Chinese Culture Day

Desert Museum Art Institute Chinese Painting Workshop

Yunjia Yang, a volunteer teacher of the Arizona Confucius Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine, held a Chinese painting workshop on March 19 at the Sonoran Desert Museum Art Institute, a local landmark museum. This art academy is a well-known mass art popularization center in the area, aiming to convey the mission of protecting the natural and ecological environment through art education. It relies on the huge flow of people in the Sonoran Desert Museum and attracts many participants.

In the workshop, Yunjia Yang briefly reviewed the history of Chinese painting and two major techniques: ink wash and fine brushwork. Afterward, she taught peony painting using gradient colors in Chinese painting as a technique. While painting Chinese paintings, traditional Chinese music such as Guzheng and Guqin was played as the background music for the painting. Finally, everyone also learned to write the word "peony" with a brush. The students were enthusiastic and immersed in it, and called it an artistic enjoyment of pleasing body and mind. Through the wonderful immersive experience of Chinese painting and Chinese music, the students have developed a strong interest in the long history and profound Chinese art through this workshop, and have also aroused their curiosity and interest in calligraphy, Chinese characters, and Chinese. In the feedback and grading after the class, all students gave 5 out of 5 in each indicator. They strongly expect us to offer more courses on Chinese art in the future. 

Through this workshop, the Arizona Confucius Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine also established a friendly cooperative relationship with the Sonoran Desert Museum. We agreed to promote each other's courses in the future and to support and cooperate with each other in potential future events.

沙漠博物馆艺术学院中国画工作坊——中文文化日活动

亚利桑那中医孔子学院志愿者教师杨韵佳于3月19日在当地地标性博物馆-索诺兰沙漠博物馆艺术学院开展了中国画工作坊。此艺术学院为当地有名的群众艺术普及中心，旨在通过艺术教育传递保护自然与生态环境的使命。它依托索诺兰沙漠博物馆巨大的人流量，吸引着大量的参与者。

在工作坊中，杨韵佳简要地回顾了中国画的历史和两大技法：水墨与工笔。随后，教授了以中国画中渐变色为技法的牡丹画。在画国画的同时，播放了古筝、古琴等中国传统音乐为作画的背景音乐。最后，大家还学会了用毛笔写“牡丹”二字。学员们兴致勃勃沉浸其中，称之为愉悦身心的艺术享受。通过中国画、中国音乐的美好的沉浸式体验，学员们通过此次工作坊，对历史悠久、博大精深的中国艺术产生了浓厚的兴趣，也随之引发了对书法、汉字和中文的好奇和兴趣。在课后的反馈和评分中，所有学员均在各个指标给了5分满分。他们强烈期待我们在今后提供更多的关于中国艺术的课程。

通过此次工作坊活动，亚利桑那中医孔子学院也与索诺兰沙漠博物馆建立了友好合作关系。我们商定在今后互推课程， 并在以后的潜在活动中互相予以支持合作。