The Year of the Rat fires up in Carson

By Andrew Pridgen

Appeal Staff Writer

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

The Year of the Rat commenced in Carson Sunday at the Children's Museum of Northern Nevada with visiting artists, collectors, games, dances, a new "Asian Restaurant" interactive display and related activities like character drawing and lantern making.

The celebration, coined by the museum the "Asian New Year Celebration," was in full-swing by mid-morning.

An expectant audience of 20 waited as Carson pre-teen cousins Lisarah Simonson, 10, an Empire Elementary student, and Ginny Mei, 9, who goes to Bordewich Bray, teased and chided one another to work off a little nervous energy before performing a traditional celebration dance.

"I like the costumes, the music and the dance - how's that?" Lisarah said.

Ginny pulled at her cousin's pigtail.

"Yeah, it's fun to dress up and dance."

Clad in bright silk shirts and black slippers, the girls' performance was perhaps the least interactive of all the day's offerings.

Onhand was Reno resident James McNulty, a pyrotechnics expert and collector of rare firecracker art.

"I've been doing this since I was four years old and saw my first (firecracker)," he said.

McNulty has rare and vintage firecracker art dating back to the mid-1800s; his collages made from the wrappers have been featured in numerous art galleries throughout the west as well as the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, Calif., and at the Chinese Cultural Foundation in San Francisco.

"When the kids come up they're instantly interested," he said. "... They're enthralled for the same reasons I was when I was young. Who doesn't love fireworks? Who doesn't love bright, vibrant art.

"Firework art truly is 'pop' art."

Reno artist Caroline R. Young, who works in watercolor on silk and paints mythical and historical Chinese figures, helped usher in the new year showing off some of her wares.

"I had a young girl, she was 13, come up to me yesterday and tell me she saved her money for a year to buy one of my small prints," she said. "It hit me then the level of appreciation younger people can have for art.

"It was really something."

Chinese exchange students to UNR Lizi Mao and Julnlei Du spent the afternoon helping the museum's young patrons draw a handful of basic Chinese characters.

Though 4,000 miles from home, Mao and Du said sharing a piece of their culture with Northern Nevada made ushering in Year of the Rat abroad a special experience.

"It's good to share and to help others understand," Du said.

Penny Holbrook, a member of the museum's board of directors and organizing volunteer for the day, said Northern Nevada's rich history of Chinese immigrants was reflected in the day's turnout.

"Hopefully we're also raising awareness and an interest towards construction of 'The Chinese Workers' Museum of America,'" Holbrook said, offering a brochure showcasing the modern pagoda-style architecture in a mock-up of the proposed $50 million museum. "We have such a wonderful Chinese and Asian population here.

"And celebrating it year-round in a permanent home would be an amazing addition here."