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Cheng-Khee Chee

United States of America (USA), 1/14/1934

BiographyCheng-Khee was born in 1934 in Fengting, in Fujian Province in China, and attended grade school there. He emigrated to Penang, Malaysia ("the Pearl of the East") in 1948, where he was raised by his uncle. He received his B.A. Degree Nanyang University in Singapore, and Master's Degree in Library Sciences at the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis. He married Sing-Bea, and they raised 4 children: Yi-Hung, Yi-Min, Wan-Ying and Yen-Ying. During the day, Cheng-Khee pursued his career as a Librarian at the University of Minnesota-Duluth; at night he would develop his skills and ideas in watercolor.
He was awarded the 1977-78 Outstanding Service Award by the University of Minnesota.
In 1979, Cheng-Khee also started teaching watercolor painting at the University of Minnesota, and was promoted to Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Minnesota in 1981, and to Associate Professor of Art in 1988.
He has been represented in numerous national juried exhibitions and captured over 140 honors, including the American Watercolor Society Silver Medal, Allied Artists of America Gold Medal, and Knickerbocker Artists USA Grand Award Gold Medal and purchase Prize for Excellence. His one-man shows include a 1987 China tour exhibition and 1997 exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum.
He has been elected Signature Member of numerous national, regional and state watercolor societies:
Midwest Watercolor Society - 1980
American Watercolor Society - 1981
Georgia Watercolor Society - 1982.
National Watercolor Society - 1983.
Rocky Mountain National Water media Society - 1984.
Knickerbocker Artists USA - 1989.
Allied Artists of America - 1992.
American Watercolor Society, Dolphin Fellow - 1994
Signature Member of Excellence, Georgia Watercolor Society - 1994.
Honorary Member of the Singapore Watercolor Society - 1996.
Watercolor USA Honor Society - 1998.
He established the Lake Superior Watercolor Society and held the first Annual Membership Exhibition at the Tweed Museum of Art, University of Minnesota, Duluth in 1982.
He was honored as Advisor of the Shanghai Watercolor Society, Advisor to the Fujian Watercolor Society and Honorary Member of the Zhejiang Watercolor Society in 1987.
He received the Distinguished Artist-Teachers Award from the Sumi-e Society of America in 1988.
He is listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Art and Dictionary of World Chinese Artists Achievements.
Old Turtle, written by Douglas Wood, watercolors by Cheng-Khee, was published in 1990. In 1992, Old Turtle received the Minnesota Young Adult Book Award and the Midwest Best Children's Book Award. In 1993, Old Turtle received the American Booksellers Association's Children's Book of the Year Award (ABBY) and the International Reading Association's Children's Book Award. Old Turtle became a best seller.
He is currently working on a series of watercolors to accompany Swing Around the Sun, a collection of poems for children by Minnesota poet Barbara Juster Esbensen.
He received the University of Minnesota, Duluth Campus, Chancellor's Distinguished Service Award, as well as the University of Minnesota System--wide University College Distinguished Teaching Award in 1994. In that same year, he was also honored as "Duluth's Cultural Ambassador to the World" by Mayor Gary Doty.
He was elected Board Director of the American Watercolor Society to serve the 1996 to 1998 term.
His paintings have been exhibited and received numerous awards in the United States, China and Singapore.
He has served as Juror of Selection and Awards for numerous national, state and local watercolor societies. He has been featured internationally on radio shows, TV productions, and art journals.
He retired from his career as a librarian and art professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth in 1994 to pursue his artwork on a full-time basis.
According to his biography in The Watercolor World of Cheng-Khee Chee,( (c) 1997), when he was presented the Grand Prize Gold Medal and Purchase Award at the Knickerbocker Artists' 1993 Annual International Exhibition in 1993, "he was asked to say a few words at the award banquet in Washington, DC. At the end of his remarks, he asked Sing-Bee to join him at the podium and said, 'And if I have any ability at all, I owe that to my wife, Sing-Bee. She encourages and makes time for me to paint to develop my ability. Our neighbors felt sorry for her because she was the one who took out the garbage, mowed the lawn, raked the leaves, shoveled the snow, and drove the car, but she performed these chores with joy in her heart, because she wanted me to have more time to paint. We share our vision, and we chase our dreams together.' Then he presented her with the prize."

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