A Cellist's Concentration Drawing

Portrait drawing has been the main focus of my work since I was a college student and I have found it challenging and fascinating. It is challenging to portrait the unique characteristics of each muscle on a human’s face: length, thickness, orientation, location and tension. It is yet fascinating to arrange individual muscle to present complex facial expressions of sadness, happiness, surprise, movement, and many more. Influenced by A-Sun Wu, an internationally known Taiwanese Fauvist, and my favorite artists, Egon Schiele, Jim Dine, and Kathe Kollwitz, my work tends to be expressive. I began my “Nurtured by Love” series several years ago when my two children started their music lessons. As they progressed, I was often touched by their dedication and discipline, and I began to document their daily practices and public performances. Through my drawings, I recorded their development in passion, perseverance, courage, and pride, all of which are qualities essential for becoming a healthy human being. As they progressed, my children started to play with other children in various music groups and I began to realized that learning a musical instrument was not a solitary endeavor. The learning process requires the parents’ encouragement, a teacher’s patience, and the support from the community. As the series continues to develop, I tried to capture how musicians communicate and collaborate with each other before, during and after each run through. The spirit of corporation with their peers became one of the themes in my series. I also began to explore the interaction between my children and their teachers, as well as the rest of our community. I attempted to portrait how a word of encouragement from a teacher can light up their spirits, and how the devotion of a community in music education can help them growth. My “Nurtured by Love” series reaches out to all music learners, past and present, and the people around them. Through my series, I hope to reconnect all of their memories, inspire all to continue to pursue their dreams, and encourage parents, teachers, and the community to patiently nurture the talents of the children. It is my hope that anyone who has learned an instrument at young age, or anyone who has helped a child learn music, will find resonance in my “Nurtured by Love” series.