NEWSBRIEF

Newsbrief: Mien Needlework Group Celebrates Completion of Two-Year Project

Oakland, CA – On Thursday, May 25th, 2006, Asian Community Mental Health Services (ACMHS) and the Mien Needlework Group celebrated the completion of a two-year embroidery project funded by The Creative Work Fund with a lunch reception, Healing Stitch by Stitch.

Back in 2004, The Creative Work Fund chose to fund ACMHS’ Mien group to create 4 elaborate, traditional Mien costumes, incorporating imported fabric, silver thread and silver adornments. At the reception, live models displayed the completed museum-quality projects.

ACMHS’ Interim Executive Director, John K. Fong, noted that by choosing to fund the Mien Needlework Group, The Creative Work Fund “validated that they have strengths and talents that are valued by this society.”

The Director of The Creative Work Fund, Frances Phillips, said, “Often art is a way to see what matters to people. In this project, I see: the importance of families; recognizing the importance of ceremony and ritual in all of our lives; attention to detail and the kind of quality that arises when you pay close attention to small things; and a belief in beauty and its importance – both to the maker of the artwork as something she or he can enjoy as a form of personal renewal and to the rest of us who get to behold and share in it. The shared experience of beauty allows us to feel our human connection to one another.”

The Mien people come from rural regions of Laos. During the Vietnam War they participated alongside the Americans, making them targets of retaliation when the communist government was established in 1975. Many Mien, including women from the Mien Needlework Group, traveled for days by foot across difficult terrain in order to find safety in Thailand.

Mien immigrants to the United States often find it challenging to negotiate everyday life. Many experience depression and post traumatic stress disorder. Asian Community Mental Health Services formed the Mien Needlework Group in 1992 in order to provide Mien immigrant women the opportunity to practice traditional arts, to express themselves creatively and to support one another in adjusting to American life.

Healing Stitch by Stitch acknowledged the two-year efforts of the Mien Needlework Group to create four beautifully embroidered costumes. At the reception, Kae Linh Saephan, a participant of the group, shared what the group has meant to her and how it has helped her in her own healing.

The event not only highlighted the creative efforts of the needlework group but also celebrated Mien culture and its traditions. The reception included Mien food prepared by the women in the group. A musical ensemble began the program with a traditional song that is usually played at Mien weddings. The reception concluded with a dance by Mien youth.