ART in NATURE – a first charKOL@Moonriver art programme

INTRODUCTION TO LAND/ENVIRONMENT ART
For learners of all Ages
Fee: S$500 (All Inclusive :Food, Transport & Accommodation)
Date: Thurs 24 June to Mon 28 June, 2009
Duration: 4 Days 3 Nights

LOCATION
Moonriver Lodge (www.moonriverlodge.com)
Sigar Highlands, Lojing, Kelantan, Malaysia
(10 Mins from Cameron Highlands)

INTRODUCTION
For over 70,000 years, human beings have been engaged with the environment and the land artistically.  During the late 1960s and early 1970s, artsists moved art outdoors from the galleries to engage the environment. Today, land artists such as Andy Goldsworthy and Wolfgang Laib have moved Land Art into the gallery using materials from the environment to transform the interior space.
As an underexposed contemporary art form in Singapore,  Land Art is an intriguing way to engage with nature and the public.  Singaporeans identify with the urban landscape,  as such, we will work towards stepping out of our comfort zones with materials such as water and light, earth, sand, grass and other natural or found materials.
Our aim is to invite ourselves and viewers of the artworks created to slowdown and contemplate the beauty and mystery of nature. Participants will learn how they can explore concepts through the use of natural materials.  We hope to provide an  experience of life by seeing and exploring the natural forces of the world and its multitude of connections and to more fully integrate that consciousness into our lives.

ARTISTS’ PROFILE
Twardzik Ching Chorleng, Singapore
Twardzik Ching Chorleng is an artist and arts educator whose practice centres around land art and interactive public art.  Recently nominated as an up and coming artist in Singapore in the Presidents Young Talent award 2009, she is one of the notable contemporary artist in South East Asia. She has exhibited extensively in group and solo exhibitions throughout Canada and Singapore and is a regular recipient of meritorious awards and scholarships including Hanna Kristmanson Ceramic Scholarship and the Ceramics Canada Award. Leng’s work is included in numerous public and corporate collections in Singapore and abroad. She holds a Master of Fine Arts Degree from University of Regina, Canada, a Bachelor of Fine Arts in ceramics and a Diploma in Ceramic Arts from Alberta College of Art and Design, Canada. She is currently an active artist and full-time lecturer in the art department of the National Institute for Education at NTU and has an upcoming project at The National Museum of Singapore.

Vincent Twardzik Ching, Canada
Born in Canada, Vincent Twardzik Ching completed his  Bachelor of Fine Arts specialising in Drawing from the University of Regina, Canada in 1998 and has lived and worked in Taiwan and Singapore as an Artist and Art Instructor  for the past decade. Vincent has exhibited in Canada and Singapore including Plum Blossoms Gallery, Sculpture Square, Wetterling Teo Gallery,The Office Gallery,The Substation Gallery and most recently Charkol Art Gallery. Recipient of an Honourable Mention in the prestigious Phillip Morris Asean Art Awards in Singapore 2001/2002 he is currently a full-time artist and art Instructor at the Little arts Academy and a part -time lecturer for NTUC Seed Institute and Wheelock College in their early Childhood Development programmes.

REGISTER NOW!

Registration is now open. Early bird discount of 10% is applicable for those who register before May 28, 2010.
Email: moonriver@charkol.com for registration form

Please click the document for more info on itinerary and lodge.

Art in Nature[1]

-charKOL Poetry Studio, Singapore-
I have just managed to catch my breath to start posting again on The charKOL Journal. And the last posting was to usher in the new year for 2009! So, it’s been exactly a year. Where are we today? We founded charKOL in June 2008. It’s the craziest, scariest ride – the number of times we’ve had to re-examine ourselves.

To start and toss and turn, to start and toss and turn, to start and toss and turn, yet again. In our aspirations, in our activities, in our sleep. The countless of times we ask – do we go on? The countless of times of – no answer. I found out, nobody really says no. People who think no are already long gone. And nobody really says yes. Everyone seem to need a reason, a justification, an affirmation, a guarantee. And the one time that you do hear a yes, that is, if you even dare utter it, is your own heart. It is unsounded. Pounding. It is the beat that connects to the next dot. 

It’s when you know whoa – we’re still alive. Very much so.

During 2010, we closed our space at Mandai Orchid Garden, and with it our Gallery, Social Giftshop and Cafe, and kept just the charKOL Poetry Studio going.

TO THE SECOND DECADE
-PEK

If you’d like to provide art education programmes to children and young adults from 3 months - 21 years of age, kindly contact info@charkol.com with your CV for an appointment.

We are also particularly interested in those who specialise in providing art programmes to SPECIAL NEEDS children.

SEND TO INFO@CHARKOL.COM

The New Conceptual
November 2008-January 2009
CharKOL Gallery’s inaugural exhibition entitled “The New Conceptual” is a group show of ten local and international artists. The show looks forward by looking back to the birth of conceptual art or idea art, where artists attempted to make art which was essentially unsalable in protest against the over-commercialisation of art. The spirit of the day was to create an art untainted by concerns for profit. The artists in this show have all persisted in creating their highly individualistic works and all are what you could term thinking artists. Regardless of  the current or past trends they seem willing to put themselves on the line in order to pursue art which they feel is worth the effort.

Featuring Cheo Chai-Hiang, Cecily Cheo, Amanda Heng, Peng-Ean Khoo, Susie Lingham, Sakthivel, Vincent Twardzik Ching, Twardzik Ching Chor Leng, Brigid Watson and Joshua Yang.