Redirection and Network Timeout

Today I have spent the day in the studio drawing, and I feel like I am getting on well. I have managed to finish my first drawing of the junction, and am making good headway of the building facade drawing. It is really enjoyable for me to be able to spend time drawing, and take my time and not rush it. I have also decided to add more shading and dimension to these drawings, than flatter drawings I have done recently.

I also went out this afternoon to try and find a larger piece of wood for my woodcut with YanYan – but everywhere in the area sells small pieces. YanYan’s friend can help me source some.

Tonight we went to the studio of the artist, and print-maker Wang Jun. Over green tea we discussed many interesting aspects of culture here with regards to control, censorship, art education and liberty. On sunday I will meet Wan Jung for hougo (hotpot). Wan Jung was the artist in residence at the Chinese Arts Centre in Manchester last summer.

I got home late, so it is another short blog post. I want to get up early tomorrow for more drawing and I need to think about the three dimensional work.

It is now Day 7, and I feel like I am starting to know my way around, and I am getting most of my materials together, research undertaken, and I now need to focus on really making work. I still have few traditional sites to visit for research, but I will have to wait a few days for YanYan’s assistants to be available.

Today has also been a very interesting day back at Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. I attended a wood block printmaking class with students, and three students with very good English were my guide – thanks to YanYan’s arrangements. It was interesting to see how a practical class was run, as well as their approach to woodblock printmaking. I brought along my own tools which everyone was fascinated by. I managed to cut most of my small test on their 2ply wood, and I will print tomorrow.

The host students took me for lunch in their cafeteria, and then we went to a lovely coffee shop in the campus, where one of the students worked part time. We had some interesting conversations about the internet and politics within the country.

After class the students showed me around the gardens of the campus – it is very beautiful indeed, with some very interesting buildings, especially the Library. We also went past an auditorium where Takashi Murakami gave a lecture the previous week.

I met up with Zhi Ling and Shu Wen before I headed back to my studio – the bus journeys today were long and I am tired so it is a shorter blog post tonight.

Today has been very interesting – YanYan drove me to the New Campus of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute which was welcome change from the hustle and bustle of the city. The new campus is on the outskirts of the city, and has a more spacious layout, and an environmentally disgusting amount of tall trees that have been imported from further afield. It is considered that small trees would look unappealing and not visually impressive or powerful, the trees are also not local to the area, so they are changing the pattern of nature.

The graduating fine art students were presenting their degree show. The amount of students in the institution was evident by the large amount of works on show, with many only exhibiting one work, and many spaces appearing crowded. The work was a real mixture – some laboured oil painting in heavy gild frames, to very interesting three dimensional sculptures and installation. I was also interested to see that quite a few of the graduating artists concerns discussed the never ending architectural uprising, and issues of the environment.

Lara, YanYan’s assistant, showed me around the workshop building which presented large and spacious resources for each discipline from Fashion to weaving to photography. Lara also took me to a Chinese version of KFC – Dico’s.

I had some very interesting conversations with YanYan and Zheng Li with regards to teaching in a Visual Arts Higher Education institution in our respective countries. We discussed the process of entry requirements in China to study at art college – you must achieve a high score in a general exam, and it is not on a portfolio as in the UK. We discussed the atmosphere whilst at university – I explained that many of my students can be very anxious and upset about their grades and progress. YanYan explained that mainly in China that students relax once they are in university. Zheng Li talked about an academic in central China that started an independent university, that accepted students outwith the general exam system. YanYan explained that the government and the president of the university’s peers have encouraged him to close this perhaps more democratic version of education. YanYan explained that it is very difficult to change the way things are done in Chinese Higher Education.

We also discussed the skill based programme, which teaches all students to work in a particular way for the main part of the programme before they are allowed to apply these skills to a more conceptual body of work. YanYan is very critical of this approach, but as he says it is the way it is always done. I asked if there are any foreign universities in China, say American or British, as there are in the UK, and he explained that there are a few ‘American’ universities in big cities – but over time they have been made to adapt to the Chinese admissions and education style.

It was also interesting to discuss the situation of an artist supporting their practice with teaching, and the balance of this. I explained that teaching in FE/HE Art Education is a lot of work, with actual teaching hours being almost doubled in work with preparation, administration and marking. Since I graduated from my MFA in 2007, I have supported myself through FE/HE teaching, as well as undertaking a PGCE in HE Art Education, which most institutions now ask you to undertake. YanYan said that there is such a demand for Visual Art Education, the job is not so pressurised, and that someone can do very little and stay in the job for a long time!

Tomorrow I will go back to the new campus to join in on a woodcut printmaking class with second year students. It will be good to get to know the facilities.

I can’t believe that it is already day 5 of the residency. It has been very hot today, and the sun has been shining which has been a welcome break from the cloud. I have been working in the studio for most of the day on my first map drawing. The drawing is based on the layout of the junction that I am living on, with aspects of digital forms from the interfaces of fanfou and renren (two chinese only social networking sites). I will continue with this in the morning tomorrow before I go to the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in the afternoon with YanYan, and his assistant Lara.

I met Lara for the first time today, as she has been finishing off and hanging her degree show. She graduates from a painting degree this year, and she has been assisting artists on this residency programme since it started with David Hancock in 2007. Next week, we will go to Huguang Guild Hall (a traditional complex) and the Chongqing Planning Exhibition Gallery together, when she gets back from a trip to Beijing. I am hoping to visit some other traditional compounds later this week too, in particular Laitan.

I have also been walking around photographing some building facades, that I will use for my next two drawings. Some treats that YanYan brought me were Zongzi, dumplings wrapped in Bamboo with sweet soy bean paste inside that have been steamed. Very tasty, and very sweet!

Bad news, however, that the mouse that I thought I had scared off with the mouse airwaves alarm that Shu Wen and I bought in the street, has scuttered through the apartment. Poisin is illegal in China, so it looks like I will be off tomorrow to buy a trap! How very un buddhist!