Nest 1 Painting

Mimi Chen Ting (b. 1946) is a painter, printmaker, and performance artist who lives and works in Taos, New Mexico and Sausalito California. She is best known for her elegant, abstract and semi-abstract images of figures and landscapes and for the sense of dynamism and wonder that they evoke. Born in Shanghai, China, Mimi spent her childhood and teenage years in Hong Kong. In 1965 Mimi moved to San Francisco, California to pursue dual degrees in Sociology and English Literature at the San Francisco College of Women (now part of the University of San Francisco). After her third year at college—and a year of social field work—Mimi changed her major to art and transferred to California State University in San Jose where she earned her BA in Art in 1969. One San Jose faculty member in particular—watercolorist Eric Oback— made a powerful impression on Mimi by urging her to listen to her colors and find her own way of painting, and most important of all, to “let the how follow the what”. He also introduced me to the Lucien Labaudt Gallery where I had my first show in 1970 of paintings mainly done in his class and some working in the corner of my bedroom lined with newspaper, while my infant daughter slept and played among pillows in our bed. In the years that followed, Mimi was involved in painting and printmaking—she made etchings, serigraphs and monotypes—while also studying dance. When her children were of an age where their needs made time for focused studio work more difficult to manage, Mimi explored performance work integrating both static and kinetic elements. She completed her MA in painting in 1976. In 1981 Mimi became one of four founding members of a modern dance company and also began teaching drawing and design at the college level. In 1988, with her children becoming young adults, Mimi began her second migratory arc when she impulsively purchased a one-room house on the mesa in Taos, New Mexico. Since then, Mimi has gained continuous inspiration from the ever-changing vistas, uncompromising grandeur and spectacular weather patterns of Taos. These forces and images have found their way into her recent work in the forms of her choice of palette, heightened contrasts and sinuous contours. Since 2000, Mimi and her husband have divided their time between Taos and Sausalito, where they often stay for long periods in the fall and spring.