his father died.
At the age of 15, he entered the Chinese Painting Department of the famous Hsiung Hwa Art College in Shanghai. He studied under many masters; among them were Sheu Pei Hung, Wang Yea Cheng and Sheu Lun Si.
At the age of 24, he held an exhibition of his own work in Northern Kiangshu. For that, he received acclaim as one of the most brilliant young Chinese painters of his time.
As an adult, Lu spent more than 10 years working as a photographer and proofreader for four Chinese-language newspapers in Taiwan. But in 1977, he immigrated to the United States and began a career in the restaurant industry.
The first Grand Village Restaurant opened in 1979. Since then, Lu has opened three restaurants. Lu has six children and 16 grandchildren. Two of his children - his fourth daughter and his youngest son - are responsible for running the Grand Village restaurants in Seattle and Kent today. (A third location, also in the International District, has since closed due to leasing problems.)
Since coming to the United States, Lu said his goal has been to help support the various Chinese charities around the Seattle area. He has contributed paintings to the Chinese Information and Service Center, Kin On Health Care and the Northwest Asian Weekly Foundation.
Despite having lived here for two decades, Lu never learned English, and today he continues to communicate mostly in written Chinese. At first, he said, he was too busy running his restaurant to learn English. Later, he was too busy with his various social concerns and art.
Deaf only
Just about anyone can enter the exhibition of deaf artists in Seattle next year. The only criteria, said Lu, is that artists must be deaf.
Because of the networking by the institution and a branch location overseas, many are expected to come from Taiwan and China. While Asian artists will be given preference, deaf artists of any nationality are welcome.
To help coordinate the exhibition, the institute is organizing a coalition called the "Arts Exchange and Development Committee of International Deaf People."
Lu said the show will feature all kinds of artwork, from sculpture to painting to Chinese calligraphy. Artists will be able to enter in a variety of categories.
Artists should send a photograph of their art (not the original work) to the Edison Foundation/International Deaf Sign Language Institute, 13707 41st Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98168. The deadline to enter is May 31.