Why an artist?
“So like everyone this is not an easy question. When I think about it, when I was little I always dreamed of drawing – actually my parents wished for me to become a teacher. Like other Asian parents they wish for you to have a very stable job, like a government job.
However my mother always gave me opportunities to take art, dance and piano courses until I was nine years old. I started drawing for so many competitions and I got some art prizes and my parents realized maybe I can keep these hobbies for myself, but they still wanted me to become a teacher. So when I started high school, I took the art classes more seriously, and then I went to senior high school…when I was 15. The school was a fine art high school so I studied more seriously and went to the fine art university in Taiwan and also studied my masters degree, but my parents still wished for me to become a teacher so I took teacher training and taught art in high school, elementary school, and some university courses.
But after 10 years I remembered a professor from my university days. She said one day to our class: once you start teaching, you spend all your energy and time and then your creativity will stop growing. I remembered when she said this, I thought it was interesting. I realized this was true – my creativity stopped. My husband and I wanted a change in our lives so we moved back to Canada from Taiwan and I thought it was good timing for me to become a full time artist. I know if I don’t do this now, when I get old I will be very sad. So now I only teach private students a couple of days a week.”
About Raquell:
Raquell Yang is an artist from Taiwan who is now a resident in Owen Sound. She has a Masters Degree in Fine Arts and is a former university lecturer as well as a high school art teacher in Taiwan. She produces sophisticated Chinese brush paintings, which fuse modern and traditional techniques as well as Western and Eastern styles. All the pieces have a humorous or whimsical edge to them. Her interpretation results in colourful and highly creative renderings of imaginary beings.
She currently is in a group show at
The Gallery at L.E.Shore Library
173 Bruce St. S. Thornbury
Opens March 7, 2020 2:00pm – 4:00pm
Artists in their studio is a Rrampt Series by Willy Waterton
