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Happy New Year!
with a lil' dose of fresh ztampfiliciousness
Another new year is here, and soon the new Year of The Monkey is upon us as well! Time indeed flies faster as we get older, don't you think? 2015 turned out to be a very eventful and intense year. I have indeed embraced change - as much as I could. And I will continue to expand this change embracing goodness this year! How about you? How is your new year going so far?
It's been ages since the last time I put out a new ztampfiliciousness out there. But one things I cannot not making is the Chinese New Year Kit! So here it is... Enjoy!
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Check out the Loot section before you go ztampfshopping though ;)
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Below are some layouts I put together quickly using the Year of The Monkey Series:
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Both my parents were born in the year of the monkey - almost 13 years apart. This photo was taken on the Chinese New Year Day in 2014, the last one my father enjoyed with us in good health and full awareness. He passed away peacefully on the Fifth Day of the 2015 Chinese New Year, a week shy of his 83rd birthday.
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Here there were back in 1991! My mother barely aged, don't you think? I'm using one of the QuickPages in the Year of The Monkey Album set.
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And who is here? A little monkey that is my older brother back in 1973 (well, he was born in the year of the monkey too!). I remember it was a very hot day in Ragunan Zoo with our father taking photos of us. Our late father was the memory keeper in our family, indeed. He was the one who would created photo albums for each of us, with the photos cropped and arranged just so!
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Here is a little me! I wasn't born in the year of the monkey, but look! I got a monkey perched on top of my hatted head there! No, not really, it was sitting on a rock behind me! Gotcha! This was taken during a Java-Bali Tour in 1973 when I was about 4 years old. I remember that I had very high fever the morning we were to leave for the tour. I layed down on my parents bed seeing the room shrinking and expanding in my delirious fever, worrying they would leave me behind. Fortunately, they took me with them and I got better very soon after we set off. Here I was wearing my favorite yellow platform flipflop sandals. I do remember them!
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Now, as a Ztampfever subscriber, you are entitled to a special discount coupon and a free gift!
To receive 20% off your next purchase at Studio Ztampf! just apply this coupon code : ztampfmonkey20 - it is valid for one use per person, through February 14th 2015. Don't miss out on using it! It is good for anything at Studio Ztampf! - yes, including Professional Use Licenses! Enjoy!
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It's a New Year
let's courageously fill it to the brim!
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Life is full of surprises, unexpected happenings be they good or bad. Last year started off sadly with losing my father, but continued on to be a wonderful year after all. I hope this year will prove to be a good one too!
So many stories to share, so little time to do everything! It's said that a picture worth a thousand words, so I'm going to share some of my favorite photos that I took during my trips last year. Two super memorable, unexpected trips with the wonderful happy people of HAP, an inspiring Jakarta architectural firm with their Rumah Asuh Foundation. So very grateful for these opportunities!
In mid-August 2015, we went to Waerebo, a remote village up the hills in Ruteng, East Nusa Tenggara, Flores, Indonesia. Several years ago, HAP with their Rumah Asuh Foundation saved the village from extinction by helping the villagers rebuild their traditional houses entirely by traditional means. Instead of became extinct, they are now a thriving living culture grounded by their sacred hundred of years old tradition. It was a real privilege to visit them with Yori Antar, the compassionate leader of HAP and Rumah Asuh Foundation. We learned so much during the trip, and came home with tons of new awesome friends!
To start with , enjoy this candid clip I took with my iPhone while descending from a hill one fine morning in Waerebo. Turn on your volume!
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The children of Waerebo village love to sing, they sing as they play and work.
Click to view the video and listen to their wonderful singing.
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Of course, I took tons of photos! The nature and the ambience there were just breathtaking! We had to hike for about 4 hours to get to Waerebo (after many hours of tummy-shaking driving). I have yet to scrap these photos - but I will! Meanwhile, enjoy them through my Instagram with this hashtag: #fhungswaerebotrip2015
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Remember my porcelain art installation "Life Force"? It was shown twice: in December of 2013 in an all black room, and in May of 2014 in an all white space. In October 2015, I had the opportunity to set a small version of it in a public space at the Landmark Hong Kong. Alison Hung from Artist Pension Trust arrange to have me design and install the artwork for the Central Weddings Window. It was an exciting project! We started at around 11 pm and I didn't get to home until 4 am in the morning finishing the fine details myself.
Click the screenshot below to see the photos better on my website.
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Soon after, I won a Silver Award from UOB Art Academy with my work "Life Force : Spark". What made this even more wonderful was that the award money enabled me to join another of HAP trip! To Shangri-La! They had to transit in Hong Kong anyway, so I joined them at the Hong Kong airport.
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Close up of "Life Force : Spark" by Lie Fhung, copper, 32 x 32 x 3 cm, 2014-2015.
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How lucky could you get? The Shangri-La Trip such a marvelous trip filled with so much beauty and laughter! Some highlights that I managed to scrap...
The first one: Jade Dragon Snow Mountain where we took a cable car to 4000 m elevation, and then hiked to 4571 m. First time I experienced the effect high altitude! Really makes you get tired easily - especially on the joints. Also makes you a bit dizzy. But the effects were more pronounced when we were climbing down. Some people got really sick afterwards, while others didn't feel much difference. Amazingly beautiful rock formations with snow everywhere. At times it feels like we are on the clouds! It was fantastic!
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The next one is Ganden Sumtseling Monastery in Shangri-La, an ancient sprawling compound of Buddhist temples. It's so richly decorated with intricate motifs of gold and vibrant colours. It's another world out there!
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For dinners, they have this really fun, keep on evolving tradition of getting the outsiders (those not working for HAP firm who joined their trips) to take turn hosting a "Birthday Party Dinner" to us all. We could choose the venue as to fit our means (granted, it is easier in China for my wallet; anywhere in Europe would have been too expensive! Haha). In return, all the "guests" would have to give a "birthday present" to the host. The present could be anything, with just one requirement: it has to be obtained locally on that very day! We couldn't do this in the previous trip in Waerebo because it was just a single location which happened to be a very remote village. But this time… we visited Kunming, Dali, Lijiang and ShangriLa in Yunnan province of China. These areas teemed with various fun handicrafts! They are inexpensive to boot! The "birthday person" would have to wear their presents and then give a speech. As the days progress, the gifts became more festive and a new rule was made: previous "birthday persons" would have to don all of their presents on the next "birthday party"! It was all so wildly fun!
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Another amazing place is the Stone Forest. A naturally occurred stone 'sculptures' garden formed by ages of water current when it was a sea centuries ago.
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All in all, Yunnan province is a very lush place with plenty of attractive nature - apparently it is an agricultural province.
I feel so very ucky to get into this group of wonderful people. They are smart and fun, so down to earth with great sense of humour and always ready to help one another.
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2015 closed with a beautiful group exhibition at a new venue for me. "The Garden of Winter Light (a space to linger)" is curated by the brilliant curator Valerie C. Doran and held at a spacious gallery space of Hanart TZ Gallery in Pedder Building. A nice debut for me to show my work to a different set of art crowd other than the usual suspects at Sin Sin Fine Art. I'm showing five of my copper works and one small porcelain in a jar work.
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There on the wall are four of my artworks from the "Life Force : Terrain" series included in this exhibition. Click the image above to see more of the The Garden of Winter Light (a space to linger) Exhibition. You could also read the curatorial essay by the bright curator, Ms. Valerie C. Doran. To see close up of my works, just click here on my website where you could also see other works in this series.
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On January 16th, "The Garden of Winter Light (a space to linger)" closed with a soulful musical jam by local young musicians. Can you imagine a spontaneous collaboration between a cello, a didgeridoo, a handpan with a flute and occasional guitar and vocalisations? It was simply amazing!
And I have been super busy working on a series of new works for a group show during the Art Basel week in Hong Kong in March. Below is a sneak peek of one of them. It's made out of copper with tin. The colours are achieved through manipulating heat with some organic substance. No paint involved. The tin and the heat are my paint for this!
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Now, don't forget to make use of your special coupon: ztampfmonkey20 to receive 20% off your next purchase at Studio Ztampf! The coupon is good through February 14th! Happy ztampfshopping!
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