Saigon De J'ai Vu 

New Hope Arts hosts an exhibition and book signing for the just-released memoir by Sandy Hanna, The Ignorance of Bliss: An American Kid in Saigon. 

The publisher's book release provides a second opportunity, following last year's exhibition, for the community to see this popular and engaging presentation by Lambertville and New York artist Sandy Hanna.

The 2019 exhibition features new paintings by Sandy depicting Saigon in the early 60's as well as a discussion about the publishing of the book.  

Book Signing and Reception: January 19, 2019, now opening at 4 pm due to weather concerns.
There will also be a screening of the short film Saigon Kids created by other military dependents who grew up in Saigon in the early years of the Vietnam conflict. 

Gallery Hours:
January 19, 4:00 pm - 
January 20, 26, 27, 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm 
January 26 Gallery Crawl with Lambertville - New Hope Winter Festival 6:30 - 8:30

About the book: The Ignorance of Bliss: An American Kid in Saigon is a true coming-of-age story told by  ten-year-old Sandy transferred with her military family to Vietnam in 1960 where her father, the Colonel, serves as a military advisor to the South Vietnamese Army. The family finds themselves in a country where politics and intrigue reside between plot and counter plot. Blissfully living a life of French decadence Sandy maneuvers between coups, spies, bombings, corruption and scandal as she and her thirteen-year-old brother, Tom, run an illicit baby powder and Hershey bar business on the black market. This story takes place in a turbulent country striving for nationalism and gives the reader a stunning look into the life of military dependents living abroad and the ignorance that surrounds a little understood time in history.  

Sandy Hanna is a BRAT; a British Regiment Attached Transfer; the daughter of a military officer, the Colonel. She and her siblings are part of a feral tribe known as 'Saigon Kids'; kids who lived in Vietnam from 1956 to 1965. This tribe is made up of children whose parents were part of the military, CIA, US AID, State Department and private contractors. Hanna is also an educator and designer of experiential play environments for children: the Sesame Place theme park (a joint-venture between Children's Television Workshop and Busch Entertainment), adventure playgrounds for Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Head Start indoor play spaces and several Children's Museums. Her educational background is in child development and the biology of cognition, how we know what we know. In her capacity as an educator and  children's 'play' expert, she has appeared on television, radio and interviewed for print publications.  She has been a guest lecturer at several universities. She currently resides with her photographer husband in NYC and Lambertville, NJ.