Painting the River: The Art of Chinese Writing
Discovering the Art of Chinese Writing Through Interactive Music and Drawing
In a vivid sonic and visual journey, Shaw Pong invites listeners to draw pictures as she performs Chinese and original music on the violin and erhu. Following each song and creative drawing, Liu shares the visual history of each Chinese character based on the same subject - river, flower, and horse - showing how each character evolved from an ancient drawing over thousands of years. Liu joyfully shares the physical pleasure - and precision - of writing each Chinese character, as students have the chance to try writing Chinese themselves. Listeners will end the journey with a set of their own hand-made drawings and Chinese written characters!
Program available in person, or live online.
Audience Limit: 300
Curriculum Connection: Foreign Languages; History/Social Studies; Chinese language, music, and culture
Single performance: $750
Additional performance: $600
Travel: $75 per day
Pricing may vary for weekends/out-of-school time
Processing Fee of $30 added to all contracts
Remote (live)
School sets up link for remote meeting and makes the artist a co-host. Screen share must be enabled. Artist may need to sign on 20-30 minutes prior to the meeting to check sound levels. A representative from the school must be on the call to facilitate Q+A and mute students as needed. Students should be provided with drawing materials and at least 4 pieces of paper. Please introduce the performer as an Arts for Learning Massachusetts artist.
In-Person
Provisions:
- 1 reserved parking space
- 1 microphone stand with boom
- 1 armless chair
- 2 music stands or 1 easel for display of large‐format posters
- projector and screen (if possible, please let AFLMA know if these cannot be provided)
Performance Space Requirements:
- Students seated on floor, if possible.
- Prefer as intimate (small) a space as can comfortably accommodate all audience members.
- Please provide students with drawing materials and at least 4 pieces of paper, a hard surface for each student to draw on, such as a table, desk, or clipboard
Minimum space for performer: 5x8 feet
Arrival time before first performance: 30 minutes
Strike time: 15 minutes
Time needed between performances: 15 minutes
Grades should be consecutive.
Please introduce the performer as an Arts for Learning Massachusetts artist.
