Calligraphy class

Turtles and more turtles



the history of the symbol for turtle, as taken from various original sources. The childlike quality that the works possess are part of the style that an artist tries to capture when executing these symbols, as Professor Song demonstrated when he began his demonstration by smashing a brush loaded with ink onto a sheet of rice paper, violently working his way through one of the symbols, leaving rips through many spots of the practice paper. The class applauded.

Professor Song is a character. His classes typically begin with an hour of him running through a lesson - he sets up to demonstrate something, then starts talking, brush still in hand. then he'll make like he is going to demonstrate, only to dip the brush in the ink, hover over the paper, and return to talking. His english is terrible, but he loves to pop in english words while he is talking, just to make me feel comfortable. If he goes a while and doesn't come up with an english word, he pauses to ask me and the class what the english word is for whatever he is talking about, so he can add that to his vocabulary. He is amusing, patient, and friendly.
Here he is helping me,


and here is a little work he did for me, based on the turtle pages. The jealousy of the other students was palpable as he signed it and gave it to me.