Last week was a stressful week at work and for my health.
Working in the healthcare business is always stressful. Everywhere, the political game and power-grabbing dynamics are toxic. On top of that, budget cuts and deficits in healthcare make working intolerable.
For a few weeks, I had symptoms of a UTI and needed to see the Doctor.
Turned out I did not have a UTI. This female doctor did not sugarcoat it either. She announced that I have menopause dried up vaginas.
Visually, I said to myself, “Like a dried-up old well.”
The doctor prescribed me a vaginas creams and suggested a shingles shot.
After the shot, for the whole weekend, I got chilled and hot. The $30 paid-in-cash prescribed vagina cream helped to calm the burning sensation and ease my mind that at least I did not have a UTI.
Life felt sad, defeated, and depressing last week. Meditation and Qi Gong helped. Sewing helped. Taking time off helped. Nguyen here always helped.
And.
Katherine Sherwood’s art helped.
A few days ago, I received good news that my long-time mentor, Katherine Sherwood, just received the 2026 California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship for Bay Area.
That is one of prestige rewards; among more of less 600 artists who applied, 32 got selected!
Look at her beautiful picture; I feel much better.
My heart cheered for her.
Her beautiful art cheered me up. I felt happy.
I met her for the first time in 2004 when I went to UC Berkeley as a transfer student from Mission College in Sylmar, LA.
She was a tenured art professor in the Art department.
The first class I wanted to take from her was “Medicine, Disability and Art ”.
The class was popular, always full, and students had to put in on the waiting list.
I could not get into the class in the first semester, so I ended up taking another class that she taught, called “Special Projects”.
Throughout this class, students were expected to produce projects that related to four themes: “ Quilting, Money, Food, and Book “.
This class was full of surprises, which exposed me to quilting, sewing, and bookmaking as art. That concept cemented the foundation for my art practice.
One project I produced for this class was my very first quilt, which made my life and art upside down unexpectedly and solidly bonded me and her relationship for a long time to come.
Next semester, I successfully registered for her “Medicine, Disability and Art”. This time, I learnt that art can be used as medicine to heal physically, mentally, psychologically, and spiritually.
Katherine Sherwood had a stroke two years before I met her. I witnessed her art bring her back to life and carry out her teaching to a different level.
After the stroke, she fought for life wholeheartedly with her art practice and art teaching.
Head-on. She never ran away from her problem.
One door shut. Another door opened. You just have to be the one who opens it. She did.
After the stroke, her art was quiet but huge. Always in 2- year process of making one piece because she had to learn how to paint again with her left hand.
The stroke guided her painting differently. She had to slow down, make less noise, have an intimate conversation with the stroke, try to understand it, embrace it, visualize, and come to terms with living peacefully with it.
I always find peace seeing her body of work during this time. Abstractly at first glance, thick layers of paint bind together until they eventually reveal the cracks through the layers. The cracks were deep. They made a silent sound. They appeared painfully, beautifully, vulnerably enough to invite the audience to bear witness without a word. Life is full of suffering. Artists like Katherine know how to make life less suffering and more tolerant.
( My top table along with her art in one of the shows in Berkeley )
Katherine was a tough teacher.
I remembered vividly that she told students that her art class would never be an easy A. I had to learn how to build my big-sized wooden frame for my canvas. Students’ quilt project should not be a baby-sized quilt. No wonder I could never make a small-sized quilt after that first quilt.
She officially became my mentor for the prestigious Haas scholarship at UC Berkeley my senior year. 12 students from different departments got selected for a 1-year scholarship to conduct a thesis project for graduation.
That scholarship helped me deepen my study in art for healing. I got funding to go back to Vietnam for my project research. The final project later became my MFA portfolio for the Art MFA program at UC Davis.
Katherine walked me through those projects with sharp criticism and care.
She was with me when my mother- in- law was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away in 2005. She was there for me when I sewed a quilt to honor my mother-in-law's passing. We called this quilt “Unfinished Story.” She suggested the name for my thesis show graduation from UC Berkeley.
I did not want to do an MFA but wanted to work and make money. Both Katherine and Nguyen, my husband, supported and encouraged me to go.
The whole family moved up to UC Davis for my MFA.
We joined another project called Yelling Clinic and reunion in Berkeley a few more times after my MFA.
( Katherine with two Yeller Artists on the Vietnam trip for the Yelling Clinic project )
Then Katherine's husband, Jeff, passed away.
She reunited with her sweetheart boyfriend.
We moved to Seattle and were busy with life and the children.
We still keep each other updated. She went to visit Seattle sometimes. We came down to join her class and exhibitions.
She retired from her teaching job and dedicated her full-time schedule to doing art.
She told me COVID was the best time for artists to paint and practice solitude.
After Katherine retired, I see her work circle back to her previous style with bold colors that dominant with red. She added flowers, fruits and patterns. A lot of flowers back to back in each large scale paintings, re- appear cheerfully to bloom with life and happiness.
She is back with her signature red. She always loves to wear red. Her lipstick is red. Her hat is red. Her glasses frame is red.
Her art is vibrantly red and full of life. Her art is loud enough to get the world's notice.
I lay down on the bed, complaining that I am sick. I am tired and defeated after last week.
This morning I looked at her pictures.
My tears rolled down.
I texted her that I missed her. I missed her laugh. Katherine has the most contagious laugh ever.
Seeing the picture of her sitting, smiling between two walls up to the ceiling, full of art, I had an epiphany.
Life is not just simply years added on that make one get old and dried up. Life is an attitude, and it would be up to me to fill that dried well up again with life.
I told my children that we are lucky if we have good teachers who can change our lives. I am lucky to have my lifelong mentor who continues to set a good example of how to live life to the fullest no matter what happens.
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