The Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA, 文化建設委員會) recently announced the seven recipients of its Artists-in-Residencies Program study grants, which will provide funds for up-and-coming artists to travel to five international arts villages in the US and UK later this year.
The winners of the grants this year -- the second year of the program -- include several established artists, in contrast to last year's contingent, many of whom were still in art school.
Jun Lai (賴純純), 48, known for her plexiglas artwork and Luo Shiao-mei (羅秀玫), 35, a New York-trained conceptual artist, are heading to New York's International Studio Program.
Photographer turned installation/performance artist, Lee Ming-sheng (李銘盛), 49, will travel to California's 18th Street Arts Complex and will be one of the featured artists at the upcoming ABSOLUT L.A. International Biennial Art Invitational. Yao Jui-chung (姚瑞中), also a photographer and installation artist, will be heading for London's Gasworks Studio this summer. Yao was showcased at the 1997 Venice Biennial.
Installation artist Howard Chen (陳俊豪) will visit San Francisco's Headlands Center for the Arts in May.
Opting for time in the countryside, ceramic artist Samuel Shih (施宣宇) and, sculpture artist Yang Chun-sun (楊春森) will both travel to Colorado's Anderson Ranch Arts Center in June.
Chen Long-bin (陳龍斌), a resident artist last year who is a member of the panel to select this year's recipients, said preference was given to mid-career artists on the ground that the artists' greater experience and larger portfolios would ensure a more productive stay abroad. The applicants' English abilities were also a factor in the awarding process. During the three-month residencies, some of the artists will take classes and participate in seminars. The artists will also have the opportunity to meet with art dealers and curators. The residency program provides an opportunity for emerging artists to increase their exposure in the international art community without going through the usual channels of museums and art festivals.
The CCA hopes to draw from the recipients' experience to gain insight for the establishment of arts villages in Taiwan. Plans for an arts village in Nantou County were scrapped last year in favor of a policy to establish small-scale arts centers on unused property.
Yao said he chose London because of the city's preeminence as a center for modern art and its outstanding museums like the Saatchi Collection and Tate galleries. He anticipates a degree of culture shock and sees such a jolt as an opportunity for exchange of ideas.
"I expect an impact. I think that is what stimulates creativity and breakthroughs," he said.
Jun Lai, whose installation Alice in Wonderland was exhibited at Taipei's Asiaworld shopping mall last year, looks forward to gaining exposure in New York.
Lai has previously been to various arts villages, but they have mostly been located in rural areas. Now she feels ready to exhibit in New York. "It's not about finding time to brood over ideas or develop concepts in solitude. I am pretty much ready. This means marching out onto the world art stage now that my portfolio is sufficient," said Lai, who is currently the director of Woman Art Association in Taiwan (
Preparing for the fresh mountain air of Colorado's Anderson Ranch Arts Center, located near the ski resort Aspen, Yang said he looks forward to using the center's facilities for photography, printmaking and metal art to improve his technique and widen his range of materials for his sculpture pieces. Before Yang leaves, his piece titled Dandelion in the Wind -- a towering sculpture using 100 umbrellas -- will be exhibited in the lobby of Taipei City Hall next month.
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