Master Lei’s happy reunion with his artist friends in St. Paul

By Mike Xiong, Staff Writer

It was over fours years before Master Lei, Yixin, commissioned artist for Martin Luther King Jr. sculpture to be installed in National Mall of Washington DC, was able to meet, hug and toast with his artist friends again in the newly remodeled Tea House restaurant during the welcome dinner hosted by Public Art St. Paul on July 18, 2010.  By Mike Xiong, Staff Writer

It was over fours years before Master Lei, Yixin, commissioned artist for Martin Luther King Jr. sculpture to be installed in National Mall of Washington DC, was able to meet, hug and toast with his artist friends again in the newly remodeled Tea House restaurant during the welcome dinner hosted by Public Art St. Paul on July 18, 2010. 

Four years ago, Lei left St. Paul with a stunning sculpture “Meditation” and a strong candidacy for the commission to sculpt the likeness of Martin Luther King, Jr.

During these four years, many things happened.  Prominently, Lei’s candidacy provoked serious criticism from some of American artists who, although they did not argue much about Lei’s artistic skills, wanted to deny his qualification by citing more racial and political reasons. The selection committee of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project, on the other hand, insisted the decision of choosing Lei was solely based on artistic criteria.  he negative voices gradually faded. Lei moved on with the confirmation as the commissioned sculptor and executed the sculpture project in China. Right now DC’s National Mall is getting ready for the installation.

Another thing is an incident happened to Lei’s sculpture “Meditation” displayed in St. Paul’s Phalen Lake. Two years ago, some local gangs and racists defaced the sculpture with hate symbols and racial slurs. Local police, artists groups and the Chinese community who loved the sculpture worked together and removed the dirty marks.  They eventually totally recovered to the statue’s original beauty. 

Master Lei, Yixin with his fans in front the sculpture “Meditation” on July 18, 2010 at Lake Phalen, St. Paul

During these four years, Lei’s reputation in China and the world has risen as people start to realize the significance and influence of the sculpture that will become a must see spot in DC by visitor from all over the world.

The happy endings to those major events deserve much toasting and cheering and that was exactly what had happened during the dinner.

Prior to Master Lei and his delegation’s visit, there had been an art exhibition entitled “Harmonious Hunan” at the gallery of the College of Visual Art (CVA) in St. Paul. More than a dozen of Hunan’s artists in painting, sculpture, calligraphy and photography displayed their award winning works for more than a week. 

However, restriction of visa granting allowed only 4 artists to visit the Twin Cities besides Master Lei. Master He, Manzong, President, Calligraphy Association of Hunan Province, specializes in Tang Dynasty’s famous poems. Master Zhu, Xunde, Dean of Art Institute of Hunan Normal University.  He is skillful in Chinese painting with the theme of tranquility and world peace. Master Hu, Liwei, Vice President of Hunan Art Institute, Chinese painting painter focusing on the harmony between people and natural environment.  Master Cao, Mingqiu, National first class artist specializing in both painting with mixed Western and Chinese techniques and modern fashion design with Chinese traditional artistic patterns.

Hunan Artist Delegation Leader Mr. Jiang, Heping left, and Master calligrapher He, Manzong right with Mike Xiong center in the gallery of College of Visual Art at the reception on July 18, 2010

All those artists have gained national reputation in their own artistic fields.

Master Lei displayed his new creation: Two sculpture replicas 1) General Chennault 2) Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong in the pose of toasting. General Chennault led the Flying Tiger to fight the Japanese invaders during the Second World War.  He built an ammunition freight airport in western Hunan province during the war years. Mao, a Hunan native, and Chiang were archenemy. Their toasting happened at the dawn of China’s last Civil war. Lei might want to remind people that even between archenemies, there exists a moment of harmony.  If people can grasp that harmonious moment, war might be avoidable.  Besides the replicas, Lei also displayed the printed images of woodcut of Hunan’s famous artists in recent history.

The art exhibition and visit was sponsored by four organizations: St. Paul Mayor’s Office, College of Visual Art, Public Art St. Paul and US-Chinese People Friendship Association (USCPFA)-Minnesota.

July 18 was a day that impressed Lei and his delegation. This day was packed with activities from the morning to the night. The first trip was to the site of “Meditation” in Phalen Lake. Christine Podas-Larson, Chair of Public Art St. Paul, met the delegation at the site and guided the tour for the delegation to St. Paul’s scenic spots. The lunch was hosted by Mary Warpeha, co-chair of USCPFA-Minnesota. Then there was afternoon reception at the CVA gallery. With honor and privilege, I introduced each delegate at the beginning of a brief reception.  St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, CVA president Ann Ledy, USCPFA Mary Warpeha and Public St. Paul’s Christine Podas-Larson each made a welcome speech to the delegation. Artistic gifts brought from China were presented to the sponsoring organization by the delegation. Calligrapher He Manzong donated 8 scrolls of Tang Poems in cursive script to CVA at the reception. St. Paul Mayor Coleman also sent gifts to the artists.

Dinner was followed immediately after the reception in the evening hours. All local sculptors who participated into the International Sculpture Symposium in 2006 were invited for a reunion with Lei.  Songs, music and dance went on with toasting and cheering at the dinner. 

After the delegation returned back to China, Lei wrote an e-mail message to me: “The day in St. Paul was very busy but so impressive that every delegate will remember for life.  That is the best day during the whole trip to America”.

Many people made valuable contributions to the success of this art exhibition and visit. Among them are Li Ning of Seagate, Christine Podas-Larson of Public Art St. Paul, Demeri Mullikin and Rosemary Kimball of CVA and many others. They all volunteered time and efforts to work collaboratively so that Master Lei’s visit and art exhibition would proceed smoothly and successfully.