New fellowship allows Chinese professor to learn more about calligraphy
in her native country.
At the same time Aili Mu learned of a workshop in Chinese calligraphy, a
new faculty fellowship in art history in the Department of Foreign Languages
and Literatures was being announced.
The Jeoraldean S. McClain Art History Scholarship for Faculty was established
to show how art history is an important form of language. The $4000 award
was established by McClain, professor emerita of art history, to cover a
portion of the expenses of travel abroad to faculty members to engage in
a structured summer study program in art history.
For Mu, assistant professor of foreign languages and literatures, it was
the perfect combination of being in the right place at the right time.
"I thought I could put the funds to good use," she said. "She
gave the department a wonderful opportunity to show language is really more
than most believe it is."
With the support of the scholarship Mu, who is a native of China and teaches
Chinese language and culture courses at Iowa State, attended the inaugural
Chinese Calligraphy Workshop in China last June. The workshop was designed
for language instructors who wanted to present calligraphy within a language
program.
Mu and her fellow participants met with calligraphy educators and masters
while observing their practice. They also visited calligraphy programs and
classes at several Chinese universities during the two-week workshop.
"We studied and discussed both theoretical and practical aspects of
calligraphy learning," Mu said. "I felt I needed to study Chinese
calligraphy as an art form to be a better instructor in Chinese studies."
After attending the workshop, Mu was asked to write an article that was
published in a collection of essays by the journal Chinese Calligraphy.
In "The Aesthetics of Chinese Calligraphy and its International Implications,"
she argues for the international significance of Chinese calligraphy as
an art form.
The article looks at the current views on the meaning of Chinese calligraphy
for the world and examines the aesthetic depth embedded in the act of writing
Chinese characters in ink and with a brush.
The final part of Mu's article looks at what can be learned from the aesthetic
practice of Chinese calligraphy in general and how the quality of life for
future generations can be improved through aesthetic learning in particular.
"Calligraphy is very much a part of the Chinese culture," she says. "It
takes every form you can image. It (calligraphy) is every where in popular
culture, both in China and in the West."
You just have to look around Mu's Pearson Hall office to prove that point.
There are several examples of Chinese calligraphy from a scarf and bag she
brought back from her most recent trip to China to the photo frame she purchased
at the Ames' Hobby Lobby.
Calligraphy, Mu says, is a popular activity in China, comparing it to young
Americans playing soccer or taking piano lessons.
Because Mu started school in China the year that nation's Cultural Revolution
began, she did not receive formal training in calligraphy. Although the
workshop allowed her to learn more about the art, she doesn't consider herself
a calligraphy expert.
Still Mu plans to include a three-week unit on calligraphy in a course this
spring. With funds remaining from the McClain fellowship, she purchased
books and supplies to teach the course. Long-term plans include beginning
a calligraphy course to be included in Chinese Studies offerings.
