Meeting at the Threshold

Article by Jon Hite

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of attending an afternoon gathering at Wave Street Studios in Monterey, hosted by the California Arts & Sciences Institute. The event centered on a talk by Mel Ahlborn exploring the evolution of symbolism in art, from the shared visual language of the Renaissance through to the deeply personal and individual dialects artists work in today.

I was honored to have my work included in that conversation, alongside fellow Monterey Peninsula artists Monica Johnson and Isa D’Arleans. Jon Hite of Haus of Hite was there and captured the day beautifully. He has generously given permission to share an excerpt here.

Originally published at hausofhite.com. Reprinted with permission.

The afternoon sun spilled across the stone walls, catching on succulents, ice plant, and the textured bark of cypress trees surrounding the historic Quock Mui House. Light moved like a slow tide across the courtyard, revealing and concealing in equal measure. A gentle breeze carried salt air through the space as guests shuffled in, crossing an invisible line between the outside world and something more contemplative within.

The house itself holds a layered past. Built in the late 19th century, it was the birthplace of Quock Mui, one of Monterey’s first locally born Chinese American women, a figure who moved fluidly between cultures and languages at a time when both were tightly bound. Known as “Spanish Mary,” she spoke five languages, her life becoming a quiet bridge across divided worlds. Today, that same structure lives on as Wave Street Studios, carrying forward her legacy in a new form, one rooted in creativity, exchange, and the preservation of voice.

This is Wave Street Studios, a place where past and present sit in quiet conversation, and on this particular day, it became a threshold in every sense of the word. A crossing between what is visible and what waits just beneath it.

Hosted by the California Arts & Sciences Institute, the event reflected the organization’s deeper ethos. CASI operates as a kind of intellectual crossroads, where artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, and architects gather to exchange ideas, challenge assumptions, and invest in future generations through its youth scholarship program. It is less about conclusions and more about ignition. A spark passed from one mind to another.

That current was already in motion.

The audience gathered in the afternoon light, mingling over refreshments as hummingbirds traced delicate arcs between flowering plants, fleeting and precise, like symbols mid-formation.

Conversations rose and fell in soft waves. There was a shared awareness, subtle but present, that something meaningful was about to unfold.

And then, Mel Ahlborn stepped forward.

She moved with the quiet gravity of someone already in orbit with her ideas, drawing the room inward without effort, as though attention itself had chosen her.