Tag: Art

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Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Catherine Lee

An hour.  Never long enough of course.  Certainly not to see everything at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.  But worth it on a sunny spring day with an hour to spare…. There’s tons of sculptures by famous people like Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and even Ai Weiwei… so many in fact that it’s impossible to look at everything – so a few highlights only! Iron Tree by Ai Weiwei (above) is located right next to what was the old chapel, now used for an art installation about coal.  The tree is constructed from branches, roots and trunks from all different trees. Recycled … Continue reading Yorkshire Sculpture Park

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Tree of Life Memorial Garden @ St. Helen’s Church, Sandal Magna, Wakefield

Catherine Lee

You’ve just gotta go and see this, it’s truly amazing, honest! A brand-new Tree of Life Memorial Garden for the interment of ashes, unique in the whole world, and right there in the churchyard of St. Helen’s Church, Sandal Magna, Wakefield! The parish of Sandal Magna is one of my most wonderful CMS Link Churches, so on my visit there this past weekend, I just had to go and see the Memorial Garden…. It really deserves to be more widely known, and the vicar Rupert Martin has kindly given me permission to use some of his original photos and info … Continue reading Tree of Life Memorial Garden @ St. Helen’s Church, Sandal Magna, Wakefield

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Pandas World Tour hits Taipei!

Catherine Lee

Yep, there’s currently 1,600 of them right there in central Taipei – and only a few minutes walk from where the the student protesters are occupying the Legislature.  Such contrasting scenes – but all involve large numbers and a lot of sitting around, which is what both the students and the pandas are doing… Pandas World Tour started with the World Wildlife Fund and the number 1,600 is reckoned to be how many real live pandas there are, 3 of which are in Taipei Zoo – baby panda Yuan-Zai is Taiwan’s latest ‘cute’ obsession.  So this world tour comes at … Continue reading Pandas World Tour hits Taipei!

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Treasure Hill 寶藏巖, Taipei….

Catherine Lee

Only 5 minutes walk from Taiwan’s most famous university, NTU (National Taiwan University), and its busy student shopping area and night markets, is this rather amazing village stuck on the side of a hill, Treasure Hill in fact…. After the war, lots of KMT soldiers were released from the Chinese military and settled here, building their own homes with rocks from the river, many still live here, plus artists in an artist village… This month, the village is hosting an art festival, hence lots of weird, wacky and wonderful objects! Fascinating place, well worth a visit! Continue reading Treasure Hill 寶藏巖, Taipei….

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Taipei Lantern Festival

Catherine Lee

Yesterday’s Lantern Festival in Taipei was spectacular – a huge area near the Expo and Art Museum and everywhere were lanterns of all shapes and sizes, many of gods and ancient sages, myths and traditional stories, also big lantern displays from schools of all ages, fun lanterns and aboriginal indigenous ones, all with an abundance of horses of course…. Happy Year of the Horse ~ and that marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations for this year…. and a new semester starts next week here at SJU! Continue reading Taipei Lantern Festival

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Paper Embroidery Art Exhibition Opening Day!

Catherine Lee

St. John’s University is hosting an exhibition of Paper Embroidery Art, in association with our neighbouring junior-high school – and yesterday was the grand opening YA! Really quite amazing stuff!  A traditional Chinese handicraft, using parchment (like thick tracing paper)…. and leading expert is Ms. Shen Hai-Rong 沈海蓉 who also happens to be famous in Taiwan for her acting roles in Chinese drama, and now devotes her time to teaching this craft to our local children, along with her team of teachers – they all came along yesterday, pupils and teachers – to show us and teach us how to do … Continue reading Paper Embroidery Art Exhibition Opening Day!

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Happy Keelung ~ Happy Yellow Duck!

Catherine Lee

How to make a city smile?  How to make a city famed for its miserable weather smile? Install some ART!  The famous Rubber Duck is here, and despite plenty of mishaps en route, hey here it is smiling away, and surrounded by plenty of happy people also smiling away, helped by a sunny day of course.  Unbelievable the affect that a very large (well, 18m) yellow duck can have on the mood of a city.  I love it!  And there’s even some real yellow ducks on hand nearby to say hello…. OK, so not everyone is smiling in Keelung City and every … Continue reading Happy Keelung ~ Happy Yellow Duck!

Taiwan, Tanzania2 Comments

TAIPEI 101 Global Circle ~ and TABORA is right there!

Catherine Lee

In Taipei 101 is a large black granite circle in the floor, and in white marble are carved the names of a whole host of places, some well-known, others nobody has ever heard of.  This of course is ART. Public Art in fact, known as the ‘Global Circle’ and described on the Taipei 101 website rather eloquently as: In the most luxurious and hottest shopping center, this Global Circle exists in silence. The black granite ring is embedded in the Social Plaza of the shopping square, and white inscriptions of names of cities from celebrated metropolises to unknown towns mingle … Continue reading TAIPEI 101 Global Circle ~ and TABORA is right there!