While in high school, I chose an elective class in isometric drafting where I became the male instructor’s first female student in 1975. I loved isometric drawing. It proved to be invaluable later in life to readily understand Cezanne’s dictum: “Everything in nature takes its form from the sphere, the cone, and the cylinder.” Having become proficient in technical drawing might have awarded me a summer internship in an engineering department at Digital Equipment Corporation…
ARTIST RESIDENCY CHINA — SHANGHAI, no. 46 It is appropriate for friends and food to be at the center of my last night in China. Wang arranged for himself and his three university students who had been my guides to meet for an evening meal. After finding his first choice closed, we had dinner at a Xinjiang-style restaurant. Later walking on a dark street, we passed a group of people crouched on a dimly lit…
ARTIST RESIDENCY CHINA — SHANGHAI, no. 45 The area within the original city wall of Shanghai remained exclusively Chinese during the period of foreign concessions that followed the defeat of the Qing dynasty by the British Empire in 1839. Unfortunately most of the old city has been replaced by a new city that pretends to be old — in a completely artificial way. It is a commercial development designed to accommodate hordes of tourists. Beyond…
ARTIST RESIDENCY CHINA — SHANGHAI, no. 44 The Shanghai Museum is one of several significant institutions within The People’s Park in downtown Shanghai. It contains an insanely sumptuous collection. No material escapes the expressive form and skill displayed by the Chinese and Tibetan people at the highest level of expertise: cloth, bead, wood, jade, gilt-brass, ink, paint, paper, ceramic, stone, bronze. The few samples here do not include items that are difficult to photograph through…
ARTIST RESIDENCY CHINA — SHANGHAI, no. 43 On my last day in Shanghai and first time in a week I found myself unexpectedly on my own for two hours in the city. I set out to walk the length of Nanjing Road to the Bund, mostly emptied of tourists by Monday morning rain. The Peace Hotel, formerly Sassoon House and Cathay Hotel, has a storied past. It was meticulously restored in 2007 to it’s 1926-29…
ARTIST RESIDENCY CHINA — ZHOUZHUANG, no. 42 Another thing that I did not understand, in addition to the legend of Wansan pork hock and the location of tea plantations, is why on the return trip from Zhouzhuang to Shanghai our next stop was The Museum of Mystery of Life. The bus group disembarked at a warehouse-style building. Tickets were arranged and a guided tour began, this time entirely in Chinese. The first exhibit of a…
ARTIST RESIDENCY CHINA — ZHOUZHUANG, no. 41 There is a story about why the popular local meal Wansan pork hock is named after Shen Wansan, the richest man in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasty in Zhouzhuang. It was explained to me several times but I could not comprehend the meaning. It had to do with multi-family intrigue, commercial competition, the sound of his name being similar to the word for pig, and his…
ARTIST RESIDENCY CHINA — ZHOUZHUANG, no. 40 Early in my artist residency in May 2015, I’d visited an imitation river town built in the 18th-century for the enjoyment of imperial concubines. It was designed to recreate actual river towns such as Zhouzhuang, ninety minutes west of Shanghai by bus. It is one of thousands of similar towns with varying degrees of historical significance. Artifacts of civilization in the area date to 770 BC. Three million…
ARTIST RESIDENCY CHINA — ZHOUZHUANG, no. 39 On the second to last day in Shanghai, Wang arranged for me to join a student bus trip to Zhouzhuang, ninety minutes west of Shanghai. Blurry photographs taken through the bus window were washed out even more by the overcast day. In small corners of the images the camera caught people working — on rivers, in fields, and laying tile. They appeared to have stepped directly from the Qingming scroll…
ARTIST RESIDENCY CHINA — SHANGHAI, no. 38 The China Art Museum, built as Expo 2010 China Pavilion in Shanghai, houses an installation originally created for the fair. Based on a 12th century scroll by Zhang Zeduan (1085–1145 AD), the original Song Dynasty painting is one of China’s greatest cultural treasures. The painting depicts daily life of urban and rural people, animals, vehicles, and landscape at all levels of society engaged in diverse economic activities. Of…