20 SIDELINES JULY 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
e
West Side Story
By Holly Hugo-Vidal
In the parish he’s called Father, in
the classroom he’s called Professor
and among friends, he’s simply
Michael. He is a fascinating, complex
man of many dimensions and talents
and is one of the most interesting
people to grace my column! Pun
intended.
Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona,
Michael Tang is Professor of Art and
Art History at Loyola Marymount
University in Los Angeles, California.
He earned his MFA from the School
of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1983
and two other Master’s degrees in
Theology and Divinity from the Jesuit
School of Theology at Berkeley,
California.
Father Tang entered the Society
of Jesus (the Jesuits) when he was
19; his course of study took 13 years
before he was ordained a priest in 1990. This year Michael is
celebrating 23 years in the priesthood. He is currently Pastor of
Transfguration Church and Elementary School in Los Angeles as
well as Professor at LMU.
Father Michael lives in the rectory that is attached to the parish,
originally built in 1923. There is an elementary school on the
property, which in its heyday, (between the ‘30s and early ‘70s)
had 700 students but now like many Catholic Schools around the
country is struggling to stay open.
Father Tang has two Jack Russell Terriers, Madeleine and
Celeste, a Dutch Warmblood show hunter named Zandigo and
his retired show horse, Storyteller, who Michael was able to buy
back after years of being separated.
This award-winning artist specializes in brilliant watercolors
that have appeared on the covers of The Chronicle of the Horse,
The New York Times Magazine and Dressage Today, as well as
many other publications. He has created original art for the annual
Capital Challenge Horse Show poster for the past 17 years.
Michael’s day begins very early with a morning walk with his
dogs, followed by saying Mass and taking care of matters in the
parish. Four afternoons a week he can be found teaching at the
university. He also works in the inner city parish with the children
as a Pastor. Here he is utilizing his connection with the university
to do fundraising for the school which takes up the majority of his
time. He tries to fnd the time to hack his horses at least once a
week. His young green horse, Zandigo, is in training with Cyndi
Merritt and his favorite show horse, Storyteller (now 24 years old),
teaches little children how to ride. Michael describes Storyteller as
“the joy of my life!”
Father Michael grew up in a Catholic family with an aunt who
is a nun and an uncle who was a Franciscan priest. He attended
a Catholic elementary school and a Jesuit College Preparatory.
“I always wanted to teach as the Jesuits are a teaching order. I
thought I could also continue to do my art which would enable me
to pay show fees.”
“When I moved to Los Angeles, I began training with Rob Gage
and Cyndi Grossman Merritt at what was then G & G Farms. As a
young adult, I enjoyed bringing along young horses, doing much
of the fat work myself. However, now that I live in the inner city all
the downtown traffc has made getting out to the barn very diffcult.
I say the eight o’clock mass fve mornings a week and so there’s
no way I can head out to the barn mid-day.”
Michael, the professor, has a reputation not unlike GeorgeMorris
Michael’s gorgeous painting of Sandy Ferrell and Bolero.
Michael blessing the hounds for the West Hills Hounds.