Rosalie Nielson
The Lan Su Chinese Garden opened in 2000. It was designed and built by Chinese artisans from Suzhou, Portland’s sister city in China. From its website: “The mission of Lan Su Chinese Garden is to cultivate an oasis of tranquil beauty and harmony to inspire, engage, and educate our global community in the appreciation of a richly authentic Chinese culture.”
Rosalie originally called her kumihimo critter KongÅsaurus, a take-off of stegosaurus. It’s made in a rainbow color spectrum of Lunatic Fringe yarn. She exhibited it at a Braids conference in Japan. Rosalie liked the idea of calling it a Rainbow Dragon; she said “as a kid, we used to eat at a restaurant in Chinatown called Hung Far Lo. There was a long flight of stairs leading into the restaurant and on the wall beside the stair railing was the most beautiful (but ominous) painting of a dragon that snaked along with you as you ascended.” This dragon is 24 inches long.