Loretta Hui-shan Yang or Yang Hui-shan () is a Taiwanese film actress and contemporary glass artist. She is a two-time winner of the Best Leading Actress award at the

Golden Horse Awards The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Taipei Golden Horse Awards () are a film festival and associated awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. The festival and ceremony were founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Repub ...

and winner of the Best Actress prize at the

Asia-Pacific Film Festival The Asia-Pacific Film Festival (abbreviated APFF) is an annual film festival hosted by the Federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia-Pacific (FPA). The festival was first held in Tokyo, Japan, in 1954. History The festival was first he ...

. She graduated from Taiwan Women Providence University.

Personal life

Loretta Yang starred opposite Chang Yi in several movies in the 80s. Yang and Chang both left the film industry and restarted life in glass art.

Film

Jade Love or Yuqing Sao (1984)

In Jade Love, Loretta Yang played the main protagonist. The movie is based on a novella with the same name written by Kenneth Pai Hsien-yung. The story revolves around a female domestic worker who falls in love with a younger man. The film was well-known for the love-making scenes between Loretta Yang and Chang Yi, who continue to work together after this initial appearance.

Kuei-Wei, a Woman or Wo Zheyang Guo Le Yisheng (1985)

The next film they worked on together – Kuei-Wei, a Woman – was a widespread success. The film won Loretta Yang Best Actress at the 1985 Golden Horse Awards and also took Best Film, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. The adapted screenplay was written by Chang Yi, and his then wife, Hsiao Sa. The film depicts the transition of Taiwanese women as the society moved from an agricultural based society in the 1950s to an industrial society in the 1980s.

Contemporary Glass Artist

"May the moment come when I attain enlightenment that my body, my soul, my spirit becomes like crystal. Pure. Transparent. Flawless." In 1987 Yang left the film industry to create art. She, along with her husband, film director Chang Yi, and several other people from the film industry established the glass workshop and studio

Liuli Gongfang Liuli Gongfang or Liuligongfang () is Taiwan's only contemporary glass studio devoted to artistic Chinese glassware. Liuligongfang was founded in 1987 by actress Loretta Yang and director Chang Yi. Their name refers to ''liuli'', a form of arch ...

near Taipei, Taiwan. The industrious group invested their resources in rehabilitating a dilapidated factory and learned the techniques and process of

glass casting Glass casting is the process in which glass objects are cast by directing molten glass into a mould where it solidifies. The technique has been used since the 15th century BCE in both Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Modern cast glass is formed by a ...

, pâte de verre in the French manner, similar to the luxury glass made by

Lalique Lalique is a French luxury glassmaker, founded by glassmaker and jeweller René Lalique in 1888. Lalique is produced glass art, including perfume bottles, vases, and hood ornaments during the early twentieth century. Following the death of ...

and

Daum Daum may refer to: People * Ahron Daum (1951–2018), Israeli-born Modern-Orthodox rabbi, educator, and author *Andreas Daum (active from 1995), German-American historian * Auguste Daum (1853–1909), French ceramist *Christoph Daum (1953–2024), ...

. Today, Liuli Gongfang owns factories on Taiwan (Tamshui) and in Shanghai, a museum/nightclub in Shanghai, and numerous galleries on Taiwan and in China, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The group decided to use the Chinese word ''liuli'' as opposed to more common names for glass in the Chinese language. It is commonly believed that the word ''liuli'' first appeared during the

Western Zhou dynasty The Western Zhou ( zh, c=西周, p=Xīzhōu; 771 BC) was a period of Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended in 7 ...

(about 1045–771 BCE), which referred to the glass being produced at the time. For Yang especially, using the term ''liuli'', greatly references her own body of work which draws upon traditional Chinese motifs and such Buddhist teachings as enlightenment and transparency, evoking an almost meditative practice and devotional purpose.Brewerton, Andrew. "Glass Sultura (cast and kiln -formed glass): Loretta Yang Hui-Shan". ''Crafts Arts International'', 78 (2010): 21-22. Yang's work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and can be found in the collections of

Palace Museum The Palace Museum (), also known as the Beijing Palace Museum, is a large national museum complex housed in the Forbidden City at the core of Beijing, China. With , the museum inherited the imperial royal palaces from the Ming and Qing dynast ...

, Beijing, The Shanghai Fine Arts Museum, the Yakushaji Temple, Nara, Japan, the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, London, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC and

The Corning Museum of Glass The Corning Museum of Glass is a museum in Corning, New York, United States, dedicated to the art, history, and science of glass. It was founded in 1951 by Corning Glass Works and currently has a collection of more than 50,000 glass objects, so ...

, Corning, NY.

Notable works

*The Proof of Awareness, 2007

, Corning, NY *Between heaven and Earth, 1998

, Beijing *Life Eternal, 1998,

, Beijing *Releasing Light, 1998,

, Beijing *The Pumpkin Box, 1998,

, London *Releasing Light, 1998,

, London *A Great Wish, 1997,

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openi ...

, Washington, DC *Bowers Museum of Cultural Art. 2001. ''Formless, but not without form: Loretta Yang Hui-Shan''. aipei, Taiwan Yang, Chang & Newworkshop Co. * Brewerton, Andrew. 2010. "Glass Sutra: the Art of Loretta Yang Hui-Shan." Craft Arts International, no 78, 2010, pp. 18–24.

Animation

In 2002, Loretta Yang and Chang Yi founded A-hha Studio. The studio worked on 2D and 3D animated shorts, features and games.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Loretta Living people Taiwanese film actresses 1952 births Glass artists Women glass artists