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Last Updated: 1/21/04
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Fong Ling was elected to be president of Pastel
Artists of Hawaii - June 2003
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"Onions" won Gold Pastel Award at the Eighth Annual Exhibition "For
Pastels Only, on Cape Cod" - Aug. 2003
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"Hula Girl" won First Place at Association of Hawaii Artists/Aloha
Festivals - Aug. 2003
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"Out of Order" won Honorable Mention at Northwest Pastel
Society's 2003 Member's Exhibition - Sept. 2003
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"Memory from Childhood" won president's award at Alabama
Pastel Society First National Open Exhibition - Sept. 2003
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"Pine Tree" won The Audubon Artists Silver Medal of Honor -
Sept. 2003
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"Trace" won the Strathmore Artists Paper Award at Connecticut;
Pastel Society Exhibition - Oct. 2003
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Group exhibition at Gallery on the Pali "Pastel 7, Diversity" from
Nov. 2-27, 2003.
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"Weathered" was accepted in the
Pastel Society of America Curator Series Exhibition - Nov. 4-19,
2002. The curators, Diane Rosen, PSA, and Jimmy Wright, PSA, commented during
the
gallery
walkabout, "with a Hopper-like sense of light and form,
this junkyard truck is elevated to a poetic status." The
painting was sold at the show.
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"End of the Day" was accepted and awarded "Pastel
Society of America award" at the Connecticut Pastel Society ninth
annual national exhibition "Renaissance in Pastel" - Nov. 24,
2002-Feb. 9, 2003.
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Posted on: Sunday, November 17, 2002
• Fong Ling: Pastels
9 a.m.-8 p.m. Mondays- Fridays, 1-4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through
Nov. 28
The Gallery on the Pali, 2500 Pali HighwayIf the red grapes in the "Pink
Carnation" still life by Fong Ling were any juicier, they would pass
through the doors of perception and manifest into reality, delicious and
sweet. Translucent with light, they arouse Pavlovian responses in the
viewer (especially on a hot afternoon). She demonstrates a mastery of
her medium in a collection of 31 chalk pastel drawings on exhibit at The
Gallery on the Pali in a range of subjects from portraits to golden rice
fields.
In 1976, Ling came to Hawai'i from Taiwan with her husband and three children.
With her children grown, she now focuses on what she loves to do —
draw with pastels. "Age gives you experience," she says. "If
I tried pastels 30 years ago, it would have been very different. I see
things and feel things differently now. For me, I didn't start as young
as I wished, but I don't feel that my time is wasted."
Ling has tried other media, but finds the range and saturation of colors
and softness of chalk pastels more to her temperament. "Drawing with
pastels is very much like writing instead of painting," she says.
After having studied with some of the best pastel teachers in the country
— Sally Strand, Jason Chang, Ben Konis and Doug Dawson — Ling
now teaches.
"I don't start from a photo unless I can't paint it on location,"
says Ling. "I use my own photos. I have a very picky feeling about
that. I have to remember how I felt about that moment."
The "Red Scarf" series of six drawings is filled with just such
a moment of feeling, a sense of sensuous anticipation. And this is puzzling,
because it is simply a red scarf draped on a chair with variations (in
paper texture and angle) depicted six times. But, Ling has invigorated
these drawings with feeling and they hold our attention. There is a sense
of mystery here, and a story. Ling tells good stories through her drawings
by her affection for her subjects and the viewer. She gives the viewer
the option to continue the tale. (The red scarf actually happens to have
been a gift from a good friend.)
"Red Door" begins a tale of a wealthy home in China. A vine
has grown over the carved door grating, suggesting that history has changed
the lives of the former inhabitants. What is particularly delightful about
this piece is the understated slice of red door Ling has chosen to isolate
in the composition.
"I try to use my heart to draw instead of just my hands," says
Ling. "Everything is from my heart. I can't draw something that I
can't feel in my heart. It is connected to my whole life. I am determined
to draw until my last minute alive."
Ling teaches two sessions a year at the Tsu-Chi Foundation Culture and
Education Program, 1238 Wilhemina Rise. Phone 737-8885 for information.
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