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Hi,Dear Friends
How are you? Have you had a good week and weekend?
On my side, I am still on my 12th American trip, and I encountered a heavy snowfall that reportedly hasn't occurred in the past 10 years, causing local schools to close for two days on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.
However, two of my “Cross-cultural and Comprehensive Art Workshops” were still held last Friday and Saturday. Eleven of my adult students completed their first Chinese gongbi (Traditional Chinese Realistic Painting) pieces on Chinese rice paper. Some of them spent nearly 30 hours working on them.
Once more, I was moved by my students' enthusiasm for learning: at the Springfield Chinese Church, finishing our class after 8:00 PM has become a normal occurrence, and at my house, people came in at noon and left in the dark, which has also become common. When I saw the photos of the second group of paintings, I realized that one female student left at 7:14 PM, while the other two left at 10:43 PM, after studying for 7 hours and 10.5 hours respectively.
I guess that when you check the first and second groups of paintings, you will be surprised. All of these students were beginners who touched and learned to paint Chinese Gongbi paintings for the first time. Originally, I could have finished all of my tasks at the first and second art workshops on Friday and Saturday.
However, since all of my students are beginners, I need to consolidate their knowledge and skills in painting Chinese Gongbi paintings. Therefore, I will add two lessons for them respectively in the upcoming Fridays and Saturdays.
During the busy work in the heavy snow and subsequent cold weather in a foreign land, I often felt warmth from the local American people.
-- Dr. Qiao Yuhua, a lifelong professor at Missouri State University and one of the administrators of the Springfield Chinese Church, called me to ask if I had enough food at home.
-- Mr. John David Lawson, director of the teaching department at a church, wrote to me asking if I needed help.
-- Mr. John Walker, who sold me my house 10 years ago, contacted me saying that if there were any issues with my heater, water, or electricity, I should let him know.
-- Mrs. Ai, the mother of my two students, brought some meat-filled baozi to the church on a Saturday, and because of this food, five students and I were able to keep working until 10:00 PM.
-- Mrs. Yan, the owner of a Chinese restaurant, almost called me every early evening to check if everything was okay.
-- Mrs. Fran Giglio, my English teacher since 2015, messaged me twice to inform me that the college was closed and wished me to stay warm.
-- Mrs. Zhang Cheng, one of my students and a former instructor at Missouri State University, volunteered to pick me up and drive me home on the bad roads and cold nights after the heavy snow.
-- Two young strangers asked if I needed help when they saw me clearing the snow around my house.
As a foreigner experiencing the cold weather in the US, when I heard or saw all these things, my heart was touched and filled with warmth and appreciation. With a grateful heart, I write down these thoughts and hope to keep this beautiful memory in my heart.
Anyway, as someone who lived in southern China for several decades without ever seeing snow, each time it snowed, I enjoyed clearing the snow and tried to make a small path for pedestrians around my yard.
A few days ago, when I did this, I found that untouched snow was easy to clean, while snow that had been trodden on was much harder to clear. This situation really inspired me and made me think:
On the road of art study, if I want to create my own artistic style and walk my own path, perhaps I can proceed in two ways:
One is to follow the road created by predecessors, using it as a foundation to create my own artistic path. This is certainly a valid approach. However, pursuing this path often presents a challenge: becoming entrenched in and constrained by the conventions established by predecessors. For example, when I wrote English on a Chinese painting to translate the meaning of a Chinese poem, some people said it did not align with tradition, without acknowledging that before the Song Dynasty (960 – 1279), people never inscribed Chinese characters or poems on paintings. Now, writing poetry on paintings has become a tradition. Since our predecessors could write poetry on paintings for the first time, why can't I write English on them today? After all, it helps my foreign audience understand the meaning of the Chinese poem and the painting itself. So, I will certainly continue with my own creation and persist on my chosen path, which is welcomed by many American artists and teachers.
The other way is to take an indirect route to reach my goal. After all, all roads lead to Rome. Right?
How about you? Do you have anything special to share?
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Sincerely, I am just a lifelong learner in the arts of painting, music, English, management and Chinese art teaching, and work on the website in my free time. I would really like to do something with what I have learned and make this website a little electronic bridge for cross-cultural and integrated/comprehensive art and Chinese language studying. This way, I can help others while improving myself.
Thank you always for your understanding, guidance and assistance and if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to write to info@ebridge.cn .
Shirley Yiping Zhang
Feb 25, 2025
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