Art Buffet Bringing Happiness, Joy and Peace to the Auckland Community

Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery Auckland held their first Art Buffet on 27th February, where 120 artists, friends of art gallery, art enthusiasts, and their families and friends from across Auckland attended. Alongside the incredible Magnificence Embroidery Exhibition, the best inhouse made vegetarian food and drinks were also offered.

Gallery staff Vicky welcomed everyone and expressed that the Art Buffet is to share happiness, joy, and peace within the community. The temple is such a beautiful and peaceful place for everyone to enjoy delicious food with friends and loved ones while enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. Vicky thanked Curator, Venerable Abbess Manshin for leading the team to set up the grand Art Buffet, the venerables and volunteers for their effort in making tasty food.

Two guided tour sessions of The Magnificence Embroidery Exhibition were provided where the attendees enjoyed hearing the artist's story and the techniques used by Ms Yao to create such incredible works. The live performances from the youth group also brought some excitement to the Art Buffet.

Attendees were glad to see high-quality embroidery works made by Ms YAO Hongying. Most of them loved the piece「Trees and Stream」, because of the configuration, light and ray, colour coordination, vividness, application of techniques, and attention to detail which are displayed in her works. The audience used the magnifying glasses provided by the gallery to have a closer look at the embroidery pieces. They were all very curious on how Ms Yao uses different technique to create the pieces「Vase」, and wondered if she used the French knot stitch. The attendees also asked what makes the artist create such wonderful work? Vicky explained that through years of practice, Ms Yao realised that it's not enough for embroidery to be true-to-life; the embroiderer must also capture the essence of the subject artistically. Furthermore, the artist feels grateful for the wisdom which has empowered her, broadened her horizons, and given her great insights into embroidery. She also feels that it is her duty to pass on the embroidery skills taught to her.

Attendees also appreciated the various food offered and were touched that the volunteers made such delicious food wholeheartedly from six o’clock in the morning to keep it fresh. They enjoyed the buffet and left feeling happy and contented.

Missed out on all the fun? Don't worry! Art Buffet 2.0 is coming!

Date: Saturday, 27 March 2021

Time: 10 - 11:30am

Limited Tickets: $35 per person