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Before film school Chen-Wei performed and created electronic music and played the violin. This is a photo of her practicing for a concert she did at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco with the band Neung Phak. http://www.neungphak.net She also was in an electronic ensemble around the same time called Rajar. https://www.davidkwan.net/rajar

The way we met was by magic. We were both working at Sundance when I saw her in the office. She seemed intelligent, happy and open-minded. I was immediately drawn to her and eagerly introduced myself. I admired her sweater, and she told me she had made it herself, and she could teach me how to make one too (!). I learned that she was a student in the film school where I had gone. We were also the same age - kind of on the older side for working at Sundance, or for attending film school. By the end of our conversation we had made plans to hang out. And that was that. We were friends. Over the years, I had the pleasure of getting to know Chen-Wei and discovering what an exceptional human being she was.

She was . . .

I don't actually recall this day, but the pictures are there, and I'm in them, so it happened. It looks like maybe Topanga or Malibu state park? There are a bunch of pictures of Chen-Wei and I holding up white fabric in different kinds of light conditions.

I wonder if this was a location scouting session for her thesis project for film school...

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It is a lovely idea to gather such great stories about when we met Patty!!!! I’ll never forget the warm hospitality you both offered although Patty was so ill, and she never complained!!!!! She was such a patient, sweet, kind, brave, elegant and intellectual woman!!! Peterako, I will always remember Patty with love and respect!!! I love you too and I hope that slowly, slowly the burden will become lighter.

I remember the day that I first dropped out of engineering school, and Patty was there not to give a pep talk, but to congratulate me for finally starting to think for myself. She always looked out for me and guided me through tough times and knew I'd find what I wanted to do. She was a great influence from a young age and even vetoed my parents' first name choice for me (thank god) when she was 6 years old! She was always the cool sister for sharing new music and giving sound advice. Later on, I re-enrolled in school and was able to do the things that actually interested me like learning graphic design, playing in bands, and finding groups of people that shared similar interests. I thank her to this day. Who k . . .

This was for one of the earlier projects in the film school era.

One of the very specific memories I have is her teaching me how to coil wire perfectly. I remember having multiple conversations with people, over then under -- turn it around and twist and loop and this and that. Somehow I could never get the various power and audio cables we were trundling around with stowed quite neatly, and hers (as usual) were elegant and quite perfect. "Follow the wire's memory," she told me. It worked.

I've always loved this picture of little Chen-Wei in front of a huge statue of Buddha in Changhua City, Taiwan where her aunts currently live. We would regularly visit this area in Taiwan, the last time being in November 2019.

Chen-Wei made this beautiful sweater for Cyan's first birthday. She was there when I was in the hospital with pregnancy complications. She was there for Cyan's first trip to the beach. And for all the years that Cyan has been growing, she came to help celebrate birthdays, brought gifts from her travels, and was an amazing Auntie. Cyan LOVED to hang out and talk with her. The last time we hung out, Cyan didn't want to leave. She wanted to keep talking to her Auntie Chen-Wei. It tickled her to no end that Chen-Wei cracked the egg into her rice instead of the tofu soup at the Korean tofu restaurant, saying "I don't care if this isn't right. This is what feels right to me." Advice from a true artist to an artist in . . .

This was from the last time we went out together. It was her first time getting to see our son.

It's sad beyond my ability to express that this kid will never get to know her brilliance and warmth.

I'm not sure I would be able to recall exactly how my first few interactions with Chen-Wei went. This was the earliest photo of her I could find -- a little get together to celebrate the end of our first holidays after starting at UCLA.

Chen-Wei would go on to be one of my deeply cherished friends from this era -- a person I would grow to care a lot about, respect, and always be impressed by.