Bringing art back to nature, bringing creators together. We believe art is more than making work — it is a way of connecting people with nature, with themselves, and with one another.
In the fall of 2024, the editorial team of Montreal's Chinese Times organized a trip for literary friends through the eastern United States. One stop was MacDowell, the artist colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, where Eileen Chang attended two residencies shortly after first arriving in the US — and where she met her husband. Wendy had previously watched the TV drama Shanghai Story, and Eileen Chang's time at MacDowell had stayed with her. Visiting in person and learning how the MacDowell family had founded an artist colony on their own farm planted the seed of an idea: an art camp for overseas Chinese artists. The idea was encouraged by literary friends including Li Yang, Lu Weiqing, Tang Weibin, Zhang Yuntao, Wang Jiangang, and Tao Zhijian, and supported by her husband, Frank.
Charm Border Campground sits on the US–Canada border, about an hour's drive south of Montreal in Quebec, nestled between mountains and water, with nearly 60 years of RV-camping history. Frank took over its management in 2024, and it now serves as the art camp's home, funded by the Wensen Foundation. The Wensen Foundation is a non-profit registered in Montreal in 2024 by Wendy and Frank's daughter, Melissa Yang — the name draws "Wen" from Wendy's father, Wen Jinwen, and "Sen" from Frank's father, Yang Rusen. To date, the Wensen Foundation has sponsored activities for Chinese community organizations including the Montreal Chinese Hospital and the Montreal Chinese Young Professionals Association, and going forward will make Wensen Art Camp its primary funding focus.
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