{"id":238461,"date":"2016-06-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-03T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/the-art-of-the-brush\/"},"modified":"2016-06-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-03T07:00:00","slug":"the-art-of-the-brush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/the-art-of-the-brush\/","title":{"rendered":"The art of the brush"},"content":{"rendered":"

Merging ancient history with ink<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Dave Schwab<\/p>\n

Chinese calligrapher and brush painter Shantien Tom Chow showed mastery of his craft during a two-hour \u201cArt Demonstrations and Docent Tour\u201d held May 21 at the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum (SDCHM) in Downtown San Diego.<\/p>\n

Chow joined with members of the Chinese Brush Painting Society San Diego to demonstrate calligraphy and brush paintings on scrolls, which were then auctioned off.<\/p>\n

The society\u00a0is a group of San Diego artists dedicated to learning and promoting the ancient art of Chinese brush painting and calligraphy. Members meet regularly to share ideas on all aspects of Chinese brush painting and host workshops on both traditional and contemporary styles.<\/p>\n

\"Mary<\/a>
Mary Jo Houseman presents her work while \u201cmaster\u201d Chow looks on.
(Photo by Dave Schwab)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Calligraphy is the design and execution of lettering with a broad tip dip pen or brush and can be defined as \u201cthe art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious, and skillful manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

It flourishes today in wedding and event invitations, font and logo design, religious art and graphic design.<\/p>\n

Chinese painting is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. Like calligraphy, it is done with a brush dipped in black ink or colored pigments; oils are not used. The most popular materials used for paintings are paper and silk and the finished work can be mounted on scrolls or done on album sheets, walls, lacquer ware, folding screens and other media.<\/p>\n

A Chinese native, Chow was taught the ancient arts of calligraphy and brush painting starting at age 5. He sees himself as not only an artist, but as an ambassador of the craft.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to promote Asian brush painting and calligraphy, which are both very closely related,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to bring the fine art, not just a craft, to the general public.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chow noted the art form uses Chinese characters \u201cas a form of visual art\u201d in rendering phrases on scrolls.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not really being done in America.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, it\u2019s historical,\u201d Chow continued, explaining his craft. He added that to do Chinese calligraphy well is \u201ca form of poetry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chow is hopeful that teaching Chinese calligraphy and brush painting will be \u201cinstrumental in giving the art form a much wider scope\u201d and taking it \u201cto a different level\u201d with the general public.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, it will teach cultural diversity, which is good for America,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The tools of the trade (Photo by Dave Schwab)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chow is surprised that many of his students, like those in San Diego, can master Chinese painting and calligraphy without prior knowledge of the Chinese language or culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fascinating that an ancient art form that has been around for more than 2,000 years in Asia still has vitality and is being practiced all over the world,\u201d he said. \u201cThis \u2018new blood\u2019 is what gives life to this undying art form.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though Chinese brush paintings have the same techniques and philosophical background \u2014 the expression from the artists constantly changes and evolves,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

One of Chow\u2019s disciples, society student Mary Jo Housman, talked about studying the craft under the master before improvising a scroll at the May 21 art demonstration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn’t until I was a student with Shantien Tom for a while that my passion for calligraphy grew,\u201d Housman said.<\/p>\n

Housman showed off what she learned by interpreting the phrase \u201cOf Justice For All\u201d on a scroll in the traditional Chinese style.<\/p>\n

Housman said she sometimes will create up to 100 renderings before being satisfied she\u2019s done something well enough to secure Chow\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n

The amateur calligrapher said Chow tells all his students to research and study the phrase they wish to interpret, before coming back to him with \u201ca most elegant phrase\u201d to be rendered.<\/p>\n

Housman praised Chow as a role model.<\/p>\n

\u201cTom Chow is not only a marvelous teacher, scholar, painter and calligrapher, but he\u2019s also a poet,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Housman then proceeded to complete \u201cAnd Justice For All\u201d which translates in written Chinese into \u201cRight Justice radiates from heaven to all under.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mission of SDCHM at 404 Third Ave. is to create a deeper understanding of China and Chinese America through programs in education, culture and art in the belief that cross-cultural understanding strengthens the San Diego community.<\/p>\n

Located in the heart of San Diego\u2019s Downtown Asian Pacific Historic District, SDCHM is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary this year with special events, exhibitions, and programs. For more information about the museum, visit sdchm.org. To learn more about the Chinese Brush Painting Society, visit tinyurl.com\/hyyq63d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Dave Schwab puede ser contactado en <\/em>dschwabie@journalist.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Merging ancient history with ink By Dave Schwab Chinese calligrapher and brush painter Shantien Tom Chow showed mastery of his craft during a two-hour \u201cArt Demonstrations and Docent Tour\u201d held May 21 at the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum (SDCHM) in Downtown San Diego. Chow joined with members of the Chinese Brush Painting Society San […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":238462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"The art of the brush","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}