AN AMERICAN ARTIST IN TAIWAN CATCHES THE SPIRIT OF THE COLD SEASON IN DAUBS OF PAINT THAT SPRINT ACROSS HIS PAPER

by Edward M. Gómez

Since early 2020, just before the worldwide coronavirus pandemic erupted, the American artist Michael Newman, who had been living in the Seattle area for many years, has been living and working in Hualien County, on the east coast of Taiwan. There, he is an artist in residence and art teacher at National Dong Hwa University.

Born in Berkeley, California, in 1945, Newman enlisted in the U.S. Navy in the 1960s and was sent to Japan. After returning to the United States, he became a student at the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design in San Francisco, where he received a rather hands-on education in art and aesthetics, with access to antique, East-Asian ink-wash paintings and art objects.