THE LATE TAN THEAN SONG
Born in 1946 in the state of Kedah, Malaysia. He studied for three years and graduated in 1965 from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts of Singapore.
From 1964 to 1990, he participated in numerous exhibitions held throughout Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, U.S., Europe, Egypt and Australia and won top prizes. In 1964, he won 1st prize in the Malaysian Young Artists Art Competition and in the Malaysian Art Competition and in the Malaysian Art Competition organized by Lever Brothers in 1965, he was awarded 1st prize in the water color medium. One of his batik paintings won 2nd prize in the Salon Malaysian Art Competition in 1969 and became a permanent collection in the Malaysia National Art Gallery.
In 1970, two of his paintings were selected for the New York International Art Show. A special Art Exhibition on batik scenery and subjects was organized by him at the Shangri-La Hotel Singapore in 1971. He held a one man exhibition at the Adelaide Expo in 1984 and joined as the pioneer Chief Resident Artist and Master Trainer at the Art’s Village, Teluk Bahang, Penang, Malaysia.
Since then numerous of his paintings have been acquired by both foreign tourists and locals alike. In 1987, he organized a six-month Orchid Batik Painting Exhibition at the Rasa Sayang Hotel in Penang, Malaysia. Together with his team of creative batik art exponents, they hold regular exhibitions and demonstrations at the beach hotels in Penang, Malaysia namely Rasa Sayang Hotel, Golden Sands Hotel, Ferringhi Beach Hotel and Casuarina Hotel, as an outward manifestation of the aesthetic achievement of Art’s Village.
CHUAH SOO BENG
Born in 1967 in the state of Penang, Malaysia and educated at the Federation School for the Deaf. Soo Beng learnt art in the school and thereafter joined the Arts Village in 1985, and was also specially trained by The Late Tan Thean Song, who was instrumental in guiding Soo Beng’s unique style.
Although handicapped by hearing, he is a fine exponent of batik and his paintings are very much sought after by tourists from Italy, Germany, Australia, U.S.A., Japan and other countries.
His paintings are executed in paste colors and depict urban street scenes – Chinatown, hawkers,workers, trishaws and also idyllic rural life. Several of his paintings were displayed at the First Public Exhibition by Deaf Artist held in March, 1987 where one of his paintings which was earlier presented by his alma mater to the Prime Minister, was on display. He was one of the participants in the Orchid Batik Painting Exhibition at the Rasa Sayang Hotel in 1987.
Ten of his paintings are permanently displayed at MacDonalds in Petaling Jaya while a West German Art Gallery places a standing order for his unique style batik paintings.
Marina Ab Hadi
Born in 1976 in the state of Kelantan, Malaysia and a mother of two grown up children. Marina has extensive experiences with all the designs and colours technique. She inspires art as a passion through secondary school and started her career in Craft Batik since 2002.
Marina’s inspiration comes from a blank cloth to a piece of stunning art work through her creativity. She focuses on floral designs such as hibiscus, sunflower and orchid. The combination of her experience with fabric motif design and her experiments with batik are well seasoned. Her work was included for women’s clothing such as beachwear/ pareo, blouses and jumpsuit.
Azrin Md Iris
Born 1979 in the state of Bukit Mertajam, Malaysia and educated at UiTM (Universiti Teknologi MARA) major in Textile, Faculty Art and Design. Azrin is a seasoned professional artist. He creates his designs on tie-dye T-shirt for unisex. For women’s clothing such as beachwear/ pareo, blouses and jumpsuit. As well as men’s clothing for short sleeves shirt in cotton and silk.
Azrin inspires to pursue art as he gets to work on his creativity with designs and colours. He started creating his art work in Craft Batik since 2004 as his first career. He focuses on abstract, floral design, aiming to depict the beauty of art through a combination of color and texture. Floral design always placed a special meaning for Azrin, his communication through vibrant colours and the beauty of flowers.