Behind the scenes: Ping Pong Tables of Chinatown
I delve behind the scenes of bringing our painted ping pong table murals to life.
Growing up, I loved playing ping pong with my family. We bought a ping pong table that we stored by the front door, and when unfolded, it would fill the entire living room. After dinner, we’d play for at least 30 minutes, volleying back and forth, the ping pong ball bouncing all over the room as I learned new tricks and techniques.
My younger self would never have thought that nearly two decades later, I would paint a ping pong table.
Together with Katelyn Lipton and Jenn Duan, we applied to Pao Art’s call for public art in May 2024, as part of the City of Boston’s Un-monument, Re-monument, De-monument initiative. We dreamed up the idea of painting ping pong tables to activate community spaces, encourage intergenerational connection, and promote wellness. We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.
We were excited to be selected to take our project forward, along with many amazing community projects.
Below, I chronicle our journey bringing this idea to life. While the past few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions — despair, grace, antsy-ness, frustration, gratitude — I’m reminded of the power of community and bringing people together, which is exactly what our project set out to do.
Designing the murals
Through community feedback, we settled upon painting two ping pong tables, each reflecting a different theme: “people of Chinatown” and “birds and plants of Chinatown.” I went on to tackle the first theme, and Katelyn and Jenn helmed the second theme.
From my memories walking around Chinatown, I knew I wanted to feature the iconic Chinatown gate and the surrounding park area. I loved watching the kids play at the playground while the adults played cards or ate lunch at the tables nearby. These were the first few scenes I drew.
Another big part of my Chinatown experience is going out to eat at the amazing restaurants and cafes. I depicted some of these foods, such as hot pot, egg tarts, and bubble tea.
The hot pot part of the design is particularly memorable for me. Over the years, my family would go to our friend’s home for Lunar New Year, and they made the best hot pot I’ve ever had in my life. Home made Chicken broth, brewing for three days; home made dumplings; a wide array of meats, vegetables, and fish balls. When I think of hot pot, I think of communal gatherings and celebrating with friends and family.
Running through the entire design is a red ribbon, symbolizing the red thread of fate. There’s an ancient Chinese proverb that says, “an invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place, or circumstance.” The red ribbon provided a way to divide up the scenes on the table, and to emphasize the theme of connection.
Preparing the ping pong tables
In September, we were ready to implement the murals. To engage the community with our project and to drum up excitement, we painted outdoors on the Pao Arts Center’s back patio. We sanded, primed, and transferred the designs in a day.
Painting the ping pong tables
Over the course of five days, I painted the ping pong table mural. This was the most intricate design I’ve painted so far, and the most colors that I’ve used in a piece. I mixed a lot of colors, using takeout containers that I saved.
The most stressful part was working with the black paint — it was my first time painting with the color in my murals, and I knew I had to be precise. Very slowly, very carefully, I used the tiniest brush we had to outline each character’s hair. Once the outline was done, I could breathe easy, filling in the rest of the space. I admit, I did a little celebratory dance when I finished painting all the hair — it took an entire afternoon!
To paint the characters’ facial expressions and the Chinese characters on the Chinatown gate, I decided to use Posca paint markers. I obtained the marker from Blick, and returned to complete the details.
Varnishing the ping pong tables
To protect the murals, we varnished the surface with polyurethane. The big lesson I learned here is that polyurethane smears Posca paint markers.
After an online search, I discovered that a spray varnish can be used first to “fix” the marks in place. I returned to Blick again to obtain Krylon spray.
After touching up the mural, I sprayed the Posca marker areas thoroughly. That did the trick — I applied the polyurethane without a hitch.
And with that, the tables were officially done!
Gathering the community
On October 20th, we held our activation event, a ping pong block party, to unveil the tables and bring people together for fun outdoor activities. It was a gorgeous fall day, and a wonderful way to celebrate the project with friends and the community.
We wanted attendees to walk away with a little something, so we created a little companion zine with the birds and plants of Chinatown, along with a map of some of our favorite spots in Chinatown.
At the end, we donated the tables to ACDC for use in their future programming and events.
Giving many thanks
It takes a village to accomplish a public art project. A huge thank you to Lani Asunción for selecting our project, and to Pao Arts Center and ACDC for their support in implementing this project. Another thank you to fellow artist and friend Jane Kim-Testa for letting me borrow some supplies, and for helping us fold our little companion zines! And of course, thank you to my partner and sister for being my cheerleaders throughout my creative journey.
Last but not least, this whole project was an incredible partnership with the amazing Katelyn Lipton and Jenn Duan. For nearly half a year, we brainstormed, organized, coordinated, and supported each other to bring our vision to life. I learned so much from them, and it’s been such an honor and joy to collaborate together. You may find their links below — I encourage you to follow and explore their work!
Katelyn Lipton
Website: https://www.katelynleeannart.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katelynlipton/
Jenn Duan
Website: https://jennduan.com/art
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/springtangerines/
Thank you for reading this recap of our ping pong project. If you have any questions about the process, please feel free to let me know! Take care, and see you in the next one.