I first learned about Jade Snow Wong at a talk by James Zemaitis at Manitoga, the Russel Wright Design Center. A first generation Chinese American, Jade Snow Wong was extraordinarily accomplished. She wrote both a best selling autobiography and a followup novel. She became an accomplished artist, raised a family, ran a travel agency and traveled on behalf of the State Department.
Having grown up in San Francisco’s China Town in a traditional Chinese household, her first exposure to American culture didn’t occur until she entered college. Working her way through school, pursuing a degree in sociology she took a class with ceramist Carlton Ball, a well-respected west coast teacher and artist. The class was literally her first exposure to the decorative arts. Graduating Mills College, Phi Beta Kappa she then took a job at the local ship yard, but in 1944, when her boss left the naval yard, she rightly perceived the limitations to advancement in the U.S. Military for a Chinese American woman.
