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Happy 1st birthday
for Liam’s Gallery
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Liam’s Gallery celebrated its first birthday and founder Liam Ayudhkij’s
62nd birthday with a party held on March 1, family and friends turning up to
give their congratulations and a monk anointing the door of the gallery on
this auspicious occasion.
 Liam
Ayudhkij (left) offers a meal to Buddhist monks at the celebration.
Liam is originally from Ireland, and arrived in Thailand in 1963 at the age
of 18. Back then he was Liam O’Keefe, but he changed his name to Ayudhkij
when he became a naturalized Thai citizen.
As founder and chairman of the PCS Group of companies, the largest property
support services company in Thailand, employing 20,000 people, Liam is a
successful businessman. But he has always been a lover of art, and an avid
collector, and Liam’s Gallery was opened as a center for art lovers.
The four-story gallery was opened on March 4 last year, and is located on
Soi 4 on Pratamnak Road. Here, Liam energetically promotes talented Thai
artists, and amongst the new names who have exhibited are Komkit Mekmok,
Warawoot Intorn, Theparak Tanessmatee, Panthep Maneratcharatsri and Sajja
Sajjakul.
In 2003, Liam published a book named Flavours: Thai Contemporary Art, which
highlighted many emerging Thai artists and is regarded as a defining work in
the local art world.
Liam’s Gallery, which also features some of the art collected by its owner
over the past 40 years, has an art library and a workshop along with its
exhibition areas.
Liam Ayudhkij (right) performs
a religious ceremony with friends during the celebration at Liam’s Gallery.
Sunida and Todd tie the knot
Newlyweds Sunida and Todd Parkin
cut their wedding cake.
Narisa Nitikarn
After taking four years to get to know each other, Thai-American Sunida
Maclachlan, 25, daughter of Donald and Suphap Maclachlan, and Todd Parkin, 37,
son of Thomas and Marlowe Parkin of the United States, decided it was time to
tie the knot.
They celebrated in style on March 11 with a wedding party beside the pool at
Dusit Resort, with more than 100 guests present to wish the couple every
happiness.
Sunida said she and Todd had first met at the University of California and took
four years to get to know each other properly before the groom went down on one
knee while they were at the pool of a hotel in Pattaya, and asked her to marry
him. She, of course, said yes.
The couple were married in the US and the celebrations were held in Pattaya with
family and friends. As for the future they plan to continue working. The groom
is manager of a TV station in the US. They don’t plan on having any children
yet.
The Dusit pool was beautifully decorated with white roses and everything was
white-green. Before cutting the cake the couple received blessings from each
family member, then in the tradition of the West the bride and groom were the
first to take to the dance floor.
PCEC members learn the latest about the Foreign Business Act
The Pattaya City Expats Club (PCEC) meeting on Sunday
March 11th at Henry J. Bean’s consisted of another full and varied morning.
 Daniel
Poole (left) and Greg Pitt (right) address the PCEC.
The week’s MC Gary Brown started the proceedings by welcoming those people
who were attending the PCEC for the fist time. He then introduced the main
speakers, who this week were from Mackenzie Smith Law, a Thai-British law
firm. The speakers were Daniel Poole, Marketing Director and Greg Pitt, CEO.
The subject of the presentation was the revision of the Foreign Business Act
(FBA) which has recently attracted a great deal of attention. Information
was provided which stated that it was necessary to abide by the laws of the
chosen country in which a company was set up and that there could be serious
issues to be faced in the present or in the future if the laws were not
observed.
A company incorporated in Thailand under Thai Law has to show some form of
profitable trading activity which means that it is necessary to report the
company’s transactions and pay tax to a predefined schedule. The company
structure and accounts can be audited at anytime. The purpose of the Foreign
Business Act is to reinforce these laws and to close any loopholes.
The talk continued when three possible options were proposed. Firstly, to
make sure a company is set up correctly and if it is not, correct it.
Secondly, do nothing and hope that any changes in the law do not affect the
operation of the company and thirdly, monitor the situation with a view to
taking action if something of significance occurs.
Mackenzie Smith Law is offering a free Company Health Check to ascertain
compliance with the Foreign Business Act. They can be contacted at their
Pattaya Office, telephone 038 364 923.
PCEC chairman, Andre Michelsen, then provided an update regarding the trip
to the Sattahip naval base and particularly the visit to an aircraft
carrier. Andre reminded the club that this was a rare opportunity and
subsequently two visits may be necessary to accommodate the large numbers
who wanted to go.
Richard Smith reminded the PCEC that the weekly newsletter was considered to
be a valued method of communication to both members in Pattaya and those
overseas. He actively encouraged comments and thanked Darrel Vaught for his
recent contribution for the reformatting and revising of the newsletter.
Harry Sigworth, better known as Sig, then announced the Forthcoming Events
which included the next club dinner which is to take place on April 7th at
the Montien Hotel buffet.
The regular Open Forum was then underway led by John Lynham and this proved
to be the usual lively and entertaining session. For more information
regarding, not only PCEC Sunday meetings but also the varied mid week
activities, please see the Community Happenings section of Pattaya Mail or,
for more details, visit the Club’s website at pattayacityexpatsclub.com.
Getting to school is now fun for 10 pupils with new bikes
Students from Pattaya Schools
are happy to receive bicycles from Rick Bevingion (back row, 5th from left),
along with Bernie Tuppin (back row, 7th from left), Nittaya Patimasongkroh
(back row, 3rd from right), and Mercy Center and school officials.
Vimolrat Singnikorn
Ten Pattaya youngsters were presented with bicycles on March 9 at the
Pattaya Full Gospel Church.
The presentation was made by Rick Bevingion of the Mercy Scholarship Project
“Bikes for Tykes”, along with Bernie Tuppin, charity chairman of Pattaya
Sports Club, and Nittaya Patimasongkroh, chairwoman of the YWCA
Bangkok-Pattaya Center.
Nittaya said that Rick, a Canadian citizen who has himself been a keen
cyclist for 40 years, had provided the bicycles to pupils who are good
academically but who have trouble getting to school by public transport.
The YWCA Bangkok-Pattaya Center also donated three scholarships to Master
Nantawat Sodnaew, age 12, of Pattaya School No 8; Master Worapong Chomchai,
13, of School No 8; and Master Atikan Bamrapparn, from School No 9.
Six bicycles went to pupils from Pattaya School No 6, two to School No 8,
one to School No 9, and one to Wat Bunsamphan School.
This is the second such donation in recent weeks, the last being when 12
children from School #7 were the happy recipients of a new bicycle (complete
with helmet and lock & chain supplied by PSC), as reported last week in
Pattaya Mail.
Panuwat Hoonbamrung & Wittaya Pised present “Only One Point”
An art exhibition review from the Gallery Opium
Michael Bulley, Art Critic
When our artistic ancestor (the caveman) felt the need to express himself,
his inspiration came from the things he saw. Today’s modern artists are more
concerned with things they feel. Both however have one thing in common, a
relationship with the base material needed to display such works. Be it,
parchment, paper, canvas, or fabric. In the case of the caveman it was the
cave walls, and here I thoroughly recommend a visit to the beautiful cave
drawings of Lascaux in France.
 “Traverse”
- a creation from innovative Thai artist Panuwat Hoonbamrung whose work is
currently on show at the Gallery Opium, Pattaya.
I also once visited the remarkable and truly beautiful artistic paintings of
the great English lady, Emily Carr in Vancouver, who lived and loved the
wilds of Western Canada. In 1850, she was so remote and poor, with little
connection to the outside world, that to paint her magnificent works of the
Indian totem poles she was forced to use the bark off a tree. Today’s great
art is just as remarkable.
The exhibition “Only One Point” at Gallery Opium on Thepprasit Road by two
young Thai artists, Panuwat Hoonbamrung and Wittaya Pised, reveals to us the
base materials that they have been inspired to use: copper, steel &
corrugated iron.
Hoonbamrung’s strong, typically shiny blend of copper, almost gold in
reflection, and his beautifully simple use of paint bring about an
astonishing sheen or lovely lustre which I for one have never seen before.
Pised finds his inspiration in the use of corrugated iron. He paints very
strong, bold eye-catching designs, conceiving the painting as almost
abstract, but with the decorative pattern of a small moving bird. His works
give just the freedom needed to evoke a kind of softness that contrasts the
structure of corrugated iron.
I can tell you that this is an exhibition not to be missed, an extraordinary
and striking display by two gifted and talented young artists who have the
aptitude of skill and courage to make a strong impression in their own
beliefs.
“Only One Point” at Gallery Opium continues until 24th March 2007 at the
Gallery Opium, 315/26 Moo 12, Thepprasit Road, Pattaya City.
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