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Art & Companionship

Bringing art into everyday life and helping creators be seen. Through writing, music, handcraft and performance, we help each other express and understand.

A round table covered with flowers drawn by participants in oil pastel on black card, as everyone points, discusses and takes photos

Art is not only found in museums. It can be a few lines of writing, a piece of music, something handmade — or a way of helping one another express ourselves.

The society brings art into everyday life: columns such as "Slow Living in Words" and "Slow Living through Scent" share the beauty of daily life, and the Young Artist Grant and the Miaoli Youth Art Forum help young creators who take action to be seen.

Between creating and appreciating, we practise feeling more finely and understanding ourselves and others.

Related Events

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Slow Living Forum

28 Jun 2026

Miaoli Youth Art Forum

Supporting the young artist 阿里, this event in Miaoli combines performance art with a forum for a conversation about art and life.

Related Articles

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Illustration of the Doctrine of the Mean: a person walking the middle path, with "too much" on the left and "too little" on the right
Art & CompanionshipSlow Living in Words | A Character a Month

2026.06.01・陳玉明（小明老師）

Slow Living in Words — June · 中 (zhōng, middle)

When we think of 中, the Doctrine of the Mean usually comes to mind — leaning neither way, neither too much nor too little; in other words, "just right". The earliest 中 may have been the flag flying over the central army. And what does 中 mean in the Ghost Festival (中元節) and the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節)?

Illustration: "The incense I bought in Hong Kong smells lovely" — the three 香 mean Hong Kong (a place name), incense sticks, and fragrance
Art & CompanionshipSlow Living in Words | A Character a Month

2026.05.01・陳玉明（小明老師）

Slow Living in Words — May · 香 (xiāng, fragrance)

香 is the first compound character in our series: 禾 (grain) on top, 甘 (sweet) below — the sweet fragrance of grain. From ancient fire offerings and fragrant wine to the incense of Song dynasty scholars — and did you know that the three 香 in "the incense (香) I bought in Hong Kong (香港) smells lovely (香)" are each pronounced differently in Taiwanese?

Component card for 禾: an illustration of a rice ear, the zhuyin ㄏㄜˊ and pinyin hé, and how the form evolved through oracle bone script, bronze script, Warring States script, small seal script, clerical script and standard script
Art & CompanionshipSlow Living in Words | A Character a Month

2026.04.01・陳玉明（小明老師）

Slow Living in Words — April · 禾 (hé, grain)

"Hoeing the grain at midday, sweat drips onto the soil beneath." The character 禾 shows a ripe rice plant with its head drooping. Characters containing 禾 relate either to rice or to things that happen "at regular times" — and what character do you get when a right hand holds a stalk of 禾?

Component card for 木 — writing
Art & CompanionshipSlow Living in Words | A Character a Month

2026.03.01・陳玉明（小明老師）

Slow Living in Words — March · 木 (mù, tree)

The character 木 is a tree. Throughout its evolution you can always see the trunk in the middle, branches above and roots below. When the ancients created characters, they highlighted distinctive features to tell similar characters apart…