0 The Shanghai Student Film Festival 2013

This year's Shanghai Student Film Festival was an amazing success. The absolute best thing about this event is that every year we are shocked to see how much the students improve by absorbing what was done the year before and working to outdo previous films. At this point, some films that we couldn't even fit in the festival would have been contenders for 'best picture' at our first festivals.

 And then there are the workshops and challenges. For the last three years we've kicked off the festival with the day long '8 hour Film Challenge'. This year, the films were absolutely amazing, and it was a moment of clarity for us film teachers about what we could expect from our students if they were capable of creating such great work in such a short amount of time, what they could do with a few weeks on a project.

 One of the highlights of the film starts with a blogpost that I wrote here eight years ago. Someone had introduced me to one of the best short films I'd ever seen, the academy award nominated 7:35 in the Morning and I've been using it to illustrate the economy of storytelling using limited time and budget. Cut to last year, I'd been following 7:35's director Nacho Vigalondo on twitter, and decided to invite him to the festival to be one of our hosts. His enthusiastic reply "OF COURSE" came so quickly that I worried he thought we were the other Shanghai Film Festival. My fears were put to rest after he confirmed his interest and we began negotiating his arrival.

 In preparation, our classes watched his feature film Los Cronocrímenes (english title: Time Crimes). Long story short, the students became quick fans (like me) and we had an amazing day learning from him at the festival. I'll never forget this moment- one of my students had the idea to recreate one of the classic moments of Timecrimes, when the 'antagonist' lets the protagonist know that he know he's being watched by miming a pair of binoculars in front of his face:

 

 Even though we didn't take a lot of awards home this year, it was still one of our best fests yet. The speakers were amazing, the workshops were amazing, and we even began to adapt our schedule to include some teacher training in film. Finally, our festival was featured on a local english language program. I love the little set up they give us:

Detail: The Shanghai Student Film Festival 2013

0 Shanghai Art Fair 2012

I haven't made it to every one of the the annual Shanghai Art Fairs since we've moved here, but I do regret every one that we've missed. They always feature some of the most interesting and engaging art from around the world. I'll try to upload some video later, but in the meantime, enjoy these snapshots of the artwork:

Detail: Shanghai Art Fair 2012

0 Gurney's Shanghai Journey

You have to be eternally dissatisfied with your first efforts, because there is something better waiting to be discovered. - James Gurney

James Gurney & the IB Art Year I class on our mini field trip.

When I first wrote this post about James Gurney's book, Imaginative Realism, I had no idea where it would eventually lead me and our classes here at the Shanghai American School.  As you might notice, that post is actually just about my intrigue with the concept of the book.  Since then, I've read devoured both that book and its follow up, Color and Light.   Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist is an absolutely critical text for any aspiring artist that is looking to create a realistic and believable things that don't exist.  In this book, Gurney goes into great depth in helping artists develop strategies for creating believable fantasy through combining careful planning, research and observation with a playful and creative approach in re-imagining the world around you.  Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter is a remarkably accessible resource for understanding and translating visual perception into actual painting.

Well, shortly after reading these books, the art department was in discussions about the possibility of bringing in a guest artist.  I immediately emailed James to see if there was any possibility that he'd be interested in coming to China.   To make a long story short (and it is a long story), James was indeed happy to come, and spent the last 6 days of school on our two campuses with a bunch of our students.

In the three days that he spent on our campus, he engaged our students with fascinating demonstrations, presentations, and conversations about the art of creating rich imaginative worlds through careful observation and thoughtful research.  His discussions focused on his the creation of the world and inhabitants of his Dinotopia books.  As he demonstrated for the students, he responded to their questions.  The quote at the top of this post was one of the great bits of advice that he imparted.

One of the most exciting days for the students (and myself) was on our first day, when our IB and AP art classes spent the day painting with James.   The morning started out with his presentation on painting what doesn't exist, and we spent the morning working on various painting projects and working from still lives.  James walked around giving advice and kind praise to the students as they worked.  As the day went on, it felt like we needed to get out and get some fresh air, so we headed over to the wet market across the street to sketch from life.  Here are some highlights from the day.  Click to enlarge and chose the 'titles and description' option for more info:



One of the tools James uses is the Niji water brush pen.  The IB Art students absolutely loved this tool. He often sketches in water color pencil (he recommends Caran D'Ache) and then goes over it with the water brush pen.  Its a convenient way to water colors on the go- and as he mentions, you don't often get stopped in museums with this method. You can read more about the tools he uses here.

On the first day that I met James and his wife Jeanette, we went out to the Water Town Zhu Jia Jiao. Joining us were a number of digital art students from Beijing University, with their professor, Mr. Wei Wang and his wife who is the editor of Fantasy Art Magazine.  They were so amazingly friendly and the students were so thrilled to talk about their own artwork.  Mr. Wang even offered to come back down to talk to our art students (hopefully that will be another post in the not too distant future). Below is a slideshow of James' sketchbook from his Shanghai trip, including a bunch of sketches from that day.  Click to enlarge and chose the 'titles and description' option for more info:




On the first day out, I have to admit that sketching with James, Jeanette,  and Wei Wang was, at first, intimidating to the point of paralysis. However, after three days with James I can say that in addition to being an incredible artist and author, he and his wife Jeanette are simply some of the nicest people I've ever met.

As for the students, they are excited to receive the copies of James' books that we ordered,  excited about the water brushes that that he introduced us to (we're doing a bulk order now), and excited to have had the opportunity to work with and learn from James.  I can't really say it better than one of my IB Art students did after their day painting with James.  "I wish every day could be like this".

Be sure to keep up with the further artistic adventures of James Gurney on Gurney Journey.

Detail: Gurney's Shanghai Journey

0 Paint Beijing with Light

Wow, I kind of wish that we were doing a Paint the World with Light sequel this year. Kendra Farrell's students at The International School of Beijing are doing some very cool things! Don't miss the brilliant fish-eye shots towards the end.

Detail: Paint Beijing with Light

0 Art Workfrence in Shangahi!

I was just having a discussion with my colleague Joan about whether or not the upcoming Transform: Shanghai event is a conference or a workshop. Joan is one of the founders of the event when it was started in Beijing four years ago. Since then it has moved to Shanghai, and I'm proud to be helping out on the organizing committee. I assumed we were calling it a conference because it contains multiple workshops, talks, and excursions, but Joan said it was conceived a a workshop because its a place for people to get together to learn new skills and approaches. Since she is a founder of the event, I deferred to her categorization; however, we then agreed that it was actually somewhere in between. Sort of a Confshop, or Workfrence.





Either way, if you're reading this from your art room anywhere in Asia, what are you waiting for? We got great presenters, great art detours in the city, and great company. Register!



On another note entirely, I thought that this was an insightful and humorous look at merit pay.

Detail: Art Workfrence in Shangahi!

0 Sharkdog in Shanghai and a Watercolor Exhibition

My parents are in town visiting my daughter our family this month, and last weekend we took a little trip out to Zhu Jia Jiao, a small water town just outside of Shanghai. Water towns are small villages based around a canal, or series of canals, and being quite scenic, they're popular with tourists. Amaya and I wore our cool new Shark Dog Swag, thanks to Tricia and her Dryden students. Did I mention that he's got laser paint eyes? Yes! We love our shirts.

We found that the small museum in the town was hosting their 'watercolor biennial', and we were shocked to see some huge names in Chinese art represented, as well as an amazing variety of water colors from around the world. Here you can see some of the work, including some details. Unfortunately, some of the work was behind glass and I couldn't get the best pictures, but there is just some amazing stuff here:

Detail: Sharkdog in Shanghai and a Watercolor Exhibition

0 Devils on the Doorstep

As a film teacher (or probably more relevantly, a film geek), I watch just about as many films as I can. I often mean to include suggestions of films to watch in class here (including a constantly changing list of films about artists that every art class should have). Long story short- I was reading an interview with Danny Boyle when he came here to host the Shanghai International Film Festival last year. In response to a question about his favorite Chinese film, he mentioned Devils on the Doorstep as one of the best films to come out of China.

I'd never heard of it, but as the serendipity gods are always looking out for me, I happened to spot it at one of my favorite DVD stores just a day or two after I'd read the interview. Then it sat on my shelf for a few months. I just got around to watching it recently, and I have to say that its one of the best films I've ever seen.

Its also one of the most surprising films I've ever seen. The movie that you end with is so far from the movie that you started with, that its an incredible feat of creativity and vision that the director is able to pull of such a transition. The hard thing about recommending a film like this is that I can't say too much about it- what you will appreciate most about this film is the unexpected directions that it takes. That being said, understand that it is not for the faint hearted; taking place during the Japanese occupation of China, this film does quite graphically depict some of the horrors of war.

That being said, it is a fascinating film from a cinematic perspective, as well as a historical and contemporary socio-cultural perspective. Director Jiang Wen has been banned from making any more movies in China. Although he is married to a French woman and can work outside of China, he refuses. His stories, he says, take place in China, and that's where they are meant to be filmed and shown.

Detail: Devils on the Doorstep

0 China... Alive!

As mentioned in the last post, our students recently returned from the farthest reaches of the Middle Kingdom, armed with nothing but their cameras and their wits about them*.

The students chose some of their favorite shots for a school photo contest, and they'll be editing more of their work in the coming week. Here's a sample of what they posted so far:

Find more photos like this on T H E . L E N S

*...and most of the other necessities needed for travel, although I understand that the internet was very spotty in some areas...

Detail: China... Alive!

0 Turn it Around!

I just got one of the best photography tips ever from a student in class today.

Our students came back last week from our "China Alive" field trips. The 9th and 10th grades travel in groups to various locations around China. I gave my students a 'photography scavenger hunt' to do on their journeys. Today was our critique, and one of my students came back with this shot:


I asked him how he got the shot- he has his own DSLR camera, but didn't have a Macro lens, as far as I knew.

I was right, he didn't. Instead, he took off the simple kit lens that came with the camera, and turned it around, focusing through the wrong end.

I gave it a try, and sure enough, it works! Its probably not a great habit to get into- shooting with the lens off, but if you're in a pinch and have a great opportunity for an extreme close-up, that's a valuable tip!

Thanks Shan Yuan!

Detail: Turn it Around!