Chinese Poetry + Painting workshops 6/6 + 11/6

For our Chinese Poetry + Painting workshops on 6th June and 11th June, we wanted to bring out the message: “Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”- Leonardo da Vinci.

Painting and poetry have become inextricably intertwined, but to paint out the scenery within a Chinese poem, students are required to first understand the meaning of it. In this workshop, our instructor led two groups of year 10 students on a journey to explore the beauty within paintings and Chinese poems. Specifically, for them to understand the different techniques used by painters and poets. This allows students to learn Chinese poetry from a different perspective and create paintings in response to the Chinese poems. Chinese painting was the main medium of teaching and students got a chance to try different painting techniques. This creative process is a new experience for both teachers and students to explore the different possibilities in Chinese poetry learning. This result of the workshop shows great responses as students were more aware of the balance and composition in a painting, the play of light and shadow, the energy and colour all participates in the final product. The sceneries within the poem of their choice.