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Owner of Goshen Art Gallery, Jack Yu (L), with Artist Monica Chua (R).
A Beautiful World with Monica Chua Ah-Huwa
By Li Yen & Cindy Liew | Epoch Times Staff
M
onica Chua Ah-Huwa’s face lights up when she starts sharing with us her forty-five-year art journey. “Painting is a happy thing. I will forget my problems when I paint,” says Monica. As she talks, one can easily sense her deep interest in painting and travelling as she introduces us her art pieces, painted while travelling around the globe with her Dutch husband. Monica loves nature; landscapes and flowers are her best-loved subjects in her Chinese brush and watercolour paintings. “I lived in the kampong (Malay word for countryside) during my childhood days. My parents reared pigs, chickens, ducks and grew vegetables. That must be why I love nature. I miss life in the countryside where you will find fresh air and freedom to roam around,” she says. Born in 1950, it seems that she is living a blissful life today travelling around the world, but Monica’s earlier life is filled with ups and downs. Her first marriage failed, and as a female artist, Monica has faced a lot of struggles in this male dominated industry. Despite all these challenges, Monica Chua Ah-Huwa Monica learns earnestly, and
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Painting is a happy thing. I will forget my problems when I paint.
24 November 6–19, 2015
through her soft and soothing paintings, a beautiful world unfolds.
Courtesy of Goshen Art Gallery
An Ongoing Learning Journey
Monica has liked drawing since young. She was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth and earned her success through patience and hard work. Her father had a small provision shop in the kampong and had to feed eight children. She is the seventh child. While in school, instead of paying attention in class, she doodled on her school textbooks. Monica was always selected by her teacher as a candidate for drawing competitions. Living in the kampong during the 1950s, the electricity supply was cut off at 12 midnight, and Monica had to light candles during the wee hours to complete her drawings for the competitions. “When my teachers praised me for my drawings, I was very happy,” she recalls, smiling. A year after graduating from high school, she enrolled in Fabric Design and Printing at the Baharuddin Vocational Institute (now Temasek College) and studied for two years. After graduating from Baharuddin, she worked as a designer in a Japanese towel factory. As she was keen on Fashion Design, she explored the idea of pursuing a Fashion Design course in Japan. Continued on next page
Paris Chapel (France)