Bridging Cultures
by Mary Carlson
January/February 2019
For California artist Mian Situ, 2016 and 2017 were banner years. In 2016, he met, courted, and married Gloria. Their romance began on the Internet and Gloria, a resident of the Yunnan Province in China, was a little reticent, when Situ made his first long-distance overture. Situ, who was familiar with the Yunnan Province from many trips he had taken to the province to garner resource material for his art, felt a kinship with her. Eventually, his knowledge of the area, combined with how much they had in common and proof of who he was as an artist won her over. She agreed to meet him in person, when she came to visit her sister in New Jersey—and that was all it took. In 2017, with Gloria’s support and managerial skills, Situ realized a longtime dream, when he opened the Situ Art Academy in Covina, California, providing a place for aspiring and recognized artists to come together to support each other’s work and to empower each other to grow and succeed.
