The Grand Opening Ceremony of Mr. Chen Ming-Bang (陳明邦)’s Thanksgiving Art Exhibition!

Mr. Chen Ming-Bang and his lovely wife are members of Advent Church, they have a home just up the coast from here, and whenever they’re here, they take part in all our services and activities.  Mr. Chen has had a very distinguished career in the civil service, including as Founding Director of the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office.  In his retirement, Mr. Chen has not sat idly by, but rather has put his artistic talents to great use and has produced over 60 paintings, which yesterday were put on display in the 11th floor Art Gallery of the China University of Science and Technology, over in Nangang on the far side of Taipei.

And so to the Grand Opening.  We were all up early and out!  It took us over 2 hours to get there from here, but the university had kindly put on shuttle buses from Nangang MRT Station.  And the galley itself?  Well, quite amazing!

So many people had sent flowers, mostly pots of orchids, including our yellow orchids from Advent Church – our display graced the welcome desk!

Beautifully displayed and organized, the paintings looked magnificent.  I took photos of the ones I liked best….

All Mr. Chen’s friends, former colleagues and VIPs from different government departments were there.  Special guest of honour was former vice-president of Taiwan, Vincent Siew 蕭萬長, also known as the “Smiling Siew” (微笑老蕭) ~ and yes he smiled for the whole ceremony!  The VIPs all sat in the front row, gave short speeches and took part in the grand ribbon-cutting ceremony.  Just before the ribbon-cutting, a prayer of blessing was given by Bishop Lai.

About 20 of us from Advent Church and the Taiwan Episcopal Church were there, and just as we were all leaving, our oldest and most adventurous church members, Tan Mama, Tan Baba and their family turned up, having driven all the way over.  Never let age put you off doing something, that’s their motto!

And if you’re wondering how come I’m in outrageously pink shoes, I’m just trying to keep up with Mr. Chen’s wife, whose fingernails and toenails are always painted in 5 different colours. I just love her style!

A special day indeed!