我出生于中国广东省台山市南部的一个大村镇 — 汶村，那里既是侨乡，又是鱼米之乡；那里有悠久的艺术传统和浓厚的艺术氛围，是育才的好地方。

我从小就与绘画结下了不解之缘。十三岁，我就和周围的小伙伴讲述自己画水彩画的心得和向他们传授绘画的技巧。

我的中学是广东著名的台山第一中学，而最令我怀念的时光是在佛山大学（那时称佛山师范专科学校），我所学的专业是化学，我的业余爱好是画画。

大学毕业后我成了一名中学化学老师。在教授化学的同时，我主动担任美术和部分音乐课程，令那五年平凡的教学生涯增添了一点斑斓的色彩。

父母移居美国之后，我在一九八九年也移民到了美国东部，开始了新的生活。

在麻省，我先攻下语言关，随之攻读电脑平面设计。一九九五年毕业并获得艺术学士学位，供职于一所面向高新科技的杂志出版公司，作电脑出版绘图师。后来，几经周折，先后担任商业营销、品牌策划广告公司的艺术创意总监和先进科技应用软件开发公司的产品创意总监。涉及商业推广、品牌形象设计、包装和宣传等不同领域、不同层面。在专业技术应用上，我把所学的知识运用到科技杂志出版业，多媒体技术的应用和策划，互联网上商业形象的营造和推广，并对高科技应用软件的视觉感观进行策划、艺术指导和制作，尤其对如何让中文、英文等多种语言在高科技软件开发中得以应用等问题进行了探索。

近年来我在哈特福德大学继续深造美术和插图，并于二零零九年获得艺术硕士 (Master of Fine Arts) 学位。

生活了两个不同的国度，到了今天，我仍然像当年孩童时代一样，以一颗纯真的心对待艺术。每每出版公司跟我谈起图书创作，或与艺术同行谈起艺术生涯时，我都是以纯真和严谨的态度来对待，而不是着眼于金钱利益。每当我拿起画笔的时候，并不是为了生计，而是为了享受纯艺术。

我的另一个兴趣是教授画画。我的教学经历始于少年时代，盛于大学（在中国）时代，那时，我凭着一股热血发动并组建了“佛山师专美术社”，担任社长，自任导师，带领一班社员把美术社搞得红红火火，培养了一届又一届美术爱好者，举办了一次又一次的“佛山师专书画展 ”，享誉佛山。大学毕业后到中学任全职老师。几年前在美国麻省公立艺术学院和新罕布什州私立大学列卫亚学院传授水彩。我深深的感到：教育是一门艺术，特别是教授艺术。

在我的在线画廊部分，展示了我创作的几本儿童图书，参与插图的儿童杂志，人物肖像，风景以及不同类型的水彩画作品，和几个分步解说的水彩画示范图片 。

如果您感兴趣的话，欢迎您点击这里进入我的虚拟画廊参观、指导。

或许是因为我的那几次个人画展的缘故，曾被报纸杂志社采访。采访的内容大多是有关我的心得，个人经历等等。如果您想对我本人有更多的了解，相信下面的文章会对您有帮助。

这些专访包含我对艺术以及对人生的见解，并记载了当年我在中国时的故事和现时我在美国的发展，以及我对将来的愿望等等。

有关我的媒体专访

February 18, 2010
In A Gift, family members in China create a Chinese New Year’s gift to send to their young niece, Amy, in the U.S. It’s the kind of book a family not unlike Chen’s might use to explain customs surrounding the New Year — which this year was Sunday, Feb. 14 — to generations raised in America. For Chen, the book is part of the larger story of the direction of his life, a direction he might not have foreseen while teaching chemistry in China or working in a Chinatown grocery store in Boston unable to speak English... Read article>

 

The Summer of 2009
A trip to China, Yong's home country to meet with his hometown media and friends. He accepted the interviews with a TV network, a dairy newspaper, and a radio show about him and his newest children's book... Click here to read all these news>

 

January, 2008
Chen came to the United States at the age of 26 to be with family members who had immigrated several years before. When he decided to go back to school, he says, "Communication skills were the first obstacle for me to overcome. The ESL program was the reason I first stepped through the door at BHCC. When I began studying at Bunker Hill Community College, I realized that I did have a purpose in coming to this country," he said. By 1993, Yong Chen made the transition to Massachusetts College of Art–and to his career as an artist in America.(BHCC Magazine) Read article>

 

 

March 1, 2005
The watercolors of Yong Chen are on display in the Image Gallery at the Nashua Public Library during January and February. Yong Chen is a graphic designer and illustrator who lives in Nashua and grew up in China. He has been drawing and painting since the age of four. As a young adult, he explored different forms of art, as a violinist, songwriter, and poet.(Sunday Telegraph) Read article>

 

February 30, 2005
An interview conducted in the Nashua Public Library Image Gallery, during my exhibit of my watercolor paintings. The article called "Overcoming the barriers in a new world"...Chen grew up in a village in southern China that was rich in culture and tradition. At a young age, he grew to love music and art. But Chen went off to study, and when he graduated from Foshan University, he had a degree in chemistry. Read article>

 

February 3, 2005
The Internet has changed the way people do a lot of things, but you’d think visiting an art gallery wouldn’t be one of them. People who buy art usually do so because they fall in love with a piece. It moves them or speaks to them, or would look really great above the mantle. World Gallery provides the tools to get an artist up an running without having to have any of the knowledge necessary to do so... New Cyber-gallery Open (Hippo Nashua) Read article>

 

February 15, 1996
A phone interview after my one-person watercolor painting exhibit in the Bunker Hill Art Gallery. Life has never been easy for an artist. Since ancient times, painters have been isolated, unrecognized and then only after death, given some credit. Times, however, have changed and Yong Q. Chen, who is currently exhibiting his art work at the Bunker Hill Gallery, shows us that...In 1989, maybe still in search for himself, Yong immigrated to the US Life wasn't easy in the states. He had to work in a Chinese restaurant and in other area he wasn't really interested in. "It was then that I felt strongly the need to learn English," said Yong. In 1990 Yong enrolled in the ESL program at Bunker Hill. Here, he met Betsy Mariere... Read article>

 

September 16, 1996
An interview conducted in Rivier Art Gallery, Nashua, New Hampshire, which hosted my one-person watercolor painting exhibit. (Sunday Telegraph, An interview by Diane Rietman, a staff reporter of Telegraph.) Chen's combination of watercolors, oils, portraits and traditional Chinese painting make up the exhibit "East to West: Paintings by Yong Chen." The show is open through Sept. 27 at Rivier College Art Gallery. Read article>

 

April 1995
There was Spring of 1995 when I was a senior of illustration in Massachusetts College of Art. I was selected to participate in the Art to the State House project. Each morning I packed a simple set of watercolor materials and tools, I was scheduled with the Senators and house representatives along with other artists... On the TV WBZ News when I was doing portraits in the Massachusetts State House Spring 1995. View movie clip

点击这里阅读 更多有关我的专访。