A leader in extolling Chinese culture
“Originally I just wanted to open an art gallery, but my friends all encouraged me to pass along my skills.” On October 10, 1982, the Yu-I Gallery and the Yu-I Institute opened together. With their rich foundation in traditional Chinese culture, they have earned the respect and admiration of people from Western nations. The institute hires professional teachers to explain and demonstrate to students, and is very popular. It has also received the strong endorsement of Taiwan’s government agencies in charge of foreign and overseas compatriot affairs.
Ten years after establishing the Yu-I Institute, Su Tao opened the Chung-Hua School (affiliated with the institute), which as of today has been around for 24 years, to give students from even more age groups the chance to get instruction. Although the school teaches all manner of traditional arts and crafts, its real core is teaching life ethics, which is a never-ending endeavor.
“The school was the blood that pumped through my heart,” says Su Tao without reservation, standing in front of a work from the “Good Luck Is Shining” series that she began to create in 2008. “Every night I painted until dawn, then without even closing my eyes I had to hurry to see my own children off to school, and manage the institute and the school, and I also had to take care of the restaurant and handle the loans for the school. It was really a lot of pressure, so how could my heart not have blood pumping through it!” It really was a case of burning the candle at both ends, but still she had to look after everything.
These past few years, her kids all have gotten their own careers, and Su Tao’s life has gradually slowed down and become calmer.
When asked whether she will continue to paint in the future, Su Tao says heartily, “I definitely will, because I am crazy for painting, and I will paint until the day I simply can’t anymore.” She adds, “Blue is my lucky color.” In a series of 2017 works, birds are gently spreading their wings against a background of blue. The pain she once accumulated has turned to joy and been transformed into a rising morning sun, and good luck is shining down from above.
Su Tao (second from right in second row from rear) has always regarded the transmission of Chinese culture as a vocation, and has found joy in it for over 30 years. (courtesy of Su Tao)
Su Tao assumes a classic pose, arms outstretched, standing between Heaven and Earth. (courtesy of Su Tao)