Late last year, I sat down to speak with John Enger Cheng about the early roots of his creativity in childhood, his creative process as an artist, what it means to him to be Taiwanese American and how that shows up in his art. We also talked about how he maintains a creative practice and believes that inspiration finds you working.
In this candid conversation, John talks about his artwork that has been inducted into the permanent collection of Taiwanese Art Treasures Preserved Overseas – The Homecoming Exhibition of the Sun Ten Collection at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, which is located in Taichung
John Enger Cheng is Designer, Co-founder, and Creative Director of the design practice Winnow+Glean, and a visual artist known as @madebyenger on Instagram. You can find his work on madebyenger.com
We will be releasing a YouTube video of my interview with John for listeners who’d like to see some of the visuals referred to in this episode. You can find it soon on Talking Taiwan’s YouTube channel.
This episode is sponsored by the Taiwanese United Fund (TUF). TUF is an arts and culture foundation that celebrates the cultural heritages of Taiwanese Americans. Established in 1986, the foundation’s mission is to facilitate cultural exchange between the Taiwanese American community and other American cultural communities, hoping to enrich and expand our cultural experiences.
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John Cheng: https://www.madebyenger.com/
Power Rangers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Rangers
Indiana Jones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones
Art Center: https://www.artcenter.edu/
USC University of Southern California: https://usc.edu/
UCLA University of California, Los Angeles: https://www.ucla.edu/
The USC Roski School of Art & Design: https://roski.usc.edu/
Concept Art: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_art
Caravaggio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravaggio
https://www.caravaggio-foundation.org/
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The Calling of Saint Matthew: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Calling_of_Saint_Matthew
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Evangelical Formosan Church: https://www.efcga.org/
The 228 Massacre: https://228massacre.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_28_incident
https://www.taiwandc.org/228-intr.htm
Write in Taiwanese Census Campaign videos on TACL’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/tacitizensleague/videos
Taiwanese-Filipino Couple Bring Siraya Back to Life: https://www.taiwanplus.com/news/taiwan-news/indigenous-issues/80001791/taiwanese-filipino-couple-bring-siraya-back-to-life
Taiwan’s 16 indigenous tribes: https://www.cip.gov.tw/en/tribe/grid-list/index.html?cumid=5DD9C4959C302B9FD0636733C6861689
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The 228 Massacre: Taboos, Scars, Stigmas and an Essential Lesson in Taiwan History Ep 171: https://talkingtaiwan.com/the-228-massacre-taboos-scars-stigmas-and-an-essential-lesson-in-taiwan-history-ep-171/
Remembering 228 Tragic Stories and the March Massacres Ep 277: https://talkingtaiwan.com/remembering-228-tragic-stories-and-the-march-massacres-ep-277/