MY STORY
+ Art Journey
I’m Elaine Wong
I’m a visionary & intuitive artist from Malaysia.
I am here to initiate your creative life and encourage you to follow your heart’s calling!
FROM IT TO ART…
I was born in Kedah, Malaysia but I spent my life growing up in different cities in Malaysia. From a very early age, I've always been fascinated with painting and drawing.
In school time, my artworks were frequently featured in classroom's notice boards. I was once selected to design & paint the school mural. Since art was not encouraged and also not a favorable profession for a typical Asian family in Malaysia, I went on to pursue Information Technology for my college years.
I spent my early career in the IT industry, for almost 15 years. I had a high flying career as IT project manager & installation specialist in the hospitality sector that fuels my restless soul, as I was traveling around the world for work like a nomad.
But deep inside, part of me always knew something wasn't quite enough with life, and I always felt like an imposter when I put on my suit to work every morning.
Although making art has always been a childhood pastime, I stopped painting when I entered college.
I did not pick up the brush for a long while after that. The high work demands at the corporate world stole away my drive and time to make art for many years, until one fated day in 2009 when I met a fellow artist in an art supply store.
I was shopping for art materials when I heard that a painting workshop was going to be held there. I signed up and it was during the workshop that I met this artist who started a 30-day artist challenge. Deeply intrigued and inspired by it, I took a month off from work to join the challenge and began unstoppably painting again.
I produced more than 40 artworks out of that period (2010), which later on became part of my debut solo art show called 'In Between Midnights' in Kuala Lumpur. I didn't stop painting ever since that fateful day.
A double life …
My then day job required me to fly all over for projects, and I would always pack a box of colors and small canvases in my suitcase with me so I could spend my evenings drawing and painting in hotel rooms.
Probably only the housekeeping staffs would know of my hidden identity, because I was careful not to be seen as an 'artsy' person in the presence of my colleagues or corporate clients!
IN 2011, I MOVED TO GERMANY ALONE AND STARTED A NEW LIFE THERE.
I landed myself a nice full time job as a software consultant in Munich for a great German tech firm in 2011, a move to further my IT career. After 4 years of wonderful life in Germany, I knew I had to make an important decision. A radical step to change my life to be more authentic before it is too late.
I needed to do what I always really wanted to do. Even though waving goodbye to a steady salary went against everything I was instilled growing up, I knew I had to follow that calling in my heart that has been bugging me for years.
So I quit my awesome corporate gig in 2015 - a career I've built up for over 15 years, confirming to my friends & family that I was crazy and probably foolishly idealistic!
I had this secret wish to RUN an exhibition in Europe before returning home to start my creative life.
My last bold move was holding a solo art show in Munich to showcase all the paintings I have been working on throughout my 4 years of life in Germany.
“The Cats Are Out" in May 2015, was a show chronicling a series of my unrevealed side as a closeted artist. Self-funded the show and organized everything myself with the help of a few dear friends, I invited all my work colleagues including my bosses to come to my 'vernissage' (opening night), and I had a blast finally coming out of my self-imposed cell.
A GIANT LEAP & COMING HOME
Following that, I backpacked through Europe for a month-long vacation & then traveled to Romania to stay at my best friend's home for 3 months to rest & paint before returning home to Malaysia. In early 2016, I finally started a creative space so I could make art full time and also share the space with like-minded people.
“Those who have had more than a glimmer of this creative spirit radically change their life. They cannot continue to live as they did.
Their old life simply falls away and they know they must live differently than before.
They become ripe as a piece of fruit.”
- excerpt by K. Ferlic
SOME CREATIVE MILESTONES
Since coming home to Malaysia, I dove head-on in pursuing an exciting, joyful & inspired life that I’ve always been dreaming of. After setting up my dream art studio and co-founded a creative coliving + coworking home, I went on to initiate an art show together with a local gallery featuring an eclectic mix of local artists, poets and musicians called Once Upon A Midnight in 2016.
Later in 2017, I appeared on local television to showcase my artworks & my hand-painted bags. In the same year, I also participated in the KL Biennale exhibition in the National Art Gallery.
I’ve also ran and hosted drum circles, music jam circles, art circles, women’s circles, art & craft Sundays at my creative space, as well as taught lots of workshops throughout the years.
In 2019, I crowdfunded another incredible art show called Resurrected: A Radiant Awakening, a solo art show in Tin Alley Ipoh, Malaysia. With the help & support of kind funders who believed in art and my vision, the collaborative art & craft festival successfully brought the local community together through various fun activity. I was even live painting there!
I got invited to share about our conscious coliving concept on the local radio station and was featured on a few local newspapers.
To know more about my life as a professional artist and creative catalyst, go here.
Nowadays you can find me at The Hatchery Place where I paint, draw, hold workshops and also mingle with other creatives daily.
THESE DAYS …
I currently live and work in Subang Jaya where my partner and I run a conscious creative coworking+coliving space called The Hatchery Place. I have my art studio set up upstairs where I show up everyday to work on my art and business.
We also welcome and accommodate conscious creative travelers, as well as locals who are in need of a getaway to work on their projects here, at the same time be surrounded and synergized by creative inspirations from our lives' work.
I also organize workshops and meetups here and they are open to our coliving housemates and the public, especially folks living around the area and Kuala Lumpur. Sometimes, I run art events to give back to the creative community around my city.
Do checkout my calendar for upcoming painting workshops and open studio days if you are interested to join them. Or, just drop by to come chit chat and co-work together with me!
💜How I SPend MY FREE time💜
Thank you!
Thanks for visiting — and for spending a moment in my creative world.
Let’s make art and manifest a transformative creative life together!