Item consists of a video recording of a live Zoom webinar. The webinar was presented on the Zoom webinar platform and also presented live on the Burnaby Village Museum Facebook page on October 12, 2021. The webinar was hosted by Burnaby Village Museum Community Engagement Coordinator, Christina Fr…
Recording Device: Zoom video communication and Facebook platforms
Recording Note: Film was edited from it's original recorded version (71 min., 36 sec.) to edited version (66 min., 9 sec.) for public viewing on Heritage Burnaby.
Scope and Content
Item consists of a video recording of a live Zoom webinar. The webinar was presented on the Zoom webinar platform and also presented live on the Burnaby Village Museum Facebook page on October 12, 2021. The webinar was hosted by Burnaby Village Museum Community Engagement Coordinator, Christina Froschauer and presented by Debra Sloan. The webinar is titled "Celebrations of Life & Love: Ceramic Works of Thomas Kakinuma".
In this webinar, Debra Sloan talks about the life and work of UBC professor and Burnaby resident, Thomas Kakinuma who was a celebrated award winning and internationally recognized ceramicist known for his intriguing mid-century pieces, charismatic animal sculptures and return to Japanese aesthetics through his post-war practice.
Debra supports her presentation with archival, personal and exhibit photographs showcasing Thomas Kakinuma's life and works.
During breaks in the presentation, Christina and Debra take questions from webinar participants on zoom as well as viewers from the live recording on Burnaby Village Museum's Facebook page.
Resource links shared during the presentation include:
Debra Sloan
www.debrasloan.com
North-West Ceramics Foundation
www.nwcf.ca
Potters Guild of BC
www.bcpotters.com
Fraser Valley Potters Guild
www.fraservalleypottersguild.com
Craft Council of British Columbia
www.craftcouncilbc.ca
Thomas Kakinuma’s work in collections:
West Vancouver Art Museum Collection
www.westvancouverartmuseum.ca/collections
Museum of Anthropology – BC Ceramic Collection
www.moa.ubc.ca/collections
History
Vancouverite, Debra Sloan gained an interest in ceramics early, in her teen years, and her passion for the practice has remained with her throughout her life. Her education in ceramics is a mix of self-taught informal learning, as well as formal learning, including studying at the Vancouver School of Art in the early 80s and later receiving a Bachelor of Fine Art from Emily Carr University in the early 2000s. Her work has been exhibited regionally, nationally, and internationally and she has participated in numerous artist residencies, and is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, with projects funded by British Columbia Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts. Closer to home, Debra instructed sculpture classes at the Burnaby Shadbolt Center for the Arts, where she worked for over two decades. Over the years, Debra also took to researching, writing and publishing about the history of ceramics in British Columbia and has worked with colleagues to build a Registry of B.C. ceramicists. Recently, in 2017 and 2018, she was involved in the West Vancouver Museum’s retrospective exhibition of Thomas Kakinuma’s work, writing the catalogue, “The Ceramic Art of Thomas Kakinuma.”
Item consists of a video recording of a Zoom interview with Dr, John Yang conducted by Rose Wu and Wei Yan Yeong, UBC students in the UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems. The interview was conducted with Dr. Yang as part of the students' research for "Chinese Herbalist Shops and TCM", part three i…
Interviewers: Rose Wu; Wei Yan Yeong
Interviewee: Dr. John Yang
Interview Date: August 2020
Total Number of tracks: 1
Total Length of all tracks: 01:06:57
Recording Device: Zoom video communication platform
Scope and Content
Item consists of a video recording of a Zoom interview with Dr, John Yang conducted by Rose Wu and Wei Yan Yeong, UBC students in the UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems. The interview was conducted with Dr. Yang as part of the students' research for "Chinese Herbalist Shops and TCM", part three in a series of "Back to the Roots" podcasts. The podcast series explores the history of Chinese-Canadian farming in Burnaby and the lower mainland. In this series the students connected their knowledge of food systems to their shared Chinese heritage in order to discover how Chinese Canadian history is rooted in their local food systems. The majority of the interview was conducted in english with occasional comments spoken in mandarin by Wei Yan Yeong and Dr. John Yang.
00:00 – 15:13
The video interview opens with Wei Yan Yeong providing a brief synopsis of the project that she is working on in partnership with Rose Wu. She explains to Dr. John Yang that the content from this interview will help inform podcast episode number three “Chinse Herbalist Shops and TCM”. Dr. Yang responds to questions asked by Wei Yan and Rose. Dr. Yang explains why he first came to Canada from China more than thirty years ago and provides information on his educational background. He describes how he first earned a degree in western medicine in China and became an assistant professor at a medical school before turning to study Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) by completing a PHD from Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. When he immigrated to Canada with his wife more than thirty years ago, he decided to continue to practice TCM .
15:14 – 21:53
In this segment of the interview, Rose Wu asks if he joined an existing TCM business or whether he started his own practice. Dr. Yang explains that he practiced on his own and that TCM wasn’t licensed in Canada until 1996. He further explains how Western medicine was the only regulated medical practice used in Canada and it took a long time to lobby the government to recognize the benefits of TCM and why it should be a licensed profession.
21:58 – 25:00
In this segment of the interview Dr. Yang speaks about his experience as a doctor of TCM in Burnaby, his role as the president of the Federation of Traditional Chinese Medicine Colleges of Canada and how they lobbied the government for more recognition and his professional work as a dean and clinical director of the Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Traditional Chinese Medicine program.
27:36 – 47:07
In this segment Dr. Yang explains how Traditional Chinese Medicine is ingrained in the Chinese culture and part of daily life which is why many Chinese immigrants rely on TCM to protect their immune system. He explains how TCM is based on four different energies (cold, hot, warm and cool) and different from traditional western medicine. He provides examples of different energies from certain foods.
47:08 – 52:13
In this segment, Dr. Yang speaks about his experience as a practitioner of TCM in the treatment of patients, how many of his patients are not Chinese and how he treats many of his patients with acupuncture. Dr. Yang provides an example of a patient being treated with acupuncture for a frozen shoulder.
52:14 – 56:43
In this segment, Dr. Yang is asked if he also uses Western medicine. Dr. Yang shares his positive experiences treating fever with acupuncture and how growing up in China that there was no access to western medicine – no antibiotics or penicillin until the last 50 years or so. He explains that this is why Chinese people have always relied on TCM.
56:44 - 1:06:57
Dr. Yang provides information on the education required to become a registered acupuncturist and a licensed TCM practitioner. He explains that herbs used in TCM can be purchased from herbalist shops in Chinatown or you can purchase concentrations of the herbs directly from your TCM doctor. He clarifies how animal products that are restricted (including shark fins) are no longer included for treatments in TCM, all TCM herbs are regulated in Canada by the FDA whereas herbs that you buy in Chinatown are treated as food and not drugs.
History
Interviewer biographies: Rose Wu and Wei Yan Yeong are University of British Columbia students in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems and student interns at Burnaby Village Museum.
Interviewee biography: Dr. John Yang is a chairperson and program director of Kwantlen Polytechnic University's Traditional Chinese Medicine program. Dr. John Yang graduated from Hainan University Medical School, Haikou, China. He received his TCM training at Hainan Provincial Hospital of TCM, Haikou, China and a PhD from Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, China. For the past 11 years, John has been the Dean and Clinic Director at the PCU College of Holistic Medicine, Burnaby. As an expert in the field, John has given many national and international presentations and lectures on TCM. Dr. Yang is the current Vice-President at the Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture of British Columbia (ATCMA). He is also the Chair of the Academic/Educational Committee of ATCMA. Dr. Yang is the current President of the Federation of Traditional Chinese Medicine Colleges of Canada and a committee member on the Standards Council of Canada, Canadian Advisory Committees for International Organization for Standardization for TCM. John was elected as professional board member at the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists of British Columbia (CTCMA). He was also a member of the Audit Team (Topic Specialist) for the Private Career Training Institution Agency of British Columbia (PCTIA), along with numerous past appointments to other TCM provincial, national and international committees.