Chinese Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition at UNYP

The Introduction to Chinese Calligraphy (and Painting) exhibition took place on Tuesday 14^th May at UNYP. The class was taught by Natasha Sutta. The exhibition was opened by Dr. Andreas Antonopoulos, the Rector of UNYP.  Two UNYP students, Ta Thuy Dung (Susie) and Nguyen Mai Linh delighted their audience with Chinese, Korean and American songs, accompanied by guitarist Daniel Jahn. As well as exhibiting their calligraphic work, and landscape paintings, all the students also presented academic papers about Chinese calligraphy and culture, which they had researched as part of the course.

When taking the Introduction to Chinese Calligraphy (and Painting) class, you (at least for a couple of months) become part of something much bigger than you are, a cultural tradition which is several thousand years old. It makes you appreciate the effort of countless people before you, who dedicated their lives to this gentle art. Hopefully, it will even bring you closer to the Chinese world-view, which is tremendously different from ours: be it concerning family, community, tradition, role of individuals in society, their success etc. Maybe one day you will even understand the connection between Chinese calligraphy, ink paintings and dance, or maybe it will help you if you make a deal with Chinese business people, as their presence in the Western markets is growing stronger every year. It may even inspire you, as it did Steve Jobs, who dropped out of college but appreciated his calligraphy course. According to his biography, written by Walter Isaacson, he often praised the elegance, perfection and attention to detail learnt from calligraphy as cornerstones of Apple’s philosophy.

Written by Jakub Turanyi (a UNYP student who has just completed the Introduction to Chinese Calligraphy class).