Bay Area author and illustrator honors his grandmother’s legacy through a self-published art book and memoir, “Crescenciana”

In 2014, Kenneth Tan quit his job in Los Angeles to help care for his lola, Crescenciana Carbonel Tan. Little did he know that this decision would redefine his own path and create lasting memories between him and his grandmother. 

Upon returning home, Kenneth introduced his lola to art therapy. Crescenciana painted watercolor pieces, with every stroke revealing a different chapter of her life. Once the paintings dried, Tan would draw on top, using inspiration from her memories and emotions. Their shared art sessions at the kitchen table became a sanctuary of endless stories, laughter, and quiet reflections shared over the course of eight years. They called this the Lola x Kenneth Collaboration. 

“Collaborating with Lola made me realize that I can’t do any of this on my own, and I never have. Everything I make starts with my grandma and continues with me. That’s what enriched the creative process. I’m always reminded to be thankful for everything we have and where it all comes from,” Kenneth said.

Crescenciana was born on August 12, 1920, in Villasis, a village in the Pangasinan province of the Philippines. Adventurous, determined, and the youngest of four siblings, Crescenciana spent her early years working on her family’s rice paddy and sari-sari store. The harsh realities of World War II and the challenges of being a single mother tested Crescenciana’s perseverance. She worked as a merchant, traveling from village to village to provide for her two children. By the 1980s, Crescenciana was able to reunite with her daughters and grandchildren before finally settling in San Jose, California. At the age of 80, she became a proud naturalized citizen of the United States.

Crescenciana passed away in December 2016 in the company of her family. It took Kenneth and his mother several years to sort through the relics, belongings, and bundles of photos from Crescenciana’s life. With a deep commitment to preserving the stories and memories his Lola passed onto him, Kenneth got to work. He retrieved the stack of watercolor paintings they had once made together and, piece by piece began weaving everything together into Crescenciana, a self-published art book and memoir.

Crescenciana Carbonel Tan. Photo Courtesy: Kenneth Tan

After launching a Kickstarter campaign in 2021, Kenneth was able to self-publish Crescenciana with the support of 340 backers. He has since sold and distributed all 1,000 copies from the book’s initial printing cycle and plans to launch another Kickstarter on February 20 to print a second run of books. Several copies remain available at Eastwind Books of Berkeley, Bel Canto Books in Long Beach, 27th Letter Books in Detroit, and Summit Learning in Vancouver, British Columbia.

In addition to the honorable mentions Lola x Kenneth Collaboration received in NPR, PBS, Slant’d, and Story Corps, Crescenciana has also garnered recognition with features in The Mercury News and ABS CBN News. But beyond the notable accolades, the core of the book is the power of family and knowing one’s roots.

“Success is when someone reads the book and says, ‘This reminds me of my family.’ That’s what it is all about, family stories,” Kenneth said. “It’s sitting down and learning about Lola, beyond who she is as Crescenciana but a person in her own right. My primary goal has always been that I want my Lola to be seen and heard.”

For Kenneth, the memory and legacy of his Lola lives on. In the final chapter of Crescenciana, he wrote:

“I came to learn that she is everywhere. Lola is in her recipes. She’s in her stories. She’s in flowers, in a walk at the park, or even in a warm patch of sunlight on a chilly day. She persists, through me and my sweet tooth and through everything I do. I am who I am because of Lola. I am an expression of her work in this world. And I have an obligation to demonstrate that her work is good.”