Overview

This book is for those interested in Chinese art; Chinese painting; learning Chinese painting techniques-bamboo, snowy bamboo, birds, peonies, plum blossoms, orchids, pine, water, rocks; the philosophy of Chinese painting; living in Taiwan. It is an illustrated memoir of my experiences as a woman living in Taiwan, a decade of my life. I became a painter whose media are the Chinese brush and ink, and who became educated in the tradition of Chinese painting, culture, philosophy, and art. These forces have become my heart. I lived in Taiwan for about ten years. In art, what enchanted me was the space in Chinese painting. There would be a plum branch or bamboo branch floating free in the sky. I started studying soon after we arrived in Taiwan, hoping to learn ideas of painting resulting in a representation so pure and free. In the West we fill up our canvases with everything, but sometimes the detail in the Chinese painting is the dramatization of the freedom of space. This is Taoist philosophy because the creative energy of the universe is in the space. This is my idea of the meaning of the Tao. The concepts of Chinese painting most moving to me originate in Taoist philosophy. The ideas and methods of the artist have as their purpose the expression of the harmony of Tao. I stepped from the maddened American world into the strength of painting in Chinese culture at the age of twenty-six. The bamboo reflects all the feeling, spirit, vision, emotion of the painter-what the painter paints is his own heart. Painting the bamboo is like stepping out into the blue sky where sky and man become one.

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9781484101247

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[A] 'must-read' for all those interested in the African Diaspora and Brazilian slavery. --Mary Karasch, Oakland University

Author Information

Mary Elin Jenkins-Jin(Jin Sz Ru) completed her bachelor's degree at the University of Arizona also her master's degree in English literature. While at the University of Arizona, she taught lower division writing classes, literature, and humanities. She moved to Taipei, Taiwan, with her husband to study the Chinese language and culture. The couple remained in Taipei for nine years. During this time, she began her study of painting in the Chinese tradition with Chinese masters of the brush. These included Jin Jen and Yuan Tien-I, a recognized master of painting the bamboo as subject expressing all human reality. She taught English at National University and at the Language Center under sponsorship of National Taiwan University and the United States Information Service. Mary 's paintings were shown in the 1972 Taiwan Provincial Fine Arts Exhibition and in the Taipei City Education Department's Fine Arts Exhibition of 1973 and 1974. She held a one-person show at the Li Arts Service Center in 1977. Upon returning to the United States, Mary Elin taught English at the University of Hawaii, Hawaii Pacific University, Kansai Gaidai, and Pacific International Language School of which she was co-owner and director. She continued her study of painting with Professor Yuan's guidance. She has incorporated many traditions into her present painting and into her own spirit. She has offered instruction in bamboo painting in the Chinese tradition to a group of painters known as the Precious Ink Chamber, under Professor Lam-Oi Char, and at the Rehab Hospital in Honolulu. She was also an active member of the Precious Ink Chamber and of the Hawaii Watercolor Society. Her local exhibits include a one-person show at the University of Hawaii; a teacher-student exhibit in the Graphic Arts gallery at the Honolulu Academy of Arts (with Professor Yuan); numerous entries in Hawaii Watercolor Society exhibits; Precious Ink Chamber exhibits (including four at Honolulu Hale-Honolulu City Hall); a one-person exhibit at Pacific International Gallery in 1999; several exhibits at the Sun Scenes Gallery at Northern Arizona University; and a joint exhibit with Yuan Tien-I at the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center, Tucson, Arizona. She has practiced the painting of bamboo for forty years. She now lives in Flagstaff and Sedona, two splendidly beautiful places. Mary Elin is privileged to work on painting the rocks of the Grand Canyon and the red rocks of Sedona.

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