A commitment to staying true to oneself as an artist will guide you on your expressive journey towards sharing with others, says artist Jackson Chien, Senior in Resident for Coquitlam Heritage’s Intergenerational Sharing Project. Chien is hosting two events, Nov. 28–29, at the Mackin House in Coquitlam showcasing his art as part of this project connecting seniors with their communities, the first of which is a bilingual (Mandarin and English) artist talk.
“I create not for a specific goal or external validation, but for the sake of creation itself,” says Chien.
Nov. 29 will showcase more on-site displays of creative works, as well as a demonstration on ink sketches, printmaking and an interactive session where participants are invited to fill in a ‘Peace Wish’ and place it on the display board, as part of the “Let There Be Peace On Earth: And Let It Begin With Me,” initiative.
The artist’s early career
As an artist and art educator in Taiwan, Chien became a celebrated painter, printmaker and art educator, winning various awards such as the National Art Exhibition Grand Prize in Taiwan in 1974; first place in the Taipei City Teachers’ Art Exhibition in 1979; and a bronze medal at Japan’s International New Printmaking Exhibition in 1993.
“[My] creations use a variety of media including oil paint, watercolor, colored ink, ceramics and prints, as single pieces and multiple thematic combinations, to present the journey of depicting life through paintings over the years and in the recent past,” the artist says.
One such piece, titled The Across Time and Space Starry Night, reimagines Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ with places that Chien has lived and called home. This piece is part of a series called “This place of peace is my hometown.”
Art education is a large part behind Chien’s immigration to Canada. After representing Taiwan’s art education sector at the World Art Education Conference held in Montreal in 1993, Canada stuck to his mind. In 1999, he held an art exhibition in Vancouver, and soon after, his two sons moved to Nova Scotia to attend high school.
“Each stage of life often uses the temporary achievements of the time as a peak,” Chien says, reflecting on his early achievements. “Upon reaching it, one realizes the calm after the rapids and that there are even higher peaks [going forward].”
After retiring in 2001, Chien left his professional arts career behind to take care of his sons. He still enjoyed sketching-on-site and says that Canada’s changing seasons and diverse cultural activities has given him “creative energy.”
Artistic philosophy
Chien’s art is influenced by traditional Chinese culture, specifically Taoist “Wu Wei” or Taoist inaction.
“Wu Wei – without falseness – [my art] reflects authenticity, and the essence of the art, free from artificial pretense,” he says.
The process of creation, for Chien, is guided by the philosophical notion of three stages of life. The first stage requires seeing mountains as mountains and rivers as rivers, and involves “observing and representing reality” as it appears, placing focus on “skill and sensory perception.”
The second stage goes a step beyond what appears to be real, and visualizes mountains as not mountains and rivers as not rivers – deepening one’s understanding. Here, Chien’s artistic creation moves into abstract and expressive works, where he borrows “from the essence of landscapes,” to express personal emotions.
The third stage completes the cycle and requires a return to seeing mountains as mountains and rivers as rivers.
“[It] embodies simplicity and a return to authenticity. It’s a pursuit of innocence, purity, and harmony with nature – creating from an intuitive place of serenity,” he says.
Chien adds that after he turned 70, he “used the ‘return’ of time and the ‘fusion’ of space to interweave cross-generational and cross-cultural artistic life images.”
The Intergenerational Sharing Project is both an opportunity for Chien to return to his art within a professional context and a way to pass on his techniques and philosophies to the generations of artists coming after him.
“The intergenerational sharing program is part of Ritual-Spective integration, a multi-media interactive art series project of the ‘Chimerik’ … which combines tradition and technology,” he says.
(With translation help from Sammy Chien).
For more information, see: www.coquitlamheritage.ca/events/intergenerational-sharing-project-open-studio-jackson-chien
