The program will be offered in two sessions, one for teens and one for adults.

The workshop will cover:

Cultural context: The Four Classical Arts, of which calligraphy is one.

The Four Treasures of Chinese painting and calligraphystone, ink, brush, paper.

How to hold and use the brush to make expressive strokes. Care of the bamboo brushes.

Introduction of the Eight Basic Strokes used to paint bamboo as traditionally taught with the strokes in the character 8, yong, eternity.

Practice making strokes with water on practice paper.

The development from pictographs carved in oracle bones 4000 years ago, through the codification of the written language 2000 years ago. Examples of the progression.

Presentation of a few basic characters and how they are multiplied or combined with other characters to make new words and express concepts. Introduction to the radical/phonetic system.

Demonstration of the strokes learned as used to paint bamboo with ink on paper.

Practice on white paper with ink to draw the early pictographs, write characters, paint bamboo or a combination.