Chng Seok Tin
| Chng Seok Tin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1946 Katong |
| Nationality | Singaporean |
| Known for | printmaking, sculpture, mixed media |
| Awards | Cultural Medallion |
| Website | http://chngseoktin.com/ |
Chng Seok Tin (born 1946) is a visually-impaired printmaker, sculptor and multi-media artist from Singapore. She is often inspired by the i-Ching and Buddhism.[1] Her work has been shown internationally; Chng has had over 26 solo shows and 100 group shows.[2] In addition to her art, she is also a prolific writer and has published 11 collections of her writing, mostly in Chinese.[3] She also advocates for artists with disabilities.[4]
Contents
Biography
Early life and education
Ching grew up poor in Katong, in a "leaky attap house in Kampung Chai Chee."[2] Her parents wanted all of their seven children to go to school.[2] Chng attended Chung Cheng High School which had an excellent art department, taught by teachers from the Shanghai Art Academy.[5] Later, in 1966, she attended the Teachers' Training College.[3] She began to teach Chinese at the Tanjong Katong Girls' School later that year.[2] Eventually, Chng started taking art lessons privately, and then attended the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts where she received a diploma in Western painting.[2] In 1979, she received a BA from the Hull College of Higher Education in England.[2] Also in 1979, she had an exhibition of prints at the National Museum of Art Gallery in Singapore.[2] Chng then received an award from the Ministry of Culture to study advanced printmaking in 1980.[2] In 1983 she earned her masters in arts from New Mexico State University and then a masters of fine arts from the University of Iowa in 1985.[2]
In 1986, Chng headed the print-making department at Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts.[1] She was also an art editor for the Joint Publishing Company in Hong Kong.[6]
Visual impairment
In June 1988, Chng and a group of her students were visiting art museums of Europe.[1] While trying to catch a bus with her students, Chng fell and hit her head on the pavement in London.[1] After the accident, Chng experienced bouts of dizziness and while back in Singapore, found out that she had a brain abscess.[1] Chng lost 90% of her vision in 1988[7] after she had surgery on the brain abscess caused by the fall.[8] For about a year after becoming nearly blind, she felt "tormented" but then she became "philosophical about it."[1] She says that finally meeting other blind people to be a turning point.[1] Another turning point was an invitation to return to the print-making department at Lasalle.[3] Brother Joseph McNally, president emeritus at Lasalle, reached out to her because he said that even without her sight, Chng still commanded good print-making technique.[1] Chng is able to "see" the colors of her prints in her mind.[9] She says of her work, "I had all the basics in my mind and I had to slowly start using them."[3] She says that losing her site forced her to "rely on her feelings."[10] Chng taught at Lasalle until 1997.[11]
Later career
Chng has "never hesitated to comment on the social milieu" in her work.[11] In 2001, she was named Women of the Year by Singapore's magazine, Her World.[8]
While Chng was a fellow at the Vermont Studio Center in 2003, she protested the United States invasion of Iraq with other artists.[12] The work that resulted from her experience range from landscapes of Vermont to prints inspired by the Iraq War.[12]
In 2005, she was the first person from Singapore to hold a solo exhibition at the Headquarters of the United Nations.[13] Chng explored the opportunity of showing her work at the UN after she heard about a Chinese artist showing work there.[13] She contacted an old schoolmate, Lee Fong Yang who works at the UN Headquarters, who inquired on her behalf and helped her arrange the show.[13] She also received the Cultural Medallion that same year.[3]
In 2007, she was given the Singapore Chinese Literary Award from the Singapore Literature Society.[14]
Chng had a retrospective exhibition at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 2011.[3] In 2014, she was inducted in to the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame.[4] In 2015, Chng was recognized by the Singapore Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth "as a pioneer of the modern printmaking practice in Singapore."[15]
References
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