Shave International Artists' Workshop 1992

The Shave International Artist' Workshop, a series of workshops organized by Rowena Burrell, was modeled after the Triangle Artists' Workshop of the United States. Chng Nai Wee, selected by the jury to participate, received a grant from the Singapore International Foundation to attend the workshop. A mix of artists from Europe, Asia, Africa, United States, and the United Kingdom congregated for this annual affair.

This was the tent studio allocated to the Singapore artist Chng Nai Wee. Erected were white-washed wall panels within the tent studio at both ends. Technicians were on site to provide help to artists in art-making.

The tent and space studios were dotted over the English landscape in Sommerset, England. Some artists worked on site specific installations on the grassland, in the lake, and within empty barns. Chng elected to work within his tent studio during the two-week workshop. During mealtimes, the artists would converge towards the guesthouse, where they would exchange ideas and opinions. There were a number of critical sessions where artists traveled en mass to various studios to comment on the progress of the art-making.

At the end of the workshop, the artists held a studio-exhibition attended by the residents of the town, and art enthusiasts. These were two of the works completed by Chng during the workshop, Cosmos on the left, and Flight, on the right. 

The works were reviewed by Sir Robert Loder and Sir Anthony Caro and Sheila Caro. On seeing the works and slide portfolios of Chng, Sir Robert Loder was emphatic that he deduced that Chng was a medical doctor. Chng was interviewed by the arts program Kaleidoscope which was broadcasted over the British Broadcasting Corporation. 

Two of Chng's works, Source of the Forest and Rust, were acquired by private collectors: an Englishman and a Scotsman. Chng contributed a piece of work Untitled to Shave for fund raising for future workshops. Shave maintained an archive of the resume and works of the artists who had had passed through Shave.