Charlottetown art gallery teaching children Chinese calligraphy
Traditional art class promoting Chinese culture among immigrants and Islanders
A woman in Charlottetown is teaching children Chinese calligraphy as a way to preserve a piece of their written language and culture.
Lining the walls of her small gallery tucked away in a corner of the Confederation Court Mall, there are dozens of traditional Chinese characters carefully painted on long strips of paper — and all of them were painted by young Chinese newcomers.
Fang Fang came to Charlottetown from China nearly a year ago and opened Edie Art Gallery. She offers a number of classes for children, including watercolour painting and chess lessons.
Fang has a passion for traditional Chinese culture and the idea to start a Chinese calligraphy class started when she wanted to share that passion with her young daughter, Cindy. After speaking with other parents in her community, she decided to create the class at her gallery.
"We have the calligraphy classes for the children because more and more children come to Canada, and even more [Chinese] children are born in Canada," Fang said. "So I opened this class for the children to let them know the culture and the writing."
Giving kids the chance to write
Julia Purcell is a local P.E.I. artist teaching children watercolour painting at the gallery. She said the Chinese calligraphy class, which uses Mandarin characters, made her think about the ways people might take written language for granted.
"I began to think, 'well what about the Chinese people who come here and the children, they learn to speak but how do they ever learn to write?'" Purcell said.
She added that she admires Fang's commitment to bring a piece of Chinese culture and tradition to children on the Island.
"She's making sure that children have this possibility here in P.E.I. to not only speak their language, but to write it," Purcell said.
She said she's impressed by how precise Chinese calligraphy is and although it looks hard, she's eager to try it herself.
"I am keen to try, because it looks like something I'd like to try to do."
Adults welcome
Fang said she offers the class twice a week and currently has four students, but she's hoping the program will grow.
"I also welcome adults to come here and write Chinese characters," Fang said.
She added she also welcomes any Islander to come and practice the art of Chinese calligraphy and learn more about Chinese traditions.
Fang said she is planning to start a Chinese painting class, focused on traditional Chinese watercolour and oil painting styles and techniques.