但愿人长久,千里共婵娟
Sharing the Moon...

'Even though we are thousands of miles apart, we will always cherish each other in our thoughts by appreciating the beauty of the moon together.'

This is one of my all-time favourite phrases. It is made up of two verses from the poem, 水调歌头(shui tiao ge tou), by a famous China poet, 苏轼(苏东坡) - Soo Tung Po.

This sentimental poem was written when the poet, Soo, was trapped at a place far away from his home during war time. He wrote this poem in the mid autumn(when the moon was the fullest) to express he thoughts for his brother. These two verses became a popular phrase used to describe the thoughts between separated parties or couples.

In the phrase, the word 'together', actually implies 'at the same time'. So knowing that both party are looking at the moon at the same time brings the two(hearts) closer. The poet wrote this poem to comfort his brother and to encourage him to keep an open mind and be positive about life. How sweet was that!

The 'ingredients' for this piece of artwork were quite interesting. It was made by joining two chopping boards I bought from the Value$1 store. These two chopping boards resemble the upper bodies of two people. I had my friend, Brian, cut a part out of one of the pieces and then joined them back but having one raised a little bit. So it looks like one is leaning on the chest of the other.

The wood actually has some unusual dark grain. I wanted to keep the grain visible but also didn't want the bodies to look 'bare', so I finally decided to stain the wood. I chose dark blue because the verses were about night time. Initially, I made a pop-up moon, with paperclay. After baking it, it became like inflated, the surface also crumbled and I had to remove it. Then Brian cut me a wooden circle. There it was, my moon(looks like an egg yolk!)

As the meaning of this phrase is so dear, I went with golden characters on the dark blue sky.

An ancient chinese poet bowing to the moon, inviting her to drink with him.