Art Around the World: Chinese Calligraphy

Chinese calligraphy is an ancient art form which originated in China using a brush and ink. It is differentiated from Western calligraphy because the characters are composed of many more strokes. In Chinese calligraphy, a single character can be composed of as many as 30 or as few as one stroke. A soft hairbrush creates strokes using the ink absorbed by dipping before writing starts. As the calligrapher writes the character, the variations in the brush's pressure, speed, and direction create different styles. The most common styles are regular, clerical, cursive, semi-cursive, and seal. 

Most of elementary schools in China are still teaching Chinese calligraphy. It starts by practicing with one style, such as regular style then move on to other styles when the learner is competent with writing many characters in one style. 

Chinese calligraphy also serves a huge benefit of character recognition in Archaeology. The characters are not just symbols; they carry cultural and historical weight. The evolution of Chinese characters mirrors the evolution of Chinese culture and society. Understanding the different styles (e.g., oracle bone script, seal script, clerical script, regular script) provides insights into how the language itself has changed over time. 

In this workshop, the instructor will introduce the history of Chinese Characters, supplies, demonstrate the practice and answer questions. 

Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund. For information on events, go to MiddlesexCountyCulture.com