IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 26, 2002 CONTACT Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119 MULTIMEDIA ARTIST AND AUTHOR TO PERFORM AT DRAKE As part of the Writers and Critics Series at Drake University, Magdalen Hsu-Li, multimedia artist, lecturer and author, will give a performance and lecture at 7 p.m. Monday, May 6, in the Performing Arts Hall in the Harmon Fine Arts Center, 25th Street and University Avenue. The event is free and open to the public. The musical performance will be accompanied by a lecture about Asian women in the arts. As an Asian-American artist, Hsu-Li opens new doors of expression by challenging stereotypes, raising awareness and bringing communities together through her music. As a multimedia artist, Hsu-Li works with words, images and sounds. She is a writer, but not a traditional poet or fiction writer. Her live performances feature piano, vocal and drumset duos, impromptu standup and theatre, poetry readings and percussion and drum improvisations. Hsu-Li is the author of two CDs titled "Fire" and "Evolution." Her music is played on hundreds of college and commercial radio stations across the nation. In addition, Hsu-Li was a featured act on the 1999 Black-A-Palooza Tour, a national tour of African-American music featuring a multicultural roster of major label and independent acts. Born in the rural south, Hsu-Li grew up in one of the only Asian families in Martinsville, Va. "My upbringing was very, very difficult – extreme prejudice and bigotry," Hsu-Li said in an interview with Curve Magazine. "I experienced a very extreme form of hazing every day as I grew up, and it's hard to be able to develop love when people are more or less pushing you down." Hsu-Li began her artistic career as a painter in 1988 at the Rhode Island School of Design. In 1990, she was awarded the Chicago Institute of the Arts Oxbow Fellowship and the Talbout Rantoul Scholarship. In 1992, Hsu-Li was awarded the Florence Leif Award for excellence in painting. After earning her bachelor of fine arts in painting in 1992, Hsu-Li moved to Seattle where she began her study of jazz and classical music at Cornish College of the Arts. To learn more about Hsu-Li, visit www.chickpop.com. For more information about the event, call (515) 271-3969.