Preface from the Curator

After the war, Taiwan's arts and crafts development gradually diversified and led the way. Lacquer art, pottery art, and mosaic art, which less artists are engaged in, are artistic expressions that are rich in beauty besides painting and sculpture.

The Art Center of National Chin-Yi University of Technology curated the " Turning Heaven and Earth into Glazed Glass: Joint Exhibition of Three Artists" and was honored to invite the internationally renowned ceramic artist Master Tsai Rong-You to participate in the exhibition. The wave of modern ceramic art creation in Taiwan began around the 1970s, and as early as 1979, and Tsai Rong-You was invited to exhibit his works at the Spring Art Gallery in Taipei and the Wen-Ying Hall in Taichung City. Master Tsai has been engaged in pottery work for 47 years. He has always presented his minimalist and simple thinking in the shape and glaze color presentation of his works. In addition, his works shows his tolerance and gratitude for life. Many of his artworks have been collected by the Musée Cernuschi in Paris and the National Palace Museum in Taipei. It is worth mentioning that Master Tsai, in order to express his thankfulness to his virtuous wife, signed not only his name but also his beloved wife’s name "Gui-Ying" at the bottom of his artworks in the series called  "Retrospective Works". The artist who has been playing with earth and flames for more than half a century doing such a warm-hearted deed can be a role model for some young people who "take everything for granted" to think deeply and practice gratitude.

        The scientific name of mosaic art is mosaic painting, and its Italian word is MOSAICO, which is named after the ninth goddess in Greek mythology. We commonly call it mosaic art. Professor Jian Yuan-Zhong who was invited this time is one of a few well-known artists in Taiwan who received orthodox mosaic art education in Italy. After finishing his studies at Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma and Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia and holding exhibitions, Professor Jian Yuan-Zhong returned to Taiwan to continue to create and promote this lesser-known mosaic art in Taiwan. Professor Jian Yuan-Zhong’s unique mosaic art creation has won many domestic and foreign awards such as Global Chinese Outstanding Artist Award, and many large-scale mosaic public art in Taiwan are also created by him.

        In the 1990s, Teacher Shih Jia-Xiang, who served as the director of the Taiwan Crafts Workshop and the president of the Taichung Artist Club, won the Collection Award of the Republic of China Ceramic Art Biennale and the Top Ten Outstanding Creation Award of Decorative Ceramics from the Craft Research and Development Institute. The presentation of his works spans lacquer art and ceramic art, and his works have been collected by Ishikawa-ken Museum of Lacquer Art in Japan, National Museum of History, National Center for Traditional Arts, and Shanghai Museum of Arts and Crafts. Teacher Shih Jia-Xiang’s works, whether displayed through lacquer art or ceramic art, seem to hide some of his emotional care for “human beings”. The colors and shapes of the works touch people’s hearts.

        The Art Center of National Chin-Yi University of Technology invites three artists with different materials to exhibit together through Turning Heaven and Earth into

Glazed Glass: Joint Exhibition of Three Artists, hoping that such a variety of magical works of art will bring another kind of visual feast of aesthetics to the teachers, students, and surrounding residents of the school.

 Director of the Art Center of National Chin-Yi University of Technology

Chen, Xian-Lian