Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Leonard Low Can Huyn, senior kinesiology major, paints landscapes and seascapes before a group of students in the Library Quad on Tuesday. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Leonard Low [Click to enlarge]

A self-taught artist manipulated paint Tuesday in the Library Quad to raise funds for a local charity.

Can Huynh, a senior kinesiology major, painted landscapes using spray cans, sponges, newspapers, magazines, towels, cardboard and canvas boards as his tools.

Wednesday's event was a fundraiser for the Mustard Seed School, a Loaves and Fishes program that provides physical education equipment for homeless children.

"Huynh volunteered his time and it was his idea to do this," said Holly Shippen, a junior physical education major and secretary of the P.E. Majors Club, which sponsored the event.

Huynh said he has been creating art as a hobby for two years. He was inspired to learn after watching a street artist in Hawaii do similar artwork. Huynh then began to practice at his Stockton home to master his own style.

Huynh has also been commissioned by the City of Stockton to paint a mural on the wall of a two-story downtown building, said senior electronic and electrical engineering major Trong Hoang, one of Huynh's friends.

Hyunh, who is also a member of the P.E. Majors Club, used traditional Asian themes in many of his paintings, incorporating bamboo and cherry blossoms.

Huynh said his small paintings, which are 11 inches by 14 inches, are completed in 10 to 15 minutes. His larger works take 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the details involved.

Huynh created at least 11 paintings on Tuesday. The minimum donation requested for the small paintings was $15.

Huynh raised $303 by selling his artwork. Though most people paid $20, one paid $100.

Organizers said this is the second time they put on this event. Last December, the funds bought tennis balls and rackets, red rubber balls, equipment bags and yoga mats.

Orders of paintings through Huynh's website, www.wopsim.com will also be donated to the Loaves and Fishes Mustard Seed School.

To learn more about the P.E. Majors Club, contact pemajorsclub@gmail.com or about the Sacramento Loaves and Fishes' Mustard Seed School, visit www.sacloaves.org/programs..

Leonard Low can be reached at llow@statehornet.com.

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