Mr. Apex Pang-Soong Lin was born in 1957 in a small town called TungKang in PingTung county. His father, Qing-Yun Lin, an escrow agent who loved folk photography, was one of the local pioneering photographers. His open-minded artistic father also enjoyed reading Japanese literature. He valued the education of his children in a liberal way, which was rare at that time.

　　Lin’s powerful and impressive name, *Pan-Song, was given by his farsighted father. The name seems to indicate that he will eventually become a person as great as a tall tree. Professor Lin recounted his father’s words to us that a person with long fingers and big feet is careful and prudent. That is how he is named after. He was expected to be a person as sedate as the rock and as great as the sky.

*Chinese character 磐 (pan) means the bedrock. 聳 (song) means highly towering.

Father’s influence (Source: Taiwan Soka Association)

Apex Lin recounts his encounter of the field of Fine Art in his childhood. His father’s photographer friends used to visit them and discussed the layout, lighting, contrast, or color of photography. Although he did not understand the content at that time, the context did open a window for Lin to see the colorful world of Fine Art.

 

　　Lin’s encounter with design was deeply influenced by his father, who loved classical music, which was unique in a fisherman’s village like Donggang at that time. The melodic environment often attracted local and foreign professionals from nearby Fishery Research Institute to stop by Lin’s house. Art was a favorite topic during Lin’s father and his friends’ gathering. Therefore, Lin says that “Father opened the passage toward art for me. He let me see the colorful aurora in art.” in his book Visual, Mind, Qing-Yun Lin.

Professor Lin’s educational background

 

　　Professor Lin’s second elder brother, Wen-Yan Lin, the present director of Department of Visual Communication Design of Tainan University of Technology, organized a design association “Hayfield Wind Workshop” to share with Lin their creative ideas and life anecdotes. This association planted the seed of design in Lin’s young mind, whence his passion in creativity and design sprouted.

　　Professor Lin’s artistic talent was nourished by his educational background, hometown, and its culture. He graduated from Donggang Elementary School, Donggang Junior High, and National Chaochou Senior High. Lin was lead to the gate of modern art by the liberal and dynamic atmosphere and Art teacher, Mr. Shi-he Zhuang. His adventurous and optimistic personality was nurtured by Donggang, an oceanic township,he was touched by its annual local events like Bluefin Tuna Cultural Festival and Ceremony of Royal Boat.

　　The combination of family, education, and environment gave Professor Lin a practical viewpoint toward knowledge in his teenager years. He thought that to make the world better, knowledge should be approachable to the public and helpful for the society. In the art field, he can achieve this ideal through visual design.

　　Lin became a college student in the design group of the Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan Normal University in 1976. He assisted Professor Jian-Zhu Wang in several explorations of folk resources and studies of handicrafts. From which he realized that there exists abundant cultural properties in Taiwan. Lin’s artistic vision was expanded from the time with Professor Wang. It occurred to him that a person can study oriental and western cultures simultaneously, and then synthesize characteristics from both cultures. If his father Qing-Yun Lin was the one who inspired Lin’s tastes for audio art, Professor Wang would be the one who enlightened Lin’s appreciation on visual art.