Two Hundred Hours and Countless Knots
Artist Clara Tang’s Installation at City Hall
By Victoria Koelkebeck | Photos By Tyler Boshard
Clara Tang sits on her desk tying pieces of yarn to a beam attached to the ceiling. Where the yarn ends, she connects a chain using pliers, then she checks the connected thread and moves on to the next link. She does this over and over. Half an hour passes, and the letter “O” appears like magic through the threads.
Previously referred to as “Sleepy Ephem”, Clara is an artist, producer, musician, soon-to-be acupuncturist, and board member for The Cupcake Girls. Since last Sept., I’ve had the privilege to watch her latest piece find breath from a pile of yarn and spool of chain link.
This piece was funded by “Windows on First”, a program that welcomes local artists to create original, site specific installations within the context of the First Street Art Trail, according to the City of Las Vegas.
Clara didn’t think she would secure the proposal needed to complete the project, but with a little encouragement from her art mentor, she submitted her application. To her surprise, she received $4,000 to complete the project and display her installation in early Spring 2024.
Her advice to artists looking to fund their projects is simple, “Just applyyyyy. And if you get rejected, keep applying,” she smiles. She admits that the best way to find opportunities isn’t necessarily seeking out applications over several websites and social media pages, but by being connected with those in the local art scene.
Clara’s piece uses mixed-media and travels across three windows to say “I WONDER HOW MANY PEOPLE OUT THERE | ARE WISHING THIS MOMENT | COULD LAST FOREVER”.
The idea for this piece arrived in Chicago while Clara swayed with the crowd at a TOKiMONSTA performance. “I just felt like everyone was very present and having a great time,” she says.
“That sentence just came to my head, because I was like, I bet so many of these people are wishing this night could last forever — because they're having the time of their lives,” she explains.
Her piece welcomes reflection, to digest what it says and how it speaks to you. I read the words again and strained to see the hundreds of little knots — from the street view of the Las Vegas City Hall windows where it’s displayed.
“For me it’s very therapeutic — it’s not mind-numbing, but you don’t really have to think about it and you can let your mind go blank for little which helps me cut through the noise in my head,” Clara says.
Life, like tying hundreds of threads, can take its toll — going to work, sitting in traffic, answering emails, all the little things you do everyday to keep moving forward. It could even drive someone to travel to downtown Vegas and bathe in the light and electricity and find themselves in front of Clara’s piece — feeling grateful to have arrived at this exact moment.
Or maybe you’re a local going to get lunch. And you see this piece and ask yourself, those moments that you wish could last forever — have you had any of those recently? What can we do to create more of those moments that keep life worth living?” Clara asks.
Although this piece is one of her lighter works, Clara explores a variety of themes in her art like queer Asian culture with “Golden Orchid Society” or in “Passion of the Cut Sleeve”. Clara even explores the visualization of music in “Salut D’Amour (Liebesgruss.)” which is her favorite piece of violin music during her time as a classical musician. In this piece, she strung beads on thread, each “hung at a length which correlates to where the violinist's finger placement would be on each string,” she wrote in her artist statement.
Clara’s cultural inspiration is also evident in her use of red thread. She says, “it’s like a myth or a folktale that each person has a red string connected to their pinky and on the other end is their soulmate.”
The red string can stretch and tangle — but it can’t break, she explains. To her, the red string represents fate. Since Clara was raised in the U.S., she felt very disconnected from her Asian culture, so she delved into the culture through art, myths, folktales and classic Chinese scrolls to reconnect.
Clara also works with the Indigenous Art Studio, NUWU, with owner Fawn Douglas to connect with other women of color in Vegas. Her piece “Threading” found a home at NUWU over the winter and features hundreds of red threads.
“Each thread represents women and how they are able to come together to create something greater,” she describes. “A beautiful yet delicate and complex organism.”
Introduce yourself to Clara’s work by walking by the City Hall window display on 495 S. Main St. between now and Sept., at the NUWU Art Gallery until May, on her website ClaraTang.Studio or encounter Clara herself in the wild clubs of Vegas, spinning as DJ Heartslayer.
