Seoul has become something of a home away from home for numerous CCAers. In cyberspace and, occasionally, on terra firma, about 150 Korean alumni, students, and prospective students meet, mingle, and network in what has become the CCA Korean Alumni Group.

While giving members the opportunity to reminisce about the thrill of artistic victory and the agony of critique, the club also introduces the school to newly accepted students, offering them a way to meet classmates before they hit the California coast. "Our members also make professional connections," says Sooah Choi (Fashion Design 1998), current club president. "Alumni sometimes refer projects to others working in the same career, and they post information about internships." The group meets about five times a year in Seoul, and a couple of times in Oakland.

Last year, in honor of CCA's centennial, the club hosted a special evening event for Korean alumni. Graduates, prospective students, parents of students, and Korean faculty from the likes of Seoul National University and Samsung Art and Design Institute attended the gala along with Stephen Beal, then CCA's provost (now president), and Michele Rabin, director of international student affairs. That memorable evening, held at Minjoo Kang's (Ceramics 2002) wine and coffee house, included speeches and discussions about promoting the school in Korea. "We were proud and excited that CCA created such a beautifully organized event all the way over in our part of the world," Choi says.

The Korean Alumni Group emerged out of informal gatherings organized by a dozen or so Korean students who graduated in the early 1990s. In 2000, Heewon Chang (Graphic Design 2001) opened an online community for the group. As the gathering grew, Junho Kim (Graphic Design 1991) was elected its first president, followed by Younmo Kim (Illustration 1990), and, most recently, Choi. As of fall 2008 CCA has 29 Korean students, who comprise more than a quarter of the college's international student population.

"What I like most about participating in the group is seeing everyone doing so well at their work," says member Sunghwan Moon (Film/Video 2003). "Just as fellow students were always my greatest teachers, keeping me alert and awake at school, they continue to inspire me to work harder." Moon is now an editor at the Korean animation studio DigiArt; his latest project is Garfield: Pet Force.

Jeesun (Arys) Hur (Interior Architecture 1997) was working for an interior design firm in Tokyo and had already demonstrated a clear passion for the field before she managed to convince her parents that CCA would be a good move. They reluctantly gave her permission to go to school so far from home. Now she's the CEO of her own firm, ArysArchiDesign, based in Seoul with clients as far-flung as Japan and Africa. "The group allows me to meet those I didn't know while I was in school, and reconnect with others I rarely get to see now," she says. "Whenever CCA alumni happen to pass through Seoul, we gather to eat, drink, and enjoy a nightlong chat. Staying connected allows us to talk about what we're doing in art and art-related fields, and helps keep us excited and focused."

A few months ago, Yunjung Kil (Interior Architecture 1997) participated in CCA's orientation for new Korean students in Seoul under the auspices of the group. "I had the chance to tell students about my career and work, which was fun for me and, I hope, meaningful for them," says Kil, whose interior design firm, GIL Design Inc., is branching out into the area of environmental design.

Meanwhile, in and around freelancing as a fashion designer (she has designed uniforms for past Korean Olympic competitors, among other high-profile projects), lecturing at universities, and earning nothing less than a PhD in clothing and textiles, president Sooah Choi has big hopes for the future. "I want us to hold alumni group exhibitions with various media and majors represented," she says. She invites anyone interested in finding out more about the Korean Alumni Group to visit ccac.cyworld.com, where an account can also be opened in English.

(Yiyun Li will speak at CCA as part of the MFA Writers' Series on November 21 at 3:30 p.m. in the Writers' Studio.)

In a recent interview with CCA alum and celebrated writer/director/producer Wayne Wang (The Center of the World, The Joy Luck Club, Smoke), who has been making films for the past 30 years (starting when still a student at CCA) and who has remarkable influence on aspiring Asian filmmakers, he discussed his recent departure from Hollywood big films to focus more on smaller, independent films:

"I got on this treadmill of studio movies and I had fun, made a lot of good money, but I was having a hard time getting off of it so I sort of consciously just got off and said, 'How can I go back to some of my own films, independent films dealing with the Chinese in America again?' I found first of all one of the big changes with the Chinese community here is that there are a lot more new immigrants from China, and second, I found Yiyun Li's book, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers. There were two stories that I really liked in there, so I ended up . . . making two films." (Read the full interview with Wayne Wang.)

Two stories indeed. "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers" and "The Princess of Nebraska" are each featured in Li's award-winning collection of short stories, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, which impressed Wang.

Oakland-based Yiyun Li's debut collection of short stories won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, PEN/Hemingway Award, Guardian First Book Award, and California Book Award for first fiction. She was recently selected by Granta as one of the Best Young American Novelists.

Li grew up in Beijing and came to the United States in 1996. Her stories and essays have been published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Zoetrope: All-Story, Ploughshares, The Gettysburg Review, Glimmer Train, Prospect, and elsewhere. She has received grants and awards from Lannan Foundation and Whiting Foundation.

So it's not so surprising that a director as talented as Wang would recognize talent in a writer like Li.

Li was able to work extensively on the screenplay for Thousand Prayers (Magnolia Pictures); however, she was knee-deep working on her first full-length novel, and thus less involved in the film production of "The Princess of Alaska," which Wang codirected with Richard Wong under the same title.

The films had a back-to-back screening (as a single feature) at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. Then Thousand Prayers opened the 2008 International Asian Film Festival. But it was only recently that Thousand Prayers had its theatrical release opening at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in New York September 19. (Interestingly, in France the two films were released simultaneously with theater venues offering viewers a choice of either or both.)

However, nowadays when a film releases is less intriguing as how it releases: on October 17 YouTube's Screening Room will air the U.S. premiere of The Princess of Nebraska, also from Magnolia Pictures. (Watch the exclusive YouTube Princess of Nebraska trailer.)

Much like the subject matter of either short story, Wang hopes the innovative release strategy will serve multiple audiences, thus uniting different generations and cultures—be it symbolically or otherwise.

"A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is classical and is being distributed classically," Wong says. "It's about an older generation. The Princess of Nebraska is about a new generation. It's shot in a very contemporary way. It was very guerrilla style, and we used a lot of cell phone stuff, and it made sense for [the film] to go to the Internet." (Listen to the complete NPR interview. Approximately five minutes.)

Recent alumna Dina Danish (MFA 2008) is one of 12 international artists selected for an artist residency at the prestigious Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten (Royal Academy of Visual Arts) in Amsterdam, an internationally renowned two-year residency for visual artists.

Danish's application process required several selection rounds, including on-site interviews with committee members. The interview process reduced the applicant pool from 1,500 applicants to 38, and then again down to the final 12 international and 12 Dutch recipients.

The candidates were evaluated based on the quality of their work and their potential to develop and grow. At 26, Danish is three years younger than the average awardee.

As a resident artist, Danish will receive a budget to work in her own studio for a one-year period from January through December. During that time she will participate in workshops and work among other international artists who are pursuing painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, sculpture, video, film, sound, and computer art.

Danish is thrilled to have the opportunity to study and practice in an international setting, and to collaborate with the other artists and advisors.

Danish also holds a BA from the American University of Cairo.

View Danish's work online.

Visit the Rijksakademie website for additional information.

This past spring, the Graduate Program in Design at CCA became the first American academic program to join the Designers Accord. Endorsed by both the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), the Designers Accord is a coalition of 100,000 designers, educators, researchers, engineers, business consultants, and corporations who are working toward innovative and sustainable changes in design, industry, and consumer behavior.

Founded by CCA faculty member Valerie Casey, the Designers Accord is regarded in the international design community as a kind of Kyoto Protocol for designers.

Casey is also a lead designer at IDEO, where she creates socially and environmentally sustainable products, services, and business models for companies around the world. She founded the Designers Accord in January 2008, recognizing the need for a more organized effort by designers worldwide to make positive changes with respect to the environmental and social impact of design and industry.

"By adopting the Designers Accord, the Graduate Program in Design affirms its commitment to sustainability and to the sharing of knowledge and expertise with a global community of committed members representing each design discipline," says Brenda Laurel, chair of CCA's Graduate Program in Design.

Read more about the Designers Accord at www.designersaccord.org.
Read more about CCA's Graduate Program in Design at www.cca.edu/design.

About California College of the Arts

Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts (CCA) is noted for the interdisciplinarity and breadth of its programs. It offers studies in 20 undergraduate and seven graduate majors in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design, and writing. The college offers bachelor of architecture, bachelor of arts, bachelor of fine arts, master of architecture, master of arts, master of fine arts, and master of business administration degrees.

With campuses in Oakland and San Francisco, CCA currently enrolls more than 1,650 full-time students. Noted alumni include the painters Nathan Oliveira and Raymond Saunders; the ceramicists Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, and Peter Voulkos; the filmmaker Wayne Wang; the conceptual artists David Ireland and Dennis Oppenheim; and the designers Lucille Tenazas and Michael Vanderbyl. For more information about CCA, visit www.cca.edu.