Stone Teapot Exhibition captures new attention

Exhibiting in Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery 2 for four months, stone sculptor Liao Tian Zhao opened his 90 piece stone teapot exhibition on 13th November. With 70 guests present on that day, the ribbon cutting ceremony and exhibition opening morning tea took place at 10:30am. Invited distinguished guests included FGY Art Gallery 2 curator Venerable Manshin, the Liao family, president of the BLIA South Island, local acrylic artist Dale Gallagher and Gail Batchelor along with guests of FGY Art Gallery 1 were also present that day.

During the opening speech of curator Venerable Manshin, she thanked the great support and provision of rich resources from FGY Headquarters, only with that, could the FGY Art Gallery New Zealand present the locals with high quality exhibitions. Liao himself expressed that time flows rapidly, and he wishes to utilise his limited time to leave behind some great artworks and hence chosen stone as his carving material, hoping to bring a different perspective of inspiration to life for his viewers.

After several demonstrations of his artwork, amplifying the atmosphere of the art gallery, Liao explained to his audience that the form of the teapot is determined by the stone used to carve it in the first place, each piece do not have a set completion time, but more to do with the state of the mind and heart. In addition, different types of stone calls for different tools for carving, this allows him to preserve certain natural characteristics of the stone itself. Some artworks only required simple and minor carvings to bring out its beauty, while some requires deep thoughts, time and ever-so more skills and effort to reach the final state of carving.

The stone teapot exhibition will be on exhibition until the end of February, its presence in the FGY Art Gallery will be sure to bring a whole new atmosphere to the art dimension of Christchurch city.