Instructor Katharine Lee Siu Ping, whose works have been exhibited by museums in China, Hong Kong and Japan, will teach the course starting Monday, March 4.

by Len Lear

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, since the third century, calligraphy, or writing as a fine art, has been considered supreme among the visual arts in China. Not only does it require immense skill and fine judgment, but it is also regarded as uniquely revealing of the character and breadth of cultivation of the writer. The comprehension of its finer points is thought to require experience and sensibility of a high order.

The Chinese painter uses essentially the same materials as the calligrapher— brush, ink and silk or paper — and the Chinese judge his/her work by the same criteria they use for the calligrapher; basically, the vitality and expressiveness of the brushstroke itself and the harmonious rhythm of the whole composition.

The painters of most periods were not concerned with striving for originality or conveying a sense of reality and three-dimensional mass through aids such as shading and perspective, as do artists in the West; rather, they focused on using silk or paper to transmit, through the rhythmic movement of the brushstroke, an awareness of the inner life of things.

You too can now learn how to create traditional Chinese art in a four-session course offered by Mt. Airy Learning Tree starting Monday, March 4, 6:30 p.m., at Grace Epiphany Church, 224 E. Gowen Ave. The paintings of instructor Katharine Lee Siu Ping, 52, a native of Hong Kong, have been exhibited by museums in China, Hong Kong and Japan.

“I am Chinese and the mother of twin boys,” Katharine told us last week. “I am a very optimistic and easy-going person. I study fine art in Beijing, China; my major subject is sculpture. When I was small, I started to learn traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy from a private teacher in Hong Kong from my professor, Hsueh-Man Shen.”

Hsueh-Man Shen’s published work ranges from decorated tombs and reliquaries to Buddhist cave-temples and shipwrecks, and he has also written on “the role of translation in establishing the intellectual genealogy of Chinese art and the meaning of originality and authenticity in the Buddhist art of China.”

Katharine, who has lived in Manayunk for three years, taught Chinese painting, calligraphy and sculpture in Hong Kong, including to disabled students. “I cherish the opportunity to teach,” she said. “I enjoy attaching great importance to friendly connections.”

Katharine also studied under Professor Qian Shaowu in China, who “let me know how to be a great artist.” Qian Shaowu is a sculptor, painter, calligrapher, art educator and professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.

“Art is without boundaries,” she said. “It's just where the creator grows, and development leads to different artistic expression. Of course, China contains splendid culture. I am proud of my own nationality, and I am convinced that the culture of each nationality has the same meaning.”

Katharine has also taught at Northlight Community Center and Journey's Way in Roxborough in addition to Mt. Airy Learning Tree. She has taught individual private students at home and will be teaching calligraphy painting at Morris Arboretum in April.

“I also love family gathering at home sweet home and cooking in my spare time,” she said.

In her MALT course in March, students will become familiar with the brushes, ink, coloring and strokes of the four traditional Chinese art themes in easy-to-follow, step-by-step learning. Students will discover centuries of visual storytelling embedded in Chinese painting.

For more information about the MALT course, call 215-843-6333.