Hong Kong's Angie Chan, 12, won a United Nations climate change art competition from over 170,000 entries
	Simply Art founders Henry Lau Hoo Cheong and Iris Lee Chui Fan say young people can send a powerful message through art

Hong Kong is contributing to a sustainable world environment and global peace through the artistic efforts of a group of young art students. Twelve-year-old Angie Chan recently won a United Nations art competition to highlight climate change by topping a field of over 170,000 entries from more than 100 countries.

Her winning entry was a watercolour painting of four people from different races wearing a single tee shirt representing the globe, and using different means of alternative energy to emphasise that climate change affects all parts of the globe. She won a trip to Norway for World Environment Day in June as part of her prize.

Besides Angie, Ted Li overcame competition from 325,000 children aged 11-13 from around the world to win the Grand Prize at the 17th annual Lions International Peace Poster Contest. His artwork was adopted for a UN peace stamp in 2006. Fourteen-year- old Cherry Li's poster of four interlinked doves in different colours representing all humanity hand-in-hand was selected as a first day cover of a 2004 stamp issue to celebrate the UN's International day of Peace. Ten-year-old Angus Lau was also awarded the global prize in an UN Environmental Art Contest last year and was invited to Algeria to receive his prize from the President of Algeria.

Simply Art

These four young winners together with scores of other winning artists have one thing in common: they are currently studying in a Kowloon art school called Simply Art.

Set up in 1997 by a husband-and-wife team who threw in their jobs as architects to become art teachers, Simply Art has since flourished. From a small rooftop studio in Sai Kung with six students, it now has over 300 students and a three-year waiting list.
  
Henry Lau Hoo Cheong and Iris Lee Chui Fan are justifiably proud and excited about the outstanding achievements of their young charges who have collectively received over 300 international awards. "Besides putting Hong Kong on the artistic roadmap, it also proves critics wrong when they say that Hong Kong is a cultural desert," said Mr Lau.

There is no shortage of artistic talents among the young, they agreed. "We have many kids in Hong Kong with creativity and potential. We need to nurture and harness their talents and teach them to analyse themes, have a deeper understanding of what they want to do and turn their creative thoughts into works of art," said Ms Lee.

Simply Art has also won prizes in its own right, being selected as one of the Best Winner Schools in 2006 at a contest called the Small Montmatre of Bitola, known as the "Olympic Games of Young Artistes". It was held in the Republic of Macedonia. Cherry Li was commended as one of the top 10 young artists and came home to much fanfare from the Hong Kong Government, which wants to actively promote the creative industries.
 
Youthful message

Both husband and wife said they want the younger generation to be more concerned about the environment, world peace, information technology, their local heritage and culture, which are essential for a sustainable and quality life in future generations.

What is their "success formula" in turning out so many prize-winning artists?

Mr and Mrs Lau have themselves won prizes in local and international drawing and design competitions, and they want to pass their experiences to the next generation. They believe that competition is a way to motivate learning and enhance creativity.  They also said the young should know the traditional way of painting but must embrace new attitudes.  

"I want to impart my style to the next generation and tell them to focus on a combination of technical expertise and basic techniques learnt at Simply Art and infuse it with their own creativity.

"I want to open their eyes to the world so they can create powerful images to impart their messages. I want them to think and research their topics so that thinking becomes an important part of the painting process," Mr Lau said.