Artists' Exhibition (6-2)

The highlight of the past two weeks was an International Artists’ Exhibition at the university. I learned about it when Hannah mentioned it in a message to us. Since I love art, I went to see it and found out that the artists were creating art on site for several days. I was hooked and went to see what was happening every day.

The eleven artists were from Thailand, Turkey, Korea, Japan, and Canada. Several spoke English well, and it was fun to talk with them. Since Thailand and Turkey are among my homes, I especially enjoyed interacting with the artists from those countries. One from each country spoke English well enough to converse; the others communicated with smiles and gestures and a few words. The other two I interacted with a lot were the artists from Canada and Korea. I think I was the only person—certainly one of the few—who stopped by frequently. Everyone was always happy to see me.

On Wednesday after discussion group, the girls asked what I was going to do. When I said I’d go to check out the exhibit, four of them went with me, which was nice. They interacted with the English-speaking artists. When Catherine learned that there was a Korean artist, she was excited because she is taking a class in Korean. So she talked to the her in Korean a little and then in English. We were with her almost an hour, as she was very kind to the girls and kept them talking.

Every day I checked to see what was happening and how the art works had changed. It was fun to see when one was completed and another started. One artist used his fingers to dab on paint for most of the painting.

Three used charcoal in different ways. One also painted.

One had a tea culture theme.

One of the men combined elements of Chinese characters with chairs, calling his theme “Chair-Share.”

The Korea woman did collages with paper she had colored with black paint.

The Canadian described his work as windows put together to make a whole. He painted small paintings and then assembled them into a large one.

One Turkish artist specializes in Lena and the Swan. He had a large painting that he changed a bit for four days.

The Japanese woman created only one painting. It took her a few days to get started. I really enjoyed seeing the step-by-step progress of her painting, as I’d not seen that before for this style of painting and could not have imagined how it was created.

Michelle and Catherine wanted to go to the exhibit with me again on Saturday. So we did. The Korean woman wasn’t there, but they were able to talk with the Thai and Turkish artists. Photos were taken. 

When we left, they asked what we would do next. I hadn’t realized that they planned to be together longer, but, since they wanted to hang out, we went to a drinks shop. Then we had a light dinner before returning to campus. It was enjoyable, as they both chatted quite a bit. They have just recently joined the office hours’ discussion and are keen to speak with me now.

On Sunday most of the work was completed. On Monday it was hung for the exhibition, which opened Tuesday morning. Monday afternoon Jar wanted to go to the exhibition; so she, Victoria, and I went after class. We got to see the completed work of the artists we had met hanging on the wall as well as art from some of the Chinese artists that was being hung. They chatted with the Korean and Canadian artists. I was pleased that they were so interested and that Jar was so confident in her English speaking.

Since I have classes Tuesday morning, I missed the opening, but I stopped by in the afternoon. Some of the artists were there and were just leaving. A few stopped to say “good-bye” to me, which was nice. The Turkish artist I’d talked to a lot gave me—and Hannah as translator—a drawing, which was very nice of him.

The exhibition also included 19 Chinese artists, many of whom teach at the university. The videos that were produced were shown. Saturday when Peggie was there to translate for a media interview, one of the videographers asked her for my name so he could use it in the video along with film of me as a foreign teacher who was interested in the exhibit. He was thrilled with I gave it to him.

Also of  note is the stunning, clear, blue sky with clouds on Friday. Blue sky is rare enough, and this was the most spectacular sky I've seen in my 2.5 years here. When I mentioned that to a student, she said that I'm not the only one who thinks that. One of her teachers said it was the most beautiful day she has seen here for many years.