Sculptor Bill Chan Kwok-man spends much of his time quietly chipping away at his work, carving up wooden blocks, polishing marble surfaces and welding steel at his Tuen Mun studio. 'Most of the time, being an artist is very lonely,' he says.
So when he was invited recently to work in an open public space against the backdrop of the Hong Kong skyline on the West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade, the veteran artist was taken not only by the sweeping vista but by the attention.
'When I worked out here, passers-by gathered around to watch me working,' says Chan, who started sculpting in 1982. 'I love when they ask me questions. The more the merrier. I think they can also feel and share our happiness and satisfaction in completing a work of art.'
While working in a studio helps him concentrate, 'I feel much more relaxed when I'm working outdoors in the lovely weather. Inspiration just keeps flooding in,' he says.
Fellow sculptor Christopher Rothermel also enjoys working outside the studio, particularly in a group with other artists.
'Even though I don't derive inspiration from looking at other artists' works per se, I do gather inspiration from the way they think about their work,' says the American artist, an assistant visual arts professor at Baptist University.