What an exhilarating moment on Thursday afternoon when the students installed their amazing bamboo pieces. Three distinctly different art works accomplished by 7 students: One drifting quietly in the wind hanging from a bridge, another describing relationships between a metal rectangle and a cascade of bamboo onto the floor of a courtyard, and the third a Chinese red spiral of angles describing an open swirl in a grassy slope. None of the students had tackled such challenges before and every one of them felt proud and grateful. Rob also felt that they had traversed new terrain of thinking about art, and in relating to art concepts. His way of teaching, discussing aspects of ideas and introducing abstraction and its expressive forms into their conversations was new for them. Form, volume, balance, proportion, space, movement and the other parts of visual vocabulary were tremendously difficult to translate both in words and in conceptual terms, but clearly, over 4 weeks much was communicated and experienced.
Our last day was a hot day with the worst air yet – PM2.5 and PM10s were in unhealthy zones and ozone was in hazardous numbers, but the breeze was present to help cut the heat. We had the unique opportunity to wander through the totally empty, not-yet-open art museum by Kenzo Kuma being constructed on the hill. Our student translator went with us, shimmering with excitement with each new interior view. The kid has a future in design for sure. From there we gathered at 8090 restaurant for a final lunch with the students – sweet and a little sad. The few remaining afternoon hours were spent wandering in local markets with our translator, heading into the underground shopping and places we had hesitated to go on our own, though they turned out to be much like the “old market” we had managed ourselves, a Chinese version of a segmented five and dime.
We took our first taxi, and had a most incredible feast at our host’s home, prepared by our host’s wife. A friend of his from Taiwan brought special teas and we began with that. Then one incredible dish after another appeared on the table, with French wines, followed in the end by the last most special black tea.
The rest of this physical journey will be through time zones and among strangers, but truly the essence of our trip to China will take months or years to absorb. It is possible that there will be layer upon layer of experiences here over time, as the College of Public Art here at the China Academy of Art seems quite interested in Rob’s return. For us, it will take time to figure out its place in our lives. Seeds have been planted, and there is no knowing what will grow.
