Art Hats in Renaissance City

The following sections are included:

• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Introduction

This section provides insights into the thoughts and actions of those who lead at the national level. Their work in policy-making and implementation enables national institutions and events to achieve sustainability for the long term, thereby creating a brand of arts and culture to evolve into our heritage.

Dr Tan Chin Nam, a Colombo Plan cum President's scholar, essays on policies for manpower development for these sectors, as part of the larger vision to develop Singapore into a Creative Nation or Renaissance City. The policies implemented included the upgrading of the two tertiary arts institutions, NAFA and LaSalle.

As a pioneering champion of the arts, Professor Tommy Koh shares on the implementation plans for the development of the Renaissance City based on his experience from chairing and participating in various committees.

Liew Chin Choy essays on the evolving role of a cultural administrator and examines the prerequisites of working in this emerging field — what an aspiring cultural administrator ought to be equipped with — and the challenges he faces in a knowledge-based, globalised economy.

Goh Ching Lee, the former Festival Director of the Singapore Arts Festival, writes about the evolving contexts of festival development in Singapore and her efforts in balancing artistic impulses and pragmatic expectations. Her work placed exacting demands and justifications on many fronts. This essay reveals her approaches behind a decade of programming the Singapore Arts Festival.

Michael Koh shares several strategies that the National Heritage Board has used to reach out to all residents to enjoy arts, culture and heritage. The innovative programmes to make museums less stodgy have seen huge leaps in museum visits.

Benson Puah in dialogue with Renee Lee discusses institutional agendas and his personal belief in developing arts for all through thousands of programmes and events at the Esplanade Theatres, which Benson and his team developed into a People's Arts Centre.

IMPRINTS — Impression. Mission. Press. Reach. International. Name. Talent. Singapore. It took much cajoling before Carol Tan agreed to share her experience as a cultural diplomat. Even so, she prefers to leave barely a mark of herself, pushing Dr Tan Chin Nam and Goh Ching Lee as the initiators and experts in the various high-profile cultural missions that Singapore embarked on in the last decade…

This section introduces the writers whose works lend credence and longevity to culture, arts and artists. The chronological documentation of the visual arts in the intellectual contexts of aesthetic and critical theories enables Singapore to build a reputation and international presence. The essays also reveal methodologies in curatorial directions, research and cultural history.

Dr Alan Chong reflects on Singapore history as a means of articulating a direction for the Asian Civilisations Museum — to refocus its mission on the cross-cultural and fused forms of artistic expression in this part of the world. A museum of the past can remind audiences that there are strong historical precedents for globalisation.

Dr Gauri Parimoo Krishnan provides insights into the curatorial decisions she had to make in exhibiting Indian culture. A trained historian, she writes on issues and challenges, shedding light on how she developed the curatorial brief, design decisions and gallery display, which unfold the storyline and its experiential rendition in the South Asia gallery of the Asian Civilisations Museum.

Kwok Kian Chow redefines Nanyang Art by investigating the term “Nanyang”, which opens up research possibilities on the Nanyang School to further link art discourse with contextual and comparative studies on the “West Seas”, “East Seas” and “South Seas”.

The aesthetic positions made available by Chinese painting traditions and the School of Paris established significant components for the Nanyang artists. Professor T.K. Sabapathy posits the implications of these positions through the processes and techniques entailed in the composition of a picture. His thesis establishes the factors that shaped and birthed the first modern-art movement in Singapore.

Tan Boon Hui reviews the narratives of the current contemporary artists whose ideologies appear confined to the exhibition space in contrast to that of earlier artists whose social agency was more public and direct. His essay reveals both curatorial sensibilities in the selection of artists for a group exhibition and how a critic or historian might define an art movement in this age of aesthetic cosmopolitanism.

Chong Huai Seng — founder of China Art Foundation, art collector, curator and critic — shares his erudite understanding of contemporary Chinese art, in particular insights of Nan Qi, one of the foremost exponents of this new “xieyi”.

Interviewing Quek Tse Kwang (TK), one of the top architects and art collectors in Singapore, has been very inspiring for the editor. True to his profession — an architect — TK is a person who works at building relationships in each encounter. Little wonder that Singapore's pioneer artist Cheong Soo Pieng would offer him his favourite piece, one that was famous due to the image being publicised by UNICEF — Mother & Daughter. This is also TK's personal favourite as the acquisition of this painting has a very touching story. The artist reduced the price without prompting as he wanted the young architect to have that particular artwork. It was the most expensive painting TK had ever bought. The artist passed on the next day. That was in 1983…

This section presents a selection of pioneers and up-and-coming professionals who work in the realm of performing arts comprising dance, music and theatre. It also encompasses high and popular art forms. Among this group of writers are musicians, dancers, actors, arts administrators and a psychologist. Although their works appear to be glamorous and lively, the gestation period is seldom visible to the public.

Nelson Chia shares on generating new ways to nurture great actors for the local stage. This essay is a journey in theatre studies, practice and administration, and also a journey of deciding between an engineering scholarship and a degree in the arts.

Wenhai Ma shares with Renee Lee about his practice in set design for which he has an excellent reputation. His selected works in both Chinese and Western scene designs are presented in this essay, written from Ma's account, along with brief comments on the objective of the designs.

Ng Wang Feng offers a few case studies on how she uses music to help with the healing of the emotionally and physically disabled. Her training in music therapy enables her to work in this specialised field. Most of all, it is her compassion and understanding of each of her individual cases that makes her special.

Cultural Medallist (Dance) Som M. Said contextualises her role in some of the critical developments in Malay Dance in Singapore, briefly outlining the historical background of Malay Dance in Singapore since the 1950s.

Yeo Lanxi, who works for the disabled, shares her insights on art beyond disability, including what moves Cultural Medallion recipient Chng Seok Tin to create art, and the latter's thoughts about art and people with disabilities. Lanxi researches on and interviews disabled artists who practise at the pinnacle of their profession on a national level.

Singapore-based British musician and composer, Eric Watson, details American Maestro and Cultural Medallion (Music) recipient Tsung Yeh's journey to this part of the world and the influences on his [Yeh's] artistic direction, and the platforms to expand the repertoire of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra. This essay, written from Maestro Yeh's account, is an edited version of a paper presented at the New Asian Imaginations Symposium 2008.

After graduating from Keele University with a degree in Law and Psychology, Adrian did the natural thing and spent the next eight years working as an actor in the UK, where his theatre credits include Hair at the West End's Old Vic Theatre; as Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream; as Dromio of Syracuse in The Comedy Of Errors; The Magic Fundoshi (Best Comedy at the London Fringe Theatre Awards); The Mens Womb; A Christmas Carol; Tormented; The Circles of Paradise; One For The Road; Sleeping Beauty; New Territories; Take Away; Leaving Turnpike Lane and Privates On Parade. Unlike many actors in the UK, he has never had to be a waiter in his spare time, although he did act as one once…

Working alongside some of Singapore's top artists and productions, the youngest contributor in this volume Benjamin Chee started out as a creative entrepreneur at age 24, shortly after two years of national service in the Navy. He set up Benj-mark as a platform for creative projects. A theatre studies graduate, he has managed the first ever Youth Olympic Games Flame Arrival Ceremony, stage-managed sold-out concerts of Francis Yip and Dick Lee, represented artist Julian Hee in the Men's Fashion Week, presented the Proclaimers (UK) in the F1 Singapore Grand Prix, and initiated the Diplomatic Spouses' Coffee Morning at the Peranakan Museum…

This section presents the essays of the research interests and practice of faculty members of the local tertiary institutions, evidencing the rigour of arts and art education in Singapore for the training of future artists and managers. Academicians here do venture out of the classroom to participate in the real world and document their findings that we might eventually have a more complete resource on arts and art education in this country.

Professor Bernard Tan has been an invaluable resource for educational institutions as well as the country. A scientist and composer, Professor Tan reflects on his involvement with pioneer projects such as the Esplanade, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory and various music groups. His tireless devotion to helping the country develop a world-class arts centre and conservatory is an inspiration.

Two scholars Dr Eleanor Tan and Assistant Professor Chee Hoo Lum examine the impact of cultural and education policies on music education, and suggest areas which could further advance learning of music in schools and by the community.

Dr Caren Carino chronicles the development of contemporary dance in Singapore from colonial times to the present. Her analysis looks at contemporary dance and its evolution in this age of aesthetic cosmopolitanism, as Singapore's evolving identity moves on from its colonial past and traditional multi-ethnic roots.

Professor Michael Sullivan, whose book Chinese Art in the Twentieth Century (1959) was the first ever on the subject, while his Art and Artists of Twentieth Century China (1996) is a primary reader for art history students in many universities, recalled his posting to colonial Singapore. His work on Nanyang Art privileged Singapore artists with an international voice. This essay is an edited version of the paper presented by Prof Sullivan at the New Asian Imaginations Symposium organised by NAFA in 2008. He was very happy to have this paper included in this anthology. That evening in September 2012, he asked the editor when the book will be published and the editor promised to send him a copy. He passed away in 2013, a prominent scholar, humble and humane, and a well-loved gentleman who was also an amazingly loving husband who missed his dear wife so much that he took a teaspoon of her ashes with his morning cereals till his doctor stopped him. The Portrait of Khoan was of some comfort and he missed it so much when the museum here loaned it for an exhibition. They ingeniously made a close replica and sent that to him. When the art exhibition was over, Prof Sullivan was so pleased he had two portraits of his wife and he displayed them next to each other.

Renee Lee interviews Wee Beng Chong, the first Cultural Medallion recipient in visual arts, and two other Cultural Medallion recipients — Tan Kian Por and Ho Ho Ying — to investigate the prevalent notion that artists are mere emotional beings, using a three-pronged approach to examine their practice, from the formative years and critics' reviews, for their artistic aesthetics to be perceived within their pedagogical, historical and intellectual contexts. Studying these artists, with their breadth and depth of accomplished practice in the visual arts, can perhaps help us understand better the creative process and how creativity for ground-breaking art can be nurtured.

Tan Swie Hian in dialogue with Renee Lee is forthcoming in sharing about his success in fine art practice. This interview piece reveals how one of the brilliant thinkers in the arts defines creativity and the creative process in diverse disciplines.

Renee Lee explores the practice of fine art as a full-time career in this essay on Ong Kim Seng who has been a full-time watercolour painter since 1985. The relevance of landscape and still-life artworks is challenged in contemporary art circles, even as the fundamental skills in art are debated in art education. This essay explores key points in the journey of an artist who has an international following and who was accorded distinction by the American Watercolour Society.

Loh Khee Yew, the Colombo Plan Scholar of 1966, discusses with Renee Lee the development of design education as the precursor to create a design industry. This essay traces Loh's pioneering work provided by the opportunity of an international education, and ponders the current state of applied art education and business.

Critical and Creative Thinking in Contemporary Art Practice

Chiew Sien Kuan examines the state of art education in NAFA and questions the purpose of requiring teachers to ensure students master foundational technical excellence in fine art courses.

Art Is a Marathon — Are We There Yet?

Boo Sze Yang recounts his life as an art student, where fine art education is very much an apprenticeship; one remembers teachers vividly, from their quirkiness to their interesting teaching styles — very human and humane. Sze Yang recalls the days when teachers were free to express and sing in class and along the corridors. Students became free to express.

What do you consider as critical requirements of an excellent art lecturer?

Know how to play games or guide students to play games. During childhood, all can and love to play — an activity we get seriously engrossed in. As we grow older, we lose the ability and interest in play — something that requires a strong sense of imagination and deep passion, which is the foundational prerequisite for artists' learning or creativity, hence an art lecturer must first possess this quality…

How have you managed to maintain a balance between both your academic profession and international artistic career?

Creativity affirms the attitudes of invention and imagination equally; it asserts the attributes of perception and of discovery. Whilst academia focuses on the pursuit and transmission of knowledge, it presupposes the attribute of perception and discovery. The relationship between the creative energy and the academic energy is complementary. By engaging with and in the academic environment through research and teaching, my process of creating is enhanced or even provoked, leading to new discoveries. In the same breath, my approach to academia in the area of curriculum design is informed by the way I think about and work with material and form…

Professor at National University of Singapore's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Edwin Thumboo was the founding Director of the Centre for the Arts of the National University of Singapore. He majored in History and English Literature with a minor in Philosophy at the University of Malaya, and obtained his PhD in African poetry from the National University of Singapore…

The following sections are included:

• Glossary
• Index
• About the Editor