Artist-In-Residence
Green Templeton’s artist-in-residence is Weimin He.
Green Templeton appointed Weimin He as the College’s first-ever Artist-in-Residence in August 2018, following a connection to the College stretching back almost a decade.
Weimin’s link with Green Templeton began in 2009, when he was named Artist-in-Residence for the Oxford University Estates Services, tasked with documenting the huge redevelopment of the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter in the forms of drawing and printmaking.
For the next six years, he chronicled the changes as the old hospital site was transformed into the University of Oxford’s new academic vicinity, centered around the Radcliffe Observatory and its famous Tower of the Winds within Green Templeton’s boundaries.
In Weimin’s own words
“It has been a great honour for me to be part of Green Templeton College as an artist-in-residence. My role is to assist Green Templeton in promoting visual art in the College, mainly through commissioning artwork, hosting online workshops and classes, and teaching fundamental art skills.
Following the redevelopment of the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter site, the significance of the Tower of the Winds is beyond a symbol of Green Templeton College, it represents a new phase, and the future of the University of Oxford. Over the past decade, I have created numerous artworks reflecting the Tower in the form of drawing, ink painting and printmaking.
The symbolism of the Tower for me is denoting an uplifting spirit reaching from the earth to space, from the past to the future. The Tower has become an important part of my life.
“The workshops offered by Weimin have been a highlight of my Oxford experience. To have the opportunity to watch Weimin’s talent and passion was fantastic and I am looking forward to the next workshop!”
- Penny Cornwall, GCR President
In early 2019, my book, Tower of the Winds – Works on Paper by Weimin He, was published by the University of Oxford. The book is a collection of my work created between 2009 and 2015, containing some 300 pieces including drawings, ink paintings, water colours and woodcuts. The book is available at the Weston Library shop.
From 2019, the style of my work has gradually transformed from realistic depiction towards personal expression, reflecting more of an inner world and humanity. I wish my work to be a fusion of eastern and western elements, combining tradition with modernity. At the same time, the Tower will continue to be a subject of my work, and the tranquil campus of the College, along with the friendly members, will always be my inspiration.
I am also a short course tutor at the Ruskin School of Art and have been teaching life drawing since 2014. As a member of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers, a member of the Chinese Artists’ Association and a trustee of the Muban Education Trust, I have also been involved in cultural exchanges between printmaking fields in the UK and in China as a curator. In recent years, I curated an exhibition of Contemporary British Wood Engravings in Heilongjiang Museum of Art in 2018, and ‘Soul of the Black Earth – 60 Years of Contemporary Chinese Printmaking’ at Brookes University and Manchester University. It is a great honour that recently Printmaking Today, the influential international printmaking magazine, has elected me as an editorial board member.”
Biography
Weimin He (DPhil/RE) was born in Heilongjiang, Northeast China. He studied art from an early age and worked as a professional artist in Heilongjiang Museum of Art before coming to the UK in 1999. He was awarded a DPhil at the University of Ulster in 2005. In the same year he moved to Oxford, where he worked as a Christensen Fellow of Chinese Painting at the Ashmolean Museum until 2008 and then worked for eight months as artist-in-residence at the Museum. From 2009 to 2015 he worked as artist-in-residence at the Oxford University Estates Services. He has been artist-in-residence at Green Templeton since 2018.
Weimin’s artworks have been widely exhibited and collected worldwide, including the British Museum, Ashmolean Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the China National Gallery.
