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Class in the Spotlight
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East meets West in Chinese Painting course
 Photo by Dennis Burnett Josh Yu (second from right) demonstrates how to paint chrysanthemums for students in his Chinese Painting class April 4. By Monique Bos Published: Friday, April 13, 2007 Josh Yu’s Chinese Painting class at the Savannah College of Art and Design is popular — so popular that 15 students signed up for the 12-seat course and one graduate student commutes from Atlanta twice a week. “It’s a different way to paint,” said Yu, who has taught the class at SCAD for 11 years. “You learn from nature, then paint from your mind to capture the essence of the subject.” Yu said he began learning Chinese painting techniques when he was four years old and has been practicing ever since. He imparst his knowledge of Chinese painting, as well as other subject matter, but the overall goal is for students to synthesize Eastern and Western techniques into their own personal style. “The students’ work at the end of the class is unbelievable — marvelous,” he said. The course is offered once a year, and after the term is finished, students present their work in the annual exhibition “Bridge.” In addition, one student per class is honored for excellent work by receiving a $500 scholarship and free art supplies. “This class is not only teaching traditional painting, but also art history, Chinese history and philosophy,” said Yu. “There’s also more emphasis on a contemporary approach, and that’s why the ‘Bridge’ exhibition always has so much variety.” Throughout the quarter, he demonstrates techniques for painting various traditional subjects, such as flowers, rocks and trees. He discusses how to use different brushes to achieve various effects, how the paint interacts with paper surfaces, how to mix ink, and how to conceptualize subject matter to portray its essence. For example, on April 4, Yu modeled ways to paint orchids, chrysanthemums and camellias. He showed students three different approaches: outlining with black ink, painting forms with color, and painting color subjects before adding a black outline. He begins with the leaves, which he creates using three brush strokes. “I use two strokes to create the petals, starting in the middle of the flower, and place the flower behind the leaves to look more real,” he explained. “I’ll add a second flower in a different pose, maybe a third flower.” After the flowers and leaves are completed, he adds twigs, stems and branches. “There are no single twigs that you see from beginning to end, because I painted the leaves first,” he explained. During the demonstration, he showed students what brushes they can use, and how they can hold the brushes to produce effects such as dark, light, thick and thin lines. He finished each painting with a few black dots. When he showed students how to add an outline to a color painting, he stressed the importance of re-imagining the subject. “Experiment with how to reorganize and define [the shapes] rather than retracing earlier steps,” he said. “Touch up the leaves in black. Use the outline to define the flower. Leave white spots; white spots become received light.” After the demonstration, students practiced the techniques he had taught them. He joked that students could select subject matter based on their moods. “If you’re not feeling very well, feeling angry, paint bamboo,” he said, gesturing to a painting of stalks and leaves that were made using short, choppy brush strokes. “You can connect to social issues, personal issues and beauty in your work.” Yu said he derives his inspiration from nature; he visits botanical gardens, travels and fills his yard with natural elements to observe. “Natural, organic shapes are more interesting to me than manmade,” he explained. “Seek out what could be in the natural. [In a painting,] it could be better than the natural because the artistic arrangement can make everything more perfect.” As an example, he added a touch of green to the inside of camellias he was painting. It isn’t a strict reproduction of camellias in nature, but an interpretation that employs the green as an accent and creates a potentially more realistic representation,of the flower’s essence, he said. “It’s more beautiful because of the contrast.” In addition to teaching the Chinese Painting class, Yu will share his knowledge of Chinese art, history, culture and philosophy with students on the China off-campus program June 4-23. He will teach Painting: Developing a Sense of Place. It was last year’s off-campus program to China that inspired Jacqueline Marlow, a fibers graduate student at SCAD-Atlanta, to commute to Savannah twice a week this quarter to take Chinese Painting. She took Yu’s Developing a Travel Portfolio course and discovered an interest in Chinese art and textiles. “During the trip, she was really interested in the designs and motifs from ancient Chinese fabric and trying to use these in her personal creations,” said Yu. “This is why she wants to take Chinese Painting, to enrich her language for her making of artwork.” The off-campus trip provides students with a different cultural perspective than the one many of them have grown up with, he said, and he uses his own background and connections to enhance the educational experience. “I think it is a great opportunity for art and design students to look at the art from another side of the world, to have firsthand experience [of the] culture, which will benefit and inspire students’ artistic development,” he said. “Since I was born in China, am very familiar with most of the places [we visit] and know a lot of people, I am able to bring students … a much deeper [look at] Chinese people’s activities, alternative art spaces, artists’ studios and galleries, and connect with university students, which is big difference from a simple, surface tourist visit.”  |
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