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Spinning out ideas
Jill-of-all-
trades finds many ways to survive as fine artist
By Shirley Hsu , Staff Writer
Spinning in the dark is one of Donna Lau's favorite activities.
She
teaches indoor cycling, or spinning, at 24-Hour Sport in Industry. Dim lighting accompanied by world music helps her students
to focus, she says.
She's also a fine artist, a children's book illustrator, a children's clothing designer, and an
animator. For Lau, being a Jill- of-all trades is the only way for an artist to survive in today's competitive world.
After
studying advertising design and illustration at Mt. San Antonio College, Lau attended night school at Art Center College of
Design in Pasadena, where she soon realized the impossibility of paying tuition.
While in school, Lau worked 40 hours
a week at a gas station, secretly doing her painting homework in a back room when business was slow.
Lau soon realized
that to survive, she needed to support herself in other ways, she said. With a $50 loan from her mother, she bought and decorated
T-shirts, which she then took to a local park where they sold out. Buoyed by this modest success, Lau decided to launch her
own children's fashion and design company, and "Art is On!" was born.
She soon had a stroke of good luck when
she got a bit of unexpected exposure at a New York show.
"My 3-year-old model walked down the runway and then just
decided to flash everyone her underwear,' said Lau. "The photographers loved it.'
In addition to children's fashion,
Lau makes an adult line of Chinese-themed clothing. She also has worked as a production assistant on the animation "CatDog'
as well as a self-described "glorified eraser' for "Dora the Explorer.'
She is now working on a children's cookbook,
"Chow Fun' which will include recipes for her mom's Chinese dishes as well as the stories behind the food.
"I realized
there were some rich stories behind some of these dishes,' she said and that learning about them might help children appreciate
Asian culture, something Lau has only recently taken to heart.
"When I was growing up, Hacienda Heights didn't have
the Asian residents it does now. I dyed blond streaks in my hair, and I would do anything to fit in to the American ideal,'
she said.
Now, Lau seems to have an Asian fetish of sorts - her clothing is trimmed in Asian-themed fabrics, and she
wants to package a new T-shirt in a Chinese takeout box with decorative chopsticks. And, she is studying Chinese brush painting.
Whether she's spinning yarns about Chinese food or spinning on a stationary bike, Lau insists that versatility is
not just essential for an artist's financial survival, but also for mental and physical health.
She has run in and
finished six marathons, and is planning to compete in the San Dimas Express triathlon in October.
She also has produced
a new "fitness line' of clothing as an alternative to unfeminine workout clothes.
"I was tired of looking like a boy
after workouts,' Lau said.
Lau's career choices often have baffled her beleaguered parents.
"I have five kids,'
her father said. "My first, she's a civil engineer with the county. My second is a security banker with the Bank of America.
My third one is an accountant. My son is a structural engineer. Donna, we cannot tell her what to do. Now I just leave her
alone.'
Training for LIFE!
Donna Kay Lau is a certified "3 STAR SPINNING", instructor, "STAR" stands
for SPINNING Achievement Ranking System. This is the highest ranking in SPINNING education (continuing education), Donna holds
a "Life time certification for SPINNING", and has taken continuing education courses available, including around the 'world".
She also holds certifications with "SCHWINN® and is an "Accredited IC cycling coach", Ace® Personal Private training, AFAA®,
and Heart Zone Cycling, Specializing in Heart rate training. She was recently the North American training coordinator for
SPINNING education department. She has trained with the inventor and creator of the SPINNING Program and bike: Johnny G. and
has traveled with the creator of SPINNING to Miami, Chicago, and Brasil. She just completed a Power Bar commercial that she
appeared in Brasil, and Information commercial, selling a home version of the bike, and DVD's which she appeared in. When
Donna Kay Lau launched her "Creative Training" and "Corporate training program", the response was ovrwhelming, she had to
start a waiting list, and is currently unable to take anymore one on one clients, and she is working towards group training
again, calling them, "Training Camps". She is a freelance artist, and she is currently working on numerous projects
including re-launching her company "ART IS ON!" Producktions, children's books, clothing, jewlery line, fine art etc. She
has worked on numerous Nickelodeon animation series such as "Dora the Explorer", "CatDog",and "Oswald the Octopus", and currently
working on Generator Rex at Cartoon Network Studios. Donna just completed her first season of Triathlons, and is
training for Triathlons in her next Season. Donna also Loves Surfing and Drawing. She is now available for
Master classes, and camps; and she is currently coaching indoor cycling classes for "24 hour Fitness". She also enjoys coaching
others for Triathlon, and enjoys fitness modeling, and runway modeling part time.
...as you can see the Indoor cycling ride is not just about the bike...it is a journey. Life Training!
Donna Kay Lau is working on the "Surf Soup Project", as Executive Producer,
it is a non profit project for Ocean related charities, stay tuned more to come...Art, Surf, Swim, Bike, Run, Spin...Life
is SIMPLE!
"The finish line is the beginning of your life, not
the end of the race!"
Press Release
January,2012
Meet Donna Kay Lau
Like any entrepreneur starting out, Donna Kay Lau is an ambitious one. What
makes her Art unique is that she strives for Fun! Donna started out as an art student at her local junior college ,and attended
the Art Center College of Design, in Pasadena, California, and later learning 3D and traditional animation. After working
odd jobs the entrepreneur came out in her. She grew up watching her grandparents run their Laundry mat in Los Angeles, California
after arriving from China. She realized that anything is possible. The tuition at Art Center was expensive, and with $50 she
borrowed from her Mom she was off to buy t-shirts to paint. She set up at a local park and sold out. Art is On! was born.
After
selling at local craft fairs she started to travel to shows all over California and later moved to do the "Art and Wine" art
shows in Northern California. Where you could taste art and enjoy the beautiful outdoors and new artists. She opened her studio
in Aptos, California (Santa Cruz). While showing her work at an Art and Wine art show, she had a line outside of her booth
with art enthusiasts waiting in line to purchase her hand painted clothing, a Nordstrom buyer was also waiting in line, who
was amazed at what she saw . The Nordstrom buyer purchased her whole line, including a schedule of trunk shows where she was
a featured artist. Soon she had sales reps and showrooms in California and New York, New York. Donna Kay Lau was so successful
she even started selling at Costco as a featured artist, and many other venues where she made appearances.
It wasn't
long before the demand for Donna Kay Lau's designs spread. Her designs were soon filling the floors of upscale department
stores and small specialty boutiques like Nordstrom , Neiman Marcus, FAO Shwartz, Costco (Price Company), and Chocolate Soup,
all the way down Madison Avenue in New York, to name a few.
After attending the Kids Show in New York for the first
time she had an enormous response of her designs, and was featured in the Kids fashion show runway, where her 3 year old runway
model skipped down the runway, and lifted her skirt in front of the press. You could hear a roar during the show and all the
press taking photos of the modest little adorable model that was not shy. Donna Kay Lau was then featured in the Earnshaws
magazine, Kids Fashion Magazine, and interviewed by the press including Marie Claire magazine and Vogue. This was a special
break for a special little clothing line "Art is On!"
Buoyed by her overwhelming success of her endeavors, Donna Kay Lau
soon was interested in expanding her studio to feature furniture, like a unique "Time out" chair, and even lunchboxes, and
overnight suitcases. Her interest grew and she was interested in children's book illustration where she decided to go back
to the Art Center College of Design, in Pasadena California for classes in Childrens book illustration where she was taught
and mentored by Marla Frazee (illustrator of "Hush Little Baby" and many other titles).
She later relocated her studio
to Southern California. One day while working on her Children's book illustrations she was encouraged to explore animation
for children. So she quickly decided to take a creative break and attend school full time. She enrolled in a full time animation
program where she learned 3D and traditional animation.
Donna Kay Lau then soon became an intern at the Nickelodeon
animation studio in Burbank, California, and then was hired on full time at the studio. She has worked on the animation production
shows: "CatDog","CatDog Movie", "Dora the Explorer", "Oswald the Octopus", and "The Danger Rangers" (PBS television), and
later went on to work at Cartoon Network on an ACTION animation "Generator Rex", She worked on a Crossover Episode with the
"Ben10" Animation, and currently works on a Comedy Cartoon " Regular Show".
As the animation started out as a whim
to expand her education and knowledge of art, Donna Kay Lau soon found her time was delegated to full time animation. When
the production of her last animation project ended she started to freelance and work on her designs again, most of the designs
were all developed in between animation productions through out the years, since she is currently working on "Regular Show"
at Cartoon network she has not launched.
Donna Kay Lau is also a 3 STAR SPINNING® Indoor cycling instructor, and is
busy training for triathlons as a sponsored triathlete of Zoot and Gu, and H2o audio, and she also enjoys surfing (as she
calls the Beach her Office, where she hold Board meetings), and is launching a couture surf line (and hand painted surf boards)
that will be available for viewing on Etsy stores (Artison99 and Surfsoup), for her "Surf Soup" Project, that supports all
charities that are Ocean related and more. Her Compassion for helping others as well as her Creativity is Contagious!
Go ahead Try to keep up with her! to stay tuned for her project "Surf Soup"
follow her on twitter @Surfsoup for the latest news and launching
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