I had a wonderful experience in the USC U.S. – CHINA INSTITUTE 2015 SUMMER RESIDENTIAL INSTITUTE during the summer of 2015. Each of the days I encountered new information that will help me teach the art and literature of China, Korea and Japan. As an art teacher, I was most influenced by the art. I have always taught garden design as a form of art, and our trip to the Huntington gave me so much more depth of information and symbolism used in the garden that I will be able to teach the interconnections between art, garden and poetry to my students. In the spring I will have my Design students visit the Huntington Gardens and design their own gardens including many of the elements of the Japanese and Chinese Gardens. I was profoundly helped in the interpretation of paintings and artworks from earlier times through the lectures and expose to literature. Now I feel more confident including the artwork from Asia into my lectures and I have a much firmer understanding of the context of the images. My favorite piece of literature I encountered is The Pillow Book, and I have been working with my students to create their own pillow books over the course of their semester to record their own personal images for artwork and creative writing. I’d love to take this seminar, or another like it in the near future.
edited by jmcmanus on 10/25/2015
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