An exhibition of on-the-spot sketches of the Kinmen Island was unveiled last Tuesday, Sept. 12 at Carrie Chang Fine Arts Center. 8 artists from Kinmen flew in for the opening ceremony who were also available for signing. Because of that, many art lovers from TKU went by and collected their signatures.
Nearly all the artists who have works on display are Kinmen locals, including Professor Wong Wen-bing, though not a Kinmen native, but spent a great deal of time on the island. He believes that his passion and loyalty to the place has already qualified him as one of the natives. No doubt that such a connection and the native knowledge of a place has rendered those 120 paintings on show with vivid images that capture the hidden beauty and stoic spirit of the island that is usually opaque to outsiders.
Dr. Flora Chang, the President of TKU, who attended the reception on that day, likes those sketches as they remind her of Tamsui some 30 or 40 years ago. She also mentioned that the university is working on a on-the-spot-sketches themed around Lanyang Campus and is thus inviting all the artists present to participate.
Li Chi-Mao, the Director of the Carrie Chang Fine Arts Center, urges everyone on campus to see the show as a way of getting to know Kinmen, so is Yang Chin-yi, the event organizer. She wants the show to inspire people interest in and deep appreciation to all things Kinmen. The show runs until October 15.
Another exhibition of different nature was open at the Maritime Museum on Sept. 10 for whales and dolphins lovers. It introduces the whales and dolphins that frequent the east coast of Taiwan through photographs, films and a presentation.
The exhibition of still photography will run until Sept. 30, whereas there will be three films about whales showing in the coming days until Sept. 24. There will be four shows each day—at 10:00, 11:00, 14:00 and 15:00 respectively.
The presentation on these marine mammals will be held at noon on Sept. 20 at the Carrie Chang Fine Arts Center. Writer Liao Horng Ji has been scheduled to share his experiences of interacting with the ocean from being a fisherman, to an environmentalist, to a writer. Audiences will be able to hear stories of how whales and dolphins have shaped his life and his mission in it.
