The West Virginia University School of Art & Design is accepting applications for its faculty-led international summer painting program in Nanjing, China.

The program, which runs from May 21-June 18, provides an opportunity for students to study landscape painting in Chinese ink style in Nanjing and Tangka (scroll painting in Tibetan) in Tongren, Qinghai Province, with extensive traveling to major historical and cultural sites throughout China.

The deadline for registration is May 20.

The summer painting study and travel program in China is led by Naijun Zhang, art professor and coordinator of the painting program in the School of Art & Design.

Zhang received a Bachelor’s of Fine Art in Oil Painting from Nanjing Arts Institute in Nanjing, China, in 1988 and a Masters of Fine Arts in Painting from WVU in 2000.

He said extensive studio time will be dedicated to developing technical skills and artistic vision. Participants in the program will be directed in discovering personal connections with the rich artistic, cultural, scientific and architectural traditions of
China and establishing relationships to their own contemporary art making practices.

Members of the Nanjing Art College faculty will lecture and demonstrate their skills and ideas, introducing students to traditional Chinese painting.

While in Nanjing, the students will take an excursion to the Yellow Mountain range (Huangshan). Artists, poets and musicians have immortalized these revered mountains for centuries. In addition, the students will travel to Xidi, Hongchun, Suzhou, the “eastern Venice,” and Yangzho—renowned for their picturesque beauty and excellent cuisine.

Many activities and special field trips are also scheduled, including Ming Tombs, regional museums, local antique and food markets, and travel to Xian, China’s ancient capital, which once served as the powerful center of the Tang dynasty silk trade. Rich in culture and art history, this area is a pivotal site connected to the origins of Chinese civilization. Xian is home to Emperor Qin’s terra-cotta army, the Forest of Steles and Shanxi Museum, among others.

The cost of the summer painting and travel program in China is $5,950, which includes international airfare, in-country travel, all lodging, food, class materials and six undergraduate or graduate transferable credits from West Virginia University.

For more information and application, please contact Naijun Zhang at naijun.zhang@mail.wvu.edu or 304-293-4119.

More information, including an application packet, is available online by clicking on “international programs” on the WVU School of Art & Design website at http://artanddesign.wvu.edu/.

-WVU-

Lb/4-8/13

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

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