Calligraphy Artist Hosts Academy Session
March 22, 2019
The Dead Artist’s Society offered a Mandarin calligraphy demonstration during academy on March 17 in room C11.
The demonstration was led by Chinese calligraphy practitioner, Liu Qian, who was invited to present by family friend sophomore Mindy Luo, the co-president of the Dead Artist’s Society. Qian demonstrated how to draw a variety of characters commonly used in Chinese culture, including the symbols for love, luck, and rice.
Qian has been practicing calligraphy since she was 8, and now enjoys teaching others about the art form. “My mom had a theory that the handwork and concentration are connected, and helps develop your brain,” she said.
According to Mandarin teacher Sabrina Wun, the informational academy was especially meaningful because students not currently enrolled in Mandarin were able to participate. “Chinese paintbrush writing is a big part of Chinese culture, almost every elementary and middle school student in China or Taiwan has to practice writing this, and in museums there is a lot of paintbrush work as well, so it was a really good activity for people who have never tried it before to get the experience,” said Wun.
“I think it’s really important because it’s more than an art project, it’s an entirely different form of art that represents a different culture which is refreshing,” said club co-president junior Mia Travis.
Club member junior Brightan Ying appreciated the education on “an art form that isn’t really talked about,” and acknowledged that “it was a very unique experience that we haven’t really had at Campo… I never really thought of writing as an art until I saw the hand-control that they have and the grace they do it with, it is definitely artistic,” said Ying.
“I was really happy that so many people came, and it was fun to combine elements from my art classes and my Mandarin class,” said Luo.
In the future, Luo and Travis plan to organize similar projects that include more students and encourage interest in a different culture. “The goal for this club is to step out of normal conventional art materials and topics, so we definitely want to continue more projects like this and hopefully we can find more professionals who can help teach us too,” said Travis.
