School staff transform fallen flowers and grass fields into artworks
This graduation season, red poinciana flowers have been in full bloom. Rather than throw away the flowers after they fall, a security guard at Tamsui’s Xinshi Elementary School arranges them into intricate patterns at the school’s entrance. He creates different designs each day, including cartoon characters, capybara, and tigers. At another school, the groundskeeper cuts the grass in large patterns visible from above, often leaving messages for the students.
Lin Yung-chi
FTV reporter
Sweep the area to keep it clean, but these poinciana flowers and too beautiful to throw away. But give this guy a broom, and he can turn them into Chiikawa.
This scene is outside an elementary school, but the school didn’t hire an artist. It’s the security guard, inspired by the falling flowers, who used two brooms and his imagination to surprise students when they come to school.
Cheng Hsueh-wu
Security guard
I used to work in advertisement design. Lot of kids really don’t like coming to school and one came to me to make a wish. Then I designed these things, and he really liked it, and it made him want to come to school. His parents were also very pleased and thanked me, which meant a lot to me.
Mr. Cheng, the security guard at Tamsui’s Xinshi Elementary School, used to be an advertisement designer. After coming to work at the school, he shows his artistic prowess every time poinciana flowers bloom, turning the fallen flowers into chubby capybaras, Winnie the Pooh, tigers, and even paper airplanes to wish graduating students a bright future. At another elementary school, a groundskeeper creates a different kind of art for the students.
Here at Tamsui’s Xinxing Elementary School, the groundskeeper makes large patterns cut into the grass, treating the field as his canvas. He mowed the Chinese characters shangyong, meaning bravery, with an image of Taiwan above. His works are often seasonal, making the “spring” character or ingots for the Lunar New Year. During the pandemic, he even made a four-character message praising Taiwan for having no additional COVID cases for the day.
Lin Min-chih
School groundskeeper
I’ve liked drawing since I was young, so I am particularly interested in this kind of aesthetic. It takes maybe three to five days to draw and lay out the lines, but just one day to cut the grass. The kids make requests, asking what I want to make or what they want, and I do my best to make it.
Talented people can be found everywhere, especially at schools, where staff use their artistic skills to make something special for the students.
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2025-06-19
