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Professor Du Juemin “It is a feeling that flows from deep inside,” says Professor Du Juemin, classical Chinese painter, calligrapher and a poet, as he held his hands out as if to absorb energy fields floating in the air. The spiritual energies guide Du Juemin, an exponent of the minimalist and the simplistic traditional Chinese painting, to capture life’s story in monochrome. Speaking in Mandarin, his thoughts were translated by Ying Ping Liang, lecturer of Chinese at Confucius Institute, University of the West Indies, Mona. “The use of monochrome is from the Buddhist ideology of minimalism and the fact that all colours evolve from black and white,” explained Du Juemin, who is visiting Jamaica as artist in residence at Confucius Institute. The neutrality in his works, he said, is a very noble style of painting and a formidable medium of expression. Du Juemin’s paintings are a confluence of visual and written thought process – a symphony of poetry with delicate brush stroke...

Chungliang Al Huang "It's my life," professes Chungliang Al Huang, tai chi master, calligrapher, author. "I was groomed with tai chi, but one of my early loves was calligraphy." Exuding an aura of an ascetic, artist, dancer, martial-arts trainer, Master Huang is merging tai chi with calligraphy. The beautiful confluence of the subtle meditative body movements combines with brush strokes in perfect harmony. "We are lucky enough to use calligraphy as an art form. We dance on paper," Master Huang adds. "We literally immerse ourselves as a dancer through our brush, to be expressive." Master Huang recounted that he started practising calligraphy as a child growing up in China and then in Taiwan. "As far back as I can remember, I loved to hold the brush, I loved the way the ink touched the paper." DANCING MEDITATION The flow of the liquid ink, he says, is a form of tai chi flow, which is dancing meditation. The calligr...