Art Classes

My Classes started on Monday and I decided to take a Fotografy class and an oil painting class. Both are very different from what I am used to in Germany, witch does not mean that they are less interesting. It is surprising to be able to see the different teaching styles and to be able to compare them to one another.

Where we have a lot of freedom in Germany and can basically do what we want in order to develop our own style in what we decide to do, the Chinese teaching style gives them a clear topic on what to work on and everybody works on the same topic. They seem to have a strong group feeling in what they do I believe. For example in my oil painting class we are working with semi nude male models and do one and the same painting for two weeks. The Chinese have perfect technical skills for that, witch I, as not exactly being the typical kind of traditional painter, can not compete with at all.

But I think sometimes it is good to take one steps back in order to take two steps forth.

The students decide in their second year what major they want to take for the rest of their time at the academy. So once you decided to do painting, that's your thing. The Xi'An Academy of Fine Arts has about 15 different departments to choose from. Pretty much anything is offered here, ranging from fashion design, animation and movie making to art history, traditional chinese painting or drawing.

After all everybody welcomes me with wide open arms and makes me almost feel like home while being really nice and interested in how things work in Germany. The cultural exchange is in full progress and the inspiration for further works is flowing within me.