Director's Blog: Art Worlds Every Day
Director's Blog: Art Worlds Every Day
June 10, 2010 - 5:37am
Anyone who saw the Olympics may have gotten a sense of the sophistication of Beijing. Whatever TV can show, it’s nothing compared to the lived experience in China’s capitol city. From its wide boulevards, to trendy shopping areas seemingly without end, to skyscrapers that appear to spring up overnight, Beijing is a city relentlessly on the move. Compared to Nanjing, everything is bigger, wider, fancier, though Nanjing has the edge in pedestrian, bike and motor scooter traffic.... Read More...
June 7, 2010 - 8:17pm
Here's a slide show of images around Nanjing. We hope it gives you some of the flavor of the city.
Click on the image to view image gallery, then follow the directions to start the slide show. Read More...
June 3, 2010 - 1:27am
In the past week, we've had the chance to visit two places where the focus is on preserving and maintaining the ancient tradition of Chinese woodblock printing. Since at least the Tang dynasty (almost 2000 years ago), the Chinese have used woodblocks to print documents, books, posters and images--a much more efficient process than hand-drawn calligraphy for producing multiple copies. While the creation of the woodblocks themselves is just as laborious, the block can then be... Read More...
June 1, 2010 - 5:49pm
For all of you out there faithfully following my blog, you may have noticed that some older posts have just reappeared as new posts. I am working with wonderful advisors back at Grinnell on sorting out some issues with the blog, and as either of us goes back in to an old post and makes edits or adjustments, that post then becomes a "new" post. I apologize for the confusion!
We are working on trying to get a slide show of images I created of scenes around Nanjing to appear in... Read More...
June 1, 2010 - 5:28pm
On days when we aren't teaching, we set off to explore an area of the city. Sometimes we walk along wide boulevards lined with sycamore trees. The businesses on these avenues are upscale, glitzy and very polished. They might be selling Italian design, Bentleys, or high end cosmetics. We can usually read the shop signs and brand names, though there are sometimes just enough difference from what we are used to that we suspect that the goods aren't quite the real thing (Polo Villae... Read More...
June 1, 2010 - 4:41pm
Our lodging is at the far end of Nanjing University campus. The campus is divided into the dormitory area for the students (and we live in this part of campus) and the academic and teaching area. Hankou Road runs through the middle of campus and divides the two sections. Several times a day we walk through the dorms and see the students going about their daily lives.
This campus of Nanjing University is for post-graduate study, so all the students have completed their... Read More...
May 31, 2010 - 7:37pm
In the U.S., we often hear about the scale of projects and economic growth in China, but from a distance and with only our own scale of reference, it's difficult to grasp. Even here in central Nanjing, with new skyscrapers and shopping malls under construction in seemingly every block, the feeling is similar to that of redeveloping areas in Chicago, or New York, or L.A. It's impressive, but woven into the fabric of the energy of a city at perhaps a hyper-level from what we have come... Read More...
May 27, 2010 - 10:19pm
This week, our host department, the Office of International Cooperation and Exchanges at Nanjing University, provide a full-day tour of Nanjing, complete with driver and guide. Our guide was a Nanjing native, a 25 year-old masters degree candidate in Linguistics named Yuan Yuan, but who asked us to call her Vivian. Most Chinese students whom we have met have an English name, which Vivian says they typically adopt in middle school as they are learning English. So one of the... Read More...
May 21, 2010 - 6:24pm
After days of hearing of all the accomplishments and accolades accorded to the esteemed Professor Wu, seeing his studio and examples of his work at Nanjing University, and anticipating the moment, we were invited to a luncheon on Friday with the man himself. He had just returned from Hong Kong, where he received an honorary degree from Hong Kong University. Professor Wu is officially Don's host at Nanjing University, but his assistants, Mr. Chen and Mr. Qian (pronounced "chon") have being... Read More...
May 19, 2010 - 12:56am
Today is day 4 in Nanjing and we are beginning to know our way around. We are staying in the Nanyuan Conference Center of Nanjing University, which is essentially the hotel for the school. (For those of you who are former Nanjing fellows from Grinnell, we are not in the foreign scholars house, as it was full.) Since this is a hotel, the rooms are not designed for a long stay. They are well appointed and comfortable, but not very big, so they have given us two rooms. We... Read More...
