More than 100 paintings competed in the painting competition themed “Sailing on the Vast Tamkang: The Beauty of Scenery and Ships” by TKU’s Carrie Chang Fine Arts Center on Nov 7, the very day of TKU’s 59th Anniversary. TKU Architecture junior Pei-yuan Wu won the first prize in the TKU student group while Tamsui resident Rui-zheng Chen got the first prize in the community group. Both got an award certificate with NT$5,000.

One of the judges, TKU Artist in Residence Chung-kuang Koo commented that competing works were excellent, especially many works by junior high school students and elementary pupils, which were much more mature than their ages. Pei-yuan Wu have loved paining since childhood, and he excels at sketching. He had had very good achievements from junior high to senior high while representing his schools in painting contests. The award winning work this time is a water-color painting showing the beauty of Tamsui River and Mount Guanyin at sunset. He said the most beautiful scene in Tamsui is the Tamsui River sunset, especially at its estuary, giving people a feeling of broadness and comfortableness. He is very touched every time he sees it. For future expectations, he shyly said, “Drawing can make me feel good, and I will never give up drawing no matter I study or work in the future.”

Rui-zheng Chen is a retired public servant and her award winning work is a colored pastel painting of Mount Guanyin. She said, “Painting was my childhood dream, and this painting shows the dreamed Holy Mountain in my heart!” Accompanying her child to learn painting revived her childhood dream. Rui-zheng Chen has again devoted herself into painting for three years now. She happily said, “Winning the first prize is a great encouragement for me! I hope I can learn to see the world with a new vision and read life with a new communicating language through painting. I hope appreciating ancient and modern paintings and understanding the artistic side of the souls of painters will broaden my world view and make my life richer and more colorful.”

In the TKU students’ group, Insurance senior Shao-rong Li and Public Administration junior Dian-kai Wang got the 2nd and 3rd prizes respectively. Another 3 works got the Excellence Awards. In the community group, Tamsui Junior High Wei-you Lu and Tamsui Elementary School Ying-ru Zhu won the 2nd and 3rd prizes respectively. As the competition was fiercely neck in neck, the Excellence Awards added up from 3 to 8. All award winning works will be displayed at TKU’s Maritime Museum until Dec. 14. ( ~Dean X. Wang )