Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

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PEOPLE & ARTS Friday 5 april 2019
‘Island of Sea Women’ pits friendship versus tragedy

By JOHN ROGERS erations — in this case 1938 ed in the deaths of some
Associated Press to 2008 — as moments of 30,000 people in 1948-49 as
“The Island of Sea Women cherished friendship, un- South Korea violently put
(Scribner), by Lisa See. speakable tragedy and, in down a rebellion over what
Ten years ago, Lisa See was the end, a plot twist worthy government would control
sitting in a doctor’s office of Raymond Chandler un- the island’s future.
leafing through magazines fold. Early on, readers are Mi Ja and Young-sook be-
when she came across a introduced to Mi-ja and come innocents caught
brief article about a place Young-sook, precocious, up in the slaughter. Their
she’d never known exist- 7-year-old best friends de- friendship, strained by war,
ed — the Island of Jeju — spite island elders’ misgiv- death and competing
where the breadwinners ings that Mi-ja’s father was family ties, breaks apart as
were once a hearty band a collaborator with the they struggle on against
of women who eked out hated Japanese, who con- the island’s real-life histori-
modest livings free-diving trolled the island from 1910 cal backdrop.
into the Pacific Ocean for until the end of World War By 2008, Young-sook is an
seafood while husbands II. The pair grow up to be- old woman but still a div-
stayed home and raised come “haenyeo” — Jeju’s er. Indeed, she’s become
children. It was a discovery real-life elite women divers part of a dwindling group
that has led to one of the who hone their skills over of haenyeo in their 70s and
most compelling — and years to match an innate 80s now revered as national
heartstrings-tugging — tales ability to hold their breaths treasures on an island that
to spring from the mind of longer than just about any- has become both a tour-
the best-selling author of body as they deep dive ist attraction and a World
“The Tea Girl From Hum- repeatedly into frigid water Heritage Site.
mingbird Lane” and nearly to grab fish. As such she is a bit of a ce-
a dozen other novels. Like Out of the water, the pair lebrity, much to her annoy-
many of the Chinese Amer- grow up to happily com- ance and her general dis-
ican author’s earlier books, pete for everything from like of tourists.
it is set in Asia with ties to husbands to bearing chil- That’s until a day a tour-
the United States, although dren. That is until Jeju’s his- ist family from the United
the location this time is Ko- toric 4.3 Uprising, a real-life States — one that some-
rea, not China. event (taking its name from how seems strangely famil-
And like See’s “Shanghai the 1948 starting date of iar — arrives to reveal things
Girls” and “Dreams of Joy,” This cover image released by Scribner shows “The Island of Sea April 3) that is arguably one she never knew about her-
the story takes readers on Women,” a novel by Lisa See. of modern history’s least- self, her family or her best
a journey spanning gen- Associated Press known massacres. It result- friend.q

Artist who created paint-by-numbers pictures dies

By JOHN SEEWER promptly told Robbins he artists in the world,” said celebrating the paint-by-
Associated Press hated it. But Klein saw po- Larry Robbins. “He enjoyed numbers craze and its im-
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An tential with the overall con- hearing from everyday pact on art, at least until
artist who created the first cept and told Robbins to people. He had a whole the crowds showed up,
paint-by-numbers pictures come up with something box of fan letters.” Bird said. “He would say, ‘I
and helped turn the kits people would want to He noted his father’s ac- didn’t think of this, Leonar-
into an American sensation paint. The first versions were complishments are still on do did,’” Bird said. “He was
during the 1950s has died. of landscapes, and then display at the Detroit Histor- amused that people were
Dan Robbins, whose works he branched out to horses, ical Museum, “right down collecting them.”
were dismissed by some puppies and kittens. from Henry Ford,” his son When his paint-by-numbers
critics but later celebrated “I did the first 30 or 35 sub- said. days were over, Robbins
by the Smithsonian Institu- jects myself, then I started Robbins, who spent much continued to work in prod-
tion’s National Museum farming them out to other of his life in the Detroit area, uct development, includ-
of American History , died artists,” said Robbins, who was modest about his work ing designing Happy Meal
Monday in Sylvania, Ohio, This image provided by Larry mainly stuck to landscapes. and didn’t get too both- toys for McDonald’s, Bird
said his son, Larry Robbins. Robbins shows a numbered While the Craft Master ered by those who mocked said.
He was 93. outline of a self portrait of Dan paint-by-numbers kits the paintings. Robbins, who wrote a book,
He had been in good Robbins. Family members weren’t embraced initially, Critics came to view the “Whatever Happened to
health until a series of falls in say Robbins, an artist who sales quickly took off and paint-by-numbers kits as a Paint-by-Numbers,” said at
recent months, his son said. created the first paint-by- peaked at 20 million in 1955. metaphor for a commer- the exhibition’s April 2001
Robbins was working as a numbers pictures and helped Within a few years, though, cialized, cookie-cutter cul- opening in Washington
turn the kits into an American
package designer for the sensation during the 1950s has the market was flooded, ture and fretted that they that his creation survived
Palmer Paint Company in died. sales dropped and Klein far outnumbered the origi- despite the critics.
Detroit when he came up Associated Press sold the company. nal works of art hanging in “I never claim that painting
with the idea for paint-by- terns for his students and Together, Robbins helped American homes, said Wil- by number is art,” he said.
numbers in the late 1940s. apprentices, and I decided create slices of Americana liam Lawrence Bird Jr., cu- “But it is the experience of
He said his inspiration came to try something like that,” that are still collected and rator of the 2001 exhibition art, and it brings that expe-
from Leonardo de Vinci. Robbins said in 2004. are found framed in homes at the National Museum of rience to the individual who
“I remembered hearing He showed his first attempt across the nation. American History. would normally not pick up
that Leonardo used num- — an abstract still life — to “We like to think dad was Some within the museum a brush, not dip it in paint.
bered background pat- his boss, Max Klein, who one of the most exhibited questioned the idea of That’s what it does.”q