This first image was from the ‘Transience and Eternity’, Angie Dixon’s exhibition at Foster/White in the 1990’s. It was a combination of installation and paintings. It was about creation and the formation of everything before it becomes tangible. The paintings were meant to be of the actual tangible results of the creative formation. The installation was black and white, the paintings were in color.
Angie Dixon studied art at the University of Washington where she received two degrees: one in fine arts and the other in art history. Dixon was one of the first 24 Americans accepted into the art school to study classic Chinese Landscape Painting and other Chinese painting and calligraphy in Hangzhou, the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in the people’s Republic of China. She continued with graduate studies in the People’s Republic of China at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in 1984.
I eavesdropped on Dixon’s Beginning Sumi workshop last weekend, and heard her talk about studying from the old master ink and brush painters. Dixon is a deeply respectful person, especially when it comes to issues around cross-culture, education, and traditions – so this caught my ear: “You had to do what the masters said, exactly what they said, and not deviate.” She continued:
At the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, students were asked to copy the teacher’s work, and you were only supposed to have one teacher. If you didn’t copy it exactly they’d have you do it again. After much study, Dixon said that one day the teacher told her to do it again, because she had failed to make an exact copy. She said “Ok, show me how it’s done.” The teacher attempted to make a copy of his own work, and failed. She learned from that, and decided to respect the knowledge that had been shared with her, and go her own way. Dixon branched out to study more styles and approaches from many more teachers for sumi all across Asia, and now has a contemporary voice to her ink, combining various Eastern and Western methods.
Dixon has a talent and a passion for teaching, and we are fortunate to be able to learn from her vast knowledge and experiences in sumi brush painting. This weekend starts a 2 Day workshop, by request of her students. Sumi II is for anyone who already has some experience with sumi, so students will have more opportunity to broaden and improve their techniques, and take their brushwork to the next level.
“Protest is a fundamental reason I paint. Protest against sexism, against the status quo, against what I should be doing” – Elizabeth Malaska (Oregon Arts Commission)
We are more than two thirds through February and I’ve been so busy posting pictures of your vegetable drawers that I haven’t posted for Black art history month. Terrible! To be honest, it has been a tough year and the last thing I want to do is send you pictures of more hard shit to …
This is the second of a series talking about my process of painting. How do I start, and how do I make decisions along the way? When, how and why I manipulate my source material, etc. In the next few days, I’m going to share everything from my process of idea creation to the prep, …
Art News by Anika D. We all know that abstract art has made a big comeback on the art market, but how many of you know that abstractionism is also the favorite style of the presidential couple Barack and Michelle Obama? Unlike his forbearers, Barack Obama seems to be tired of looking at all those boring …
Sumi Installations, by Angie Dixon
This first image was from the ‘Transience and Eternity’, Angie Dixon’s exhibition at Foster/White in the 1990’s. It was a combination of installation and paintings. It was about creation and the formation of everything before it becomes tangible. The paintings were meant to be of the actual tangible results of the creative formation. The installation was black and white, the paintings were in color.
Angie Dixon studied art at the University of Washington where she received two degrees: one in fine arts and the other in art history. Dixon was one of the first 24 Americans accepted into the art school to study classic Chinese Landscape Painting and other Chinese painting and calligraphy in Hangzhou, the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in the people’s Republic of China. She continued with graduate studies in the People’s Republic of China at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in 1984.
I eavesdropped on Dixon’s Beginning Sumi workshop last weekend, and heard her talk about studying from the old master ink and brush painters. Dixon is a deeply respectful person, especially when it comes to issues around cross-culture, education, and traditions – so this caught my ear: “You had to do what the masters said, exactly what they said, and not deviate.” She continued:
At the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, students were asked to copy the teacher’s work, and you were only supposed to have one teacher. If you didn’t copy it exactly they’d have you do it again. After much study, Dixon said that one day the teacher told her to do it again, because she had failed to make an exact copy. She said “Ok, show me how it’s done.” The teacher attempted to make a copy of his own work, and failed. She learned from that, and decided to respect the knowledge that had been shared with her, and go her own way. Dixon branched out to study more styles and approaches from many more teachers for sumi all across Asia, and now has a contemporary voice to her ink, combining various Eastern and Western methods.
Dixon has a talent and a passion for teaching, and we are fortunate to be able to learn from her vast knowledge and experiences in sumi brush painting. This weekend starts a 2 Day workshop, by request of her students. Sumi II is for anyone who already has some experience with sumi, so students will have more opportunity to broaden and improve their techniques, and take their brushwork to the next level.
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“Protest is a fundamental reason I paint. Protest against sexism, against the status quo, against what I should be doing” – Elizabeth Malaska (Oregon Arts Commission)
An incomplete but very long White Art History of Slavery
We are more than two thirds through February and I’ve been so busy posting pictures of your vegetable drawers that I haven’t posted for Black art history month. Terrible! To be honest, it has been a tough year and the last thing I want to do is send you pictures of more hard shit to …
My Process: The Mental and Physical State of Painting
This is the second of a series talking about my process of painting. How do I start, and how do I make decisions along the way? When, how and why I manipulate my source material, etc. In the next few days, I’m going to share everything from my process of idea creation to the prep, …
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