BiLan Liao, MFA, MA, will be the guest speaker. The title of her presentation is "NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS". BiLan Liao, is a retired art professor in the United States, and author of the book “Diary of the Dragon’s Daughter-Painting as a Window into Chinese History”. She is the president of the Diary of the Dragon’s Daughter, LLC (film), GA. Her documentary short “An Artist’s Journey from China to America” has received many awards from national and international filmmaker festivals in 2021. She also is the president of the Asian American Artists Society.
BiLan was born and raised in China. She and her family experienced much discrimination and many hardships under the dictator Mao Zedong. During this dark period, all the schools were closed, and books were destroyed, and she had to study in secret. She was blessed with a variety of artistic talents: painting, photography, fashion design, journalism, and teaching. While still in China, in 1999 she was granted U.S. permanent residency as an “Alien of Extraordinary Abilities.” At age forty-five, she realized her dream when she came to America.