Wen Chien-cheng, a Rukai Aborigine from Taromak village in Taitung’s Beinan Township and a tank truck driver for ten years, is an amateur artist when he gets off work. He likes to collect objects, recycle them, turn them into handicraft items and give them to people. “It is my happiest moment when I see the smiles on my friends’ faces upon receiving my creations,” he says.
Wen says he enjoys collecting antiques, artifacts, rocks, driftwood, abandoned closets, tables, chairs and the like. Twenty years ago he began getting involved in foster care. In order to give foster children more learning opportunities, he practices environmental protection with them and together they breathe new life into waste materials by sculpting and painting them by hand. Not only have the children developed an interest in it, but Wen himself also has a good time.
Wen says that every time he comes across people to whom he owes a debt of gratitude, he gives them his craftworks as a token of his appreciation. On the eve before his son joined the military, he used waste scooter tires to make a certificate of appreciation for the Parent’s Association for the Mentally Handicapped Persons in Taitung to thank them for taking good care of his son. Little did he know that his creation would be so well received by the association’s director-general Huang Chun-ya that Huang decided to use his crafts as certificates of appreciation on its biannual sports day.
Photo: Wang Hsiu-ting, Taipei Times
照片:自由時報記者王秀亭
Each of the 20 certificates of appreciation that he has made out of waste tires is one of a kind. From the tread patterns to the decorations on the certificates, all elements were put together with Wen’s ingenious creativity. He says he never thought his creations could be sold to make money. When he accepted the task of making the certificates, he was very nervous. He worried that the receivers could not accept recycled crafts made with waste tires. Nonetheless, he spared no effort to produce the best certificates of appreciation that he could make.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Ethan Zhan)
台東卑南鄉魯凱族達魯瑪克部落族人溫健政擔任油罐車司機已經十年,下班後的他則是素人藝術家。溫健政平時喜愛蒐集物品,並將身邊的回收物再利用,做成手工藝品送人。「看到朋友收下作品後開心的笑容最快樂。」他說。
溫健政表示,自己喜歡收集古董、古物,還有石頭、漂流木、廢棄衣櫥、桌椅等。二十年前他加入寄養家庭的行列,為了帶給寄養的孩童更多學習機會,他帶著小朋友一起做環保,也一起動手雕刻、彩繪,讓廢棄品有新生命。不僅小朋友做出興趣,自己也樂在其中。
溫健政說,每次遇到想感謝的人,都會送上親手製作的手工藝品表達謝意;兒子當兵前夕,他特地用廢棄機車輪胎做了一個感謝狀,送給台東縣智障者家長協會,感謝大家對兒子的照顧。想不到他的作品受到協會總幹事黃純雅青睞,要作為兩年一度運動會的感謝狀。
他創作的二十個廢輪胎感謝狀每個都是獨一無二的手工藝品,從輪胎胎紋到感謝狀的裝飾,都是溫健政的巧思。他說從沒想過自己的作品可以用來賣錢;當初接下任務時相當緊張,也擔心廢輪胎用來當感謝狀送人,不知受獎者能否接受這種廢物利用的東西。但還是盡己所能地把感謝狀做到最好。
(自由時報記者王秀亭)
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