A Summer in China

Teaching at YaGe Community Art Center - A Beautiful Experience

Thanks to our friend Lynn, Director of YaGe Community Art Center, Jackie and I had the opportunity to teach art to Chinese students during the month of July. Lynn is a talented musician from a neighboring town, an accomplished pianist, and a dedicated music educator with a heart for Chinese. She has earned the trust and permission of the Chinese government to operate a music school in the City of Kunming for over a decade. This was truly a wonderful experience, and I hope we may visit there again someday.

As guest instructors in a special summer arts program, Jackie and I taught visual arts to students whose ages ranged from approximately first grade into high school. Jackie worked with photography projects, and I taught drawing and oil pastels.

The Chinese method of teaching art leans heavily on copying. Although that is not my method of teaching, it helped me overcome the language barrier. Gillian, my interpreter, was indispensable. She has since gone on to pursue art studies here in the United States, and has really blossomed in her work.

It rained all but three days of the month we were there, and we still managed to get outside with the students on a couple of the days. With umbrellas in hand we explored the city as much as our time allowed. Although the weather was wet, it was not insufferably hot. In fact, I thought it was more pleasant than a typical July in Minnesota.

One of the highlights of the experience came on the second to the last day of the program, when Ellen - the school secretary - took me across the street to meet a traditional Chinese artist. See the video, below.