In 2019, Fo Guang Yuan (FGY) Art Gallery Christchurch held the Transience Art Exhibition. The resounding response to the Joint Art Exhibition from people of Christchurch had then prompted exhibition organiser Artist Keith Morant to join as a Friend of FGY. Ever since then, Keith has maintained a close rapport with the Temple. On 19th May 2021, Keith and 10 other co-exhibitors of the Transience Art Exhibition arranged to meet at the Water Drop Café of Fo Guang Shan (FGS) Temple South Island. Other than to enjoy the joyous ambience of the Temple, and to visit Artist Yao Hong-ying’s Magnificence of Embroidery Exhibition, the group very much looked forward to enjoy the delicious healthy vegetarian food of the Café.
The Transience Joint Art Exhibition was jointly put up by 13 artists from the Morant Foundation and was led by well-known local artist Keith Morant. The exhibits included paintings, print drawings, sculptures, weavings, pottery works and photography works. The rich variety of media made the Exhibition look like a small art salon. At that time, the Exhibition attracted many visitors daily and won wide acclaims.
The artists were very happy to gather at FGS Temple South Island to reminisce on the good times and warm memories of their Joint Exhibition. Artist Barry Johns thanked FGY Art Gallery Christchurch for providing the exhibition venue for them to display their creative works. Barry said that he had matured a lot during his interactive exchanges with the public, and he thanked FGY Gallery for taking good care of the exhibits during the exhibition. Barry attributed the success of their hard-to-come-by Joint Exhibition to the many conducive causes and conditions that happened at that time.