Challenge:
The oriental art of Chinese calligraphy has a rich history and boasts a strong influence on the formation of Chinese culture today. For a little under a year, Cassia will be exploring the depths of this art through research and finally experimenting with the creation of such an ancient skill. In the context of Personal and Cultural Expression, this art has changed and developed to the most known LiShu script presenting the importance of the laws of balance and symmetry. With the art itself, posters and propaganda launched the controversial Cultural Revolution in the years 1965 to 1968. Through this website and several forms of visual presentations, Cassia will aid enthusiasts to embark on a journey to discovering the importance of Chinese calligraphy.
I will be creating a Chinese calligraphy scroll with all the proverbs learned in class because I think my Personal Project journey is reflected from this (literally). And I also think that there will be a change and a story that can be formed. I will be using traditional tools like the brush and ink and scroll paper to experience fully the impact of calligraphy on daily lives and how its significance has altered. It is to better understand the concept of Chinese calligraphy and its meaning as well as to share and heighten its significance on today's youth. Despite many schools now offer calligraphy classes to the elementary years, the students rarely continue on with the practice.
Vision for Final Product:
I will be making a small booklet filled with idioms that I have learnt in my time learning and practicing Chinese calligraphy. I chose to write idioms instead of proverbs because proverbs tend to be longer in length. As a beginner, I learn with four character idioms. Idioms litter the daily language and texts adding depth. I will also be creating a scroll with the another set of idioms (9 to be exact as 9 is a lucky number) but to do so, I will need to create and cut out the wooden ends of the scroll. The scroll itself will be white as it is traditionally written on white paper. But to finish it off with a good luck for the new year (Chinese New Year, that is), I will be wishing visitors and my audience with a Happy New Year on red. To let the audience interact with my project, I will give them the chance to give writing the characters a try. From that, they will learn that Chinese calligraphy is an art that will only improve by practicing continually. They will, in the end, find joy and insight into this particular art sharing the beauty of it, whether or not they understand the language itself.
Thoughts at the Beginning:
At the start, I treated the Personal Project as a sort of "look at life as a whole. What is significant to you?" because in a way, if something is significant to me, it is also very likely that it would be significant to at least one person in the whole world too. And thus, I started my exploration of topics in April starting with an ambitious project on wedding dresses. But it proved too ambitious for one who knows so little on the topic, so mid-August, I racked my brain for ideas and came up with Chinese calligraphy. It is all around me. The project led me here.
I will be creating a Chinese calligraphy scroll with all the proverbs learned in class because I think my Personal Project journey is reflected from this (literally). And I also think that there will be a change and a story that can be formed. I will be using traditional tools like the brush and ink and scroll paper to experience fully the impact of calligraphy on daily lives and how its significance has altered. It is to better understand the concept of Chinese calligraphy and its meaning as well as to share and heighten its significance on today's youth. Despite many schools now offer calligraphy classes to the elementary years, the students rarely continue on with the practice.
Vision for Final Product:
I will be making a small booklet filled with idioms that I have learnt in my time learning and practicing Chinese calligraphy. I chose to write idioms instead of proverbs because proverbs tend to be longer in length. As a beginner, I learn with four character idioms. Idioms litter the daily language and texts adding depth. I will also be creating a scroll with the another set of idioms (9 to be exact as 9 is a lucky number) but to do so, I will need to create and cut out the wooden ends of the scroll. The scroll itself will be white as it is traditionally written on white paper. But to finish it off with a good luck for the new year (Chinese New Year, that is), I will be wishing visitors and my audience with a Happy New Year on red. To let the audience interact with my project, I will give them the chance to give writing the characters a try. From that, they will learn that Chinese calligraphy is an art that will only improve by practicing continually. They will, in the end, find joy and insight into this particular art sharing the beauty of it, whether or not they understand the language itself.
Thoughts at the Beginning:
At the start, I treated the Personal Project as a sort of "look at life as a whole. What is significant to you?" because in a way, if something is significant to me, it is also very likely that it would be significant to at least one person in the whole world too. And thus, I started my exploration of topics in April starting with an ambitious project on wedding dresses. But it proved too ambitious for one who knows so little on the topic, so mid-August, I racked my brain for ideas and came up with Chinese calligraphy. It is all around me. The project led me here.
Inspiration behind
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Selection of short video clips:Yan Style StrokesThis video spoke of different stroke styles and their change over time. This art is different from western styled painting...Chinese calligraphy emphasises areas of the word, the stroke going up or the thicker body of a line. Often resembling a font, words have a distinct styles during the different stages of China's development. During the times of Shang dynasty to the Three Kingdoms Period, characters evolved with different organisations of landing strokes and lines. The Yan style comes of leading calligrapher during the Tang dynasty whose stroke style was elegance but firm in managing the word frames with subtle changes of the brush.
Short Introductory ClipThis clip presents the basics of Chinese calligraphy from the materials needed, which are brushes, paper, ink, and ink pad. It also presents the different styles of writing including the clerical, cursive, and methods to hold a brush. This is important because unlike mainstream painting (depends on what mainstream painting is considered, but I would say that it is to hold the brush closer to maintain control), with a calligraphy brush, you hold lightly and freely creating a controlled but natural flow. The word 永(yông) demonstrates all the skills of Chinese calligraphy incorporating all sorts of strokes. Often men of high ranks were notable calligraphers of their time. Chinese calligraphy requires patience.
Bonus: Fun Fact Calligraphy was one of the Three Perfections beginning in the Song Dynasty. Together with poetry and painting, they became an art....the art of expression. |