With Steve’s passing, I feel like a little chunk of myself just disappeared. I went to KU determined to go into the study of Chinese painting, but Steve’s enthusiasm and love for his subject convinced me to make the switch. That was over 40 years ago, and I’ve made an entire career off the decision prompted by Steve. He was such a generous guy, that when visiting relatives in Los Angeles, he came with me to meet the former LACMA curator, George Kuwayama, to convince him to hire me. It took a while, but he did, and like a barnacle, I’ve stuck on ever since.

A couple of wonderful memories come not from Steve’s teaching, but from his music. I used to go into the art history department at the University of Texas with my father on the odd weekend, but it was usually extremely quiet. I remember one weekend going to the art history department at KU and hearing echoing through the hallways Steve playing Scarlatti on the harpsichord at high volume. Another time a group of students went to his home and had to maintain absolute silence so he could show us the quiet ways of the qin. On his trip to SoCal, he took me to a Vietnamese restaurant to meet his music teacher, who was a huge deal in Vietnam. Next he came to talk about John Cage.

Next he gave me a beautiful piece of calligraphy and several pieces of ceramic, and wrote later for my help with naming some of his recent artworks. It’s as if his talent and his love for so many aspects of beauty were endless. I wished that his life had been. With his kindness and sensitivity piled on top of all that, there truly will never be another Steve.

I wish him nirvana.

Hollis

HOLLIS GOODALL

(pronouns: she, her, hers)

CURATOR, JAPANESE ART
WWW.LACMA.ORG