CHINA DIARY #4 - April 2006
By Charles J. Hecht

Page 3 of 3 | Back >>

Day 14 Saturday, April 22.

Nothing goes as planned in Beijing. I thought that I would do some more calligraphy and then bike to the studio to work on a new woodcut that I had designed. Listening to Beethoven's Ninth on the I-pod obviously had a beneficial effect, because the calligraphy I did this morning was so much better than what I had previously done. Everything seemed to flow. As I am learning with calligraphy, there is no room for hesitation, because if you do hesitate the ink spreads on the rice paper and ruins the lines of the characters. Since I was in a gallery portion of the compound, which was not near anyone else, I ended up singing along with the last movement of the symphony.

Just as the symphony finished, Li Gang showed up and wanted to show me the storerooms where he kept his art, as well as where two of my small sculptures were located. I asked him when Oliver Zimmerman, the German gallery owner, was coming out. Li Gang looked at me as if I was talking out of thin air. I reminded him that we had met him at the 2 Lines Gallery three days ago and he said he was going to come out to the Pickled Arts Center on Saturday. Li Gang had apparently forgotten. My phone rang and it was Oliver Zimmerman who was in the area in a cab, but could not find the Pickled Arts Center. We directed him to the Pickled Arts Center. He looked at the gallery, Li's sculptures and the best I could show him were pictures of large Long and Slender under construction, the small Long and Slender and the steel sea critters in my digital camera. He seemed interested and wanted to go see those sculptures, plus more of Li Gang's sculptured shoes at his studio.

In the interim, Li wanted me to join him for lunch with two American women who were conducting tours of the art district. Previously I had tried to arrange this type of thing through the American Chamber of Commerce, but without success. We were having lunch at the Garden Restaurant because they wanted to plan the menu in advance. Megan Connely had previously run Ethan Cohen's art gallery in New York City, which was considered a leading art gallery on Chinese contemporary art, before she moved to Beijing four years ago. Her sister joined her a year and a half ago. They seemed to really enjoy living in Beijing, while understanding its difficulties. Oliver joined us for lunch.

After lunch we went to some other galleries so the Connelys could get an idea on planning the tour. We eventually got out to Li Gang's studio. In the interim Oliver had received a call from a major collector from Sao Paulo, Brazil who was in Beijing and wanted to meet him. His mind was somewhere else after that. After a visit to Li Gang's compound and other artists in the compound, Oliver needed to find a taxi, so I walked him out to the main road. Li Gang showed the two Americans other studios at the Beijing International Art Camp. We then went to an opening at the Red Gate Gallery. One of the participants in the Red Gate studio rental program, Rae, a sculptor from Australia, was having a two day show. Basically, Brian had squeezed her in between two other shows, but Rae seemed happy with the arrangement. The Red Gate space is small, but the gallery is well located on the first floor, near the main entrance to 798.

At the gallery show Hao Li and Michael showed up. Also I met Helen, a Chinese curator who spoke with a delightful English accent. She was in the process of opening her own gallery in 798 and Hao Li was the first artist that she was showing. The whole crew then went over to Helen's new gallery which was set to open in six days. Although only one light worked and the carpet had not been laid, you could see that the gallery was ready to open shortly. She had far too many pictures on the wall and asked Lennart what to do. Lennart suggested that she go from 24 to 7 paintings on the wall and then set up one painting on an easel in the window. The gallery has a terrific location because it is the first gallery in from the main entrance and across the hall from it is going to be the 798 Information Center. But the space is very small and expensive. I later found out that she kept all 24 paintings on the wall and did not use an easel to put a painting in the window.

Leslie called me so I excused myself from that gathering so we could talk for a while. Li, Lennart and I then wandered back to the Red Gate annex because there was supposed to be a dinner party. On the way we stopped in a women's clothing store because I had seen a blouse I thought Leslie would like. Lennart wanted to go into the next store because he knew the owner, Feng Ling. Li Gang ended up buying a custom made dinner jacket so he could have something nice to wear at openings. Lennart and Li invited Feng to join us for dinner at the party being given by Brian Wallace/Rae at a Chinese restaurant right down the road from the AT Café. We got there a half an hour late, but there was more than enough food. The restaurant ran out of glasses, so we ended up drinking beer out of paper cups. Many of the same people that I had seen around the Pickled Arts Center were at the dinner. It seems that there is the same nucleus of foreign exchange artists with a few local people added that goes from night to night gallery opening hopping and having dinner.

During the day the temperature got up into the high 70s. As a measure of precaution, I went back and got a sweater for the evening of gallery hopping/dinner. After dinner, it got bitterly cold and the sweater was not enough. Li Gang dropped us off fairly near where he lives so that we could walk home. I was so cold I insisted on a taxi. I dropped Lennart off and then went back to the Pickled Arts complex. I was asleep in two minutes.

Day 15

Sunday, April 23. I got up early in the morning because I knew I had a lot to do. After breakfast and a good hot shower, I did calligraphy for about an hour, because if the commission came through from the American Chamber, I wanted to get the calligraphy portion done before I left. I then rode out to the Beijing International Art Camp, where Li Gang's studio is located. I went through the village and on the way I heard firecrackers. There was a Chinese wedding and the road was totally blocked, so I gawked along with the other residents who could not get through. Fifteen minutes later I stopped by the doughnut stand on the street. Because it was late in the morning, he had to make a fresh doughnut for me. It was simply bread with a kind of filling in it that was deep fried in oil. I had him wrap it up and put it in my jacket and continued to the studio.

At the studio I decided to take a walk and go through some of the abandoned studio units. Approximately six weeks earlier the government had notified the residents that this was illegal housing and that they had to move out. It was settled shortly thereafter, but many of the tenants did move out and in the process some of them in anger had destroyed their rented apartment/studio. Li Gang, in a quiet act of defiance, was adding two outside rooms to the two studios that he leases. I then started to do some work on a new woodcut, realizing that the practice woodcut would remain a practice woodcut and be good for firewood. The Chinese wood I was using was of poor quality as it is made up of many small bits, but the outside portion of one side had an interesting grain and it would serve my purpose.

While I was working, Lennart came over to say hello and wanted to know if I wanted to have a cup of coffee with him. I declined because I wanted to get the woodcut done in time to create some prints before I returned to the US. An hour and a half later a the group of American tourists, that was arranged for by the Connelys the prior day at lunch, came through the compound. It turns out that two of the people on the tour were the Sharps, who I had met at the Guggenheim Museum. They toured the area and visited a number of studios and, the last studio they visited was where I was working. I showed them around the studio.

One of the questions asked by the group was why did I go to China to do my work? I explained to them that China gave me the ability to focus and immerse myself in my art. They had the craftsmen, the work ethic and the facilities to complete the projects much more quickly and at a lower cost than in the United States. This was my first bronze casting and although Li Gang had an excellent reputation I wanted to see the finished product and see how it would hold up before I would make a final judgment. I explained that although the workmen did not speak English, we were able to easily communicate and work together well and that everyone worked very hard, including Saturdays and Sundays, and we often worked from 9 in the morning till 7 at night. After they left I shared a pasta lunch with Lennart.

I then went back and carved some more before we went to a late brunch being thrown by Alessandro and Virgine. They live in the main district in the center of the downtown area near Tiananmen Square. The late brunch was held in their share of the outdoor common area/garden. Virginie teaches French at an international school, Western Academy, and there was an interesting mix of ex-pat teachers and people in the arts who were friendly with Alessandro. I met Pan Yiqun, a metal sculpture professor at Tsing Hua University. He had heard about my visit with Dong Hai and he had heard that I was coming so he brought his catalogue and some materials from a recent iron conference in London. We had a good talk, going over different concepts and how we like to use iron. Iron to him is our steel. He likes to chemically treat the iron to speed up the oxidation process. I like to let iron change color naturally and this way the sculpture is always evolving. He apparently did not have any experience with what we know as iron. Since I had planned to go back to the university on Monday or Tuesday to work with the glass people, I said that I would give him a call, since his office is right next to the glass studio. He is also a friend of Li Gang. It was a nice group of people, and some of them were going to an acrobatic show afterwards, but I wanted to get back to work on the woodcut. As I left I made plans with Tung-Wen, to have dinner that night.

I worked for four hours, moving the equipment inside the studio when it got too dark. A couple of the security guards at the Beijing International Art Camp watched. Not a word was said as I was totally focused on the work. I took one break to call Leslie and I told her that at the party Bord, the leading sculptor in Norway, came up to me and commented that he had heard really good things about my sea critters, he understood that they had a really good sense of humor and although he was leaving on Tuesday he wanted to come over and see them at Li Gang's studio. When Tung-Wen called at 9:30 p.m. and asked if I had eaten yet, I explained that I had not, so we made arrangements to meet at Tan Da, also known as the Garden Restaurant. With him were Phillip and Elisa. I arrived on my bike exactly when their taxi arrived. Raw vegetables grown in the restaurant's green house is the current appetizer in vogue. They are served with a type of tofu pancake and a sauce on the side. They described the beginnings of their conceptual piece that they were going to complete and show in June at the Imagine Gallery. After dinner I rode my bike back to the compound.

I noticed a trend. A number of the art sponsorships required the foreigners to pay rent for the studio/living quarters. The going rent was approximately $1,000 a month. This was a nice side business for Brian Wallace, Li Gang and others since they were able to fix up and rent these units for a much lower cost. As a quid pro quo Brian and Imagine Gallery give the visiting artist a show. Sometimes it is brief. In the case of Rae it was only two days and was fit in between two major shows at the new Red Gate annex gallery at 798. In other cases, like Phillip and Elise it was to be for two weeks. As conceptual artists, they feel the toughest job is to work out the concept. Once that is done then it is a matter of merely getting the elements built. They combined sculptural elements with other items but the exhibition will not be until June and I have to return in less than a week. Tung-Wen and I caught up on what had happened to us in the last year briefly, and we said that we would continue the discussion at a later date. I biked home in the dark. There are no street lights in that part of Beijing, so you have to be very careful of objects on the road and the sleeping Caribbean policeman, which are designed to slow up automobile and truck traffic, but are built in such a way that the bikes can skirt around the edges to avoid going over the bumps. I was sound asleep within five minutes and all set for a busy day on Monday.

Day 16 -- Monday, April 24

After breakfast I tried to find glue to repair certain mistakes in my woodcut at the Pickled Arts Center. I communicated as best I could with Li Gang's carpenter but we could not find any. I then rode to the local hardware store and with the aid of a Chinese American dictionary bought a large container of wood glue, since they did not have a smaller one. I then took the glue over to the studio. It ended up that I hardly used the glue at all but, made design changes to finish up the wood cut. Li Gang came by at around 11:30, looked at the wood cut, and asked if he could make a print of it and include the print in the 2 Lines Gallery Muban wood cut show. He said he liked it. I said I would like to see how it comes out when we print it but I found the whole process very enjoyable and quite interesting. Lennart then walked over and the three of us loaded up the plaster casts, the small metal sculptures and some materials that they needed to take to the frame shop in the floral district.

Off we went to the floral district so they could work with their framer to prepare for this show of wood cut prints. The primary purpose of the show was to sell antique Japanese and Chinese prints that Lennart had collected over the years. There were some contemporary Chinese and American artist's who would have wood cut prints in the show to give it balance. The show begins April 29th and the wood cut that I just finished would be in there for a very reasonable amount, which was fine with me.

I then went off to Tsing Hua University to drop off the plaster molds with Dong Hai. When I got there, as I had discussed with Li Gang before I didn't understand how the plaster molds would work with the glass since they were so fragile. After discussing it with Dong Hai we realized that the plaster molds were not going to work and that I was to bring the latex molds so that they could make a wax mold. I then came up with the idea of not trying to replicate what I had done in the United States, but maybe make just a glass mold of the animals without the legs and without the backfins, I did not discuss it with anyone at the time because I wanted to give it some more thought.

Lennart, Li Gang and I then went off to Mary Claire's apartment. She is an artist who Li Gang first met when she moved from Paris to Beijing with her husband approximately three years ago. Li Gang had helped her obtain the art contacts she needed to continue her art work. Apparently her first house was near an electric utility line and the electric current caused a tumor in her brain. Her whole left side was paralyzed. She is married to a French executive, has two children and now lives in a beautiful penthouse apartment. The real purpose of the visit was to pick up some of her wood cut prints for the show. Her studio work room has approximately 220 degrees of light and is surrounded by a porch. It is fantastically set up. The apartment has a full style western kitchen, four bedrooms and is on two floors. It is as nice as almost any apartment in New York City, with the added ability of three large porches outside. We then went off to meet Heying and Wendy for dinner. Li Gang's fourth uncle joined us, and after a good dinner I was dropped off at SAC where I rode my bike back to the compound. I then worked on drafting a new wood cut to start working on. I was in bed by 11:00. When I came back that evening Xaio Yan at the compound commented on my calligraphy and asked what I was trying to accomplish. We spent about an hour doing calligraphy while looking at the beginner's book in Chinese calligraphy and what I was trying to accomplish. I then read a bit before going off to bed at 11:00.

Day 17 -- Tuesday, April 25th

I overslept but was off biking to the studio by 9:45. I worked for about two hours and then met Peter, Chin, who used to formerly work for Li Gang but now works for Bord, the Norwegian sculptor, Peter's fiancé, Niko, the French jewelry designer I had met at Alessandro's party and then Zhang Xaio Yan also joined us. As we were finishing lunch at the local restaurant, we ran into Nathaniel and Jeremy, who were going off to the second hand electronic market so Nathaniel could buy high fidelity speakers. He was here for a year and needed his music. I then rode back to the studio and worked for another five hours until Li Gang showed up to see what was going on and to look at the new wood cut, which was my version of a pre-historic type fish that lived in very deep water with very sharp teeth. He also told me that the rubber molds that had been delivered back to Pickled Arts Center and that I should take them down to Dong Hai the next day. Li went in to paint and I continued to work on the wood cut.

About 30 minutes later Lennart came by to show us his new electric bicycle. He paid slightly over $200 for it as he was able to get a discount since it was a demonstration model. These are the latest rage in Beijing. I can understand why. They are really cool. Lennart's was a fold up type bike which meant that he could put it in a taxi if he didn't want to use it. It has a maximum speed of 20 kilometers an hour on the motor. You could also peddle it, and when you do peddle it recharges the battery. He let me ride it and it was a lot of fun. It is a very scaled down version of a motor cycle. If I come back to China and stay for any period of time I would like to buy one and sell it when I leave or rent one, as it a great way to get around. I would not have the courage to take it all the way into the center of Beijing, but for local travel it would be terrific.

Li Gang went home at around seven, Lennart went to Pickled Arts Center to do some work in preparation for the upcoming show and I stayed at the studio in SAC to complete the second wood cut. I completed it at around 9:30 p.m. and brought it back to the compound. At the compound I noted that there was one small section that needed some more work, so I was going to take it back early the next day and finish it before I went off to Tsing Hua University to deliver the rubber molds for the glass sculptures.

Day 18 -- Wednesday, April 26th

I got up early to bike over to the studio to rework the wood cut. For some reason I got distracted and took out the wrong area and spent most of the rest of the time fixing up my mistake. I could not find the latex molds and their plaster shells for the sea critters series at either Li Gang's gallery or the studio. Li Gang showed up at around 9:30 a.m. and told me that they would be delivered. They were. Originally Li Gang was going to drive me in the van so I could deliver the molds to Tsing Hua. I tried to get Guan Dong Hai on the phone but wasn't able to. Li Gang and I we eventually worked it out that I would take a taxi, that his assistant would keep me company and help carry the molds. You needed two persons to carry the four molds. We decided to take our chances.

We walked out to the main area outside the Beijing International Arts Camp and finally were able to persuade a taxi to take us on our many stops trip. First, we stopped at the Pickled Arts Center so we could drop off the wood cuts and pick up the announcements of the new show to deliver to Dong Hai. Next we stopped at the flower shop near Jenny Lu's so I could replenish my cell phone which went dead during Leslie's last call to me. Stop three was at the University.

Fortunately Guan Dong Hai was there. I also met Wang Zin Zhong. Their cards are interesting since Dr. Wang is a full professor while Dr. Guan is only an associate professor. But, Dr. Guan is the head of the glass arts studio and Dr. Zhong is the Vice Secretary and the Vice Director of the General Ceramic Association of China and the Glass Association, Craft and Crystal Association of China. We talked over the project and I explained to them how one of the proto types had not been put back together properly and that the angle of the sculpture was extremely important. Dong Hai said that would be no problem. We discussed using the molds to just make glass sculptures of the sea critters, rather trying to replicate what I was doing in the United States. Both heartily agreed as this was a much simpler project and they were better able to do this kind of project. They were concerned about their ability to do the project as originally envisioned. Essentially, I was taking advantage of their skills in mold making to make interesting glass sculptures of the sea critters, rather than covering the metal sea creatures in glass. It would be a totally different look. He asked me what colors he should use. I asked them what colors they had. They could do blues, greens, reds and purples. They could also do multicolors. I said I did not think purple would be that good an idea and that they should experiment and have fun including utilizing multiple colors. I told them that I had fun in creating the sea creatures and I wanted them and their students to have fun in transforming my creation into glass. I said think funky and funny. We both laughed that this was the first Western/Chinese joint venture in glass sculpting and it should be fun.

We took pictures of each other and I discussed with them what they needed. Dong Hai said that they were in desperate need of texts including a text on the Pate de Verre method of glass casting. He said that he knows the books are available and they that had put it in the requisition for the books through the university, but the university keeps telling them they weren't available. I worked out an arrangement that I would give them a list and as my gift to them I would pay for one of the books. They would then make arrangements to reimburse me for the others. The other area was that in moving to the new University they were going to set up a cold shop, and they had no idea about the particulars of the equipment needed. They had heard that Urban Glass had an excellent cold shop. I offered to take my digital camera over to the coldshop and take pictures of the equipment and how it was set up.

The taxi to take us back to the Pickled Arts Center was waiting. I called Li Gang because we were supposed to get together for lunch and then do some printing on the wood blocks. Li Gang advised me that he and Lennart were stuck at the framers and that I was on my own for lunch. I asked him if I should take out his assistant, who was also his chief mold maker, who had accompanied me on the trip. He said yes. We went to the local restaurant near the Pickled Arts Center and had a good lunch. We ended up joining one of Li Gang's former workers who now works for Bord, a Norwegian sculptor at a studio in the Shangri La Arts compound. After lunch I checked my email and went up to take a nap. Half an hour later I was awoken and told Li Gang was prepared to start printing my wood cuts. Would I come down to work with him.

We did a print of the large fish wood cut first. Li Gang was very happy with the way they came out. I was unhappy with the background surrounding the fish. Li Gang said I that should leave that in because it reminded him of water. I felt the wood cut would be stronger if we cut out most of the unintended background markings. We printed three versions and Li Gang gave me a choice. I could print out the other versions myself. He had shown me how to ink the wood block. I told him that I was unsure of the latter process and would like to think over how I wanted to deal with that wood cut. We also printed out the wood cut of the razor fish. I was very unhappy with that, although Li thought it was excellent. I was especially unhappy with one section and I just may eliminate that from the sculpture totally.

We went off to the flower market, where the frame shop was. A young wood cut artist from the Central Academy joined us and brought along ten of his woodcuts so Li Gang and Lennart could choose four for the upcoming show. We spent an hour and a half at the frame shop, but it gave me a good chance to think over whether or not to redo the outside of the large fish woodcut. From there we went to the art store that had carving equipment, near the Central Academy because we were going to drop off the wood cut artist. Li Gang explained that it was much cheaper in a special market that he was going to next week, but since I was leaving on Friday and wanted to possibly do some more work on the existing wood cuts, I bought some carving tools, as well as seven small plywood panels for woodcarving when I got back to the states. Each panel cost me less than a dollar. Although the carving tools were expensive by Chinese standards, I opted for the best quality I could find because I knew that by American standards they were extremely reasonable.

Lennart and I took a taxi home from Li Gang's place. I dropped Lennart off at SAC and continued on to the Pickled Arts Center. I looked at the sculpture and made the decision that I would have to clean it up. In the meantime a group got together to go out for dinner. They all wanted to go to the same place again. I wanted to have Beijing duck. I had been in Beijing for almost three weeks and had not yet had Beijing duck. Nathaniel, Jeremy, Xaio Yan and I ended up getting a cab and going to the Beijing duck restaurant that I went to on a number of occasions during my last visit. We had an excellent dinner and came back to the compound.

At the compound I met Xaio Chang the calligrapher I worked with on my last visit. Apparently Li Gang had gotten word to him. Since he was available I wanted to use him to do some calligraphy on the proposed project for the American Chamber of Commerce and some other metal sculptures that I had planned to do on this trip but didn't get around to. I figured that even if I didn't work on them on this trip if I got the calligraphy portion done now it would save two or three days on the next visit and when I was doing the patina work on the bronze sculptures, I could spend some time organizing the new metal sculptures. Utilizing sign language and the calligraphy brushes that I was using in the upper gallery, which was not being used, we agreed that we would start working at 11:00 the next morning. I then went back to cleaning up the large fish woodcut and started a new wood cut on the razor fish theme. At 12:45 a.m. it was time to go to bed. The toilet was not properly working in the bathroom that I normally used so I found another toilet. I was off to sleep in less than five minutes.

Day 19 -- Thursday, April 27th

Got up early to do more work on the woodcut to prepare it for printing since I'd made the decision to clean up the edges of the big fish to have only faint references to the sea outside the main portion. Li Gang got stuck in a traffic jam so he stopped by the Pickled Arts Center and helped me print an edition of ten with two artist proofs. He liked it very much and decided to include the large fish wood cut in the upcoming show which opened on Saturday. It was essentially a show of Muban Chinese wood prints from the Ten Bamboo Studios, but they also included some contemporary Chinese and foreign artists working in China. The common denominator was a fundamental respect and understanding for the woodcut media and its roots in classical techniques. The new artists were to illustrate that the Muban tradition is healthy and alive as ever.

I had not yet made the decision whether or not to include the second woodcut of the razor fish, which was in reality my first, in the show. At approximately 11:30 Xaio Chang came to the gallery. He was eating his lunch. He wanted to start work right away, so the arrangement Li Gang and I worked out with him was to give him some money so he could get us some vegetable buns for us to eat a quick lunch. Li Gang and I went up to the roof and ate vegetable buns with some tea overlooking the rooftops of all of Beigau. It was extremely peaceful. You can see the recently created large new mini-city looming over Beigau where the tallest building is 30 feet high. He has a room with a bathroom up there to rent. The only problem is that if you come back at night there are no lights and it is very dangerous getting up there. To do this when you had a few beers is really scary. The room has no independent shower and no cooking facilities, but it is kind of neat located on the rooftop surrounded by various sculptures or metal parts waiting to be used in sculptures.

After negotiating price, Chang and I went to work doing the calligraphy for four sculptures. We worked best when I redid it in calligraphy with my brush and then he did his thing. That took almost the entire afternoon. I immediately went down and started working on the wood cut that had not yet been printed to clean it up to see if it was in good enough shape to exhibit. The other contemporary artists specialized in this area and the older works were by the Chinese masters from the 16th, 17th and 18th century. I was not especially happy with the razor fish woodcut, but made the decision that I would leave it up to the gallery owners to decide whether or not to print it and include it in the exhibit. My sixth sense tells me that it should be excluded.

Li Gang called and we discussed a farewell dinner. I explained to him that I did not want to have a big crowd, especially since most of the ex pats in the arts community during this visit were not especially interesting. In fact many of them were extremely boring. I ended up going to one restaurant and when I got there no one was there. Li Gang called and said there was a switch in plans and I should come to the gallery, because we were going to a fish restaurant. Apparently Zhang Fan Bei, their primary artist, wanted to take them out to dinner since his show was closing on Friday.

When I got to the 2 Lines Gallery the artist's wife was photographing the exhibit. We waited for her and finally went off to dinner at 8:00. She announced at 8:00 that she was too tired to join us. We went to an exquisite fish restaurant which is located behind other restaurants. If you did not know about it, there is no way you could ever find it. Apparently the restaurant was owned by the wife of a wealthy doctor, who was a major purchaser of Zhang Fan Bei's paintings. It is a very expensive fish restaurant and the dining was entirely different than at other Beijing restaurants I had eaten in. All the seats are upstairs and it may seat 40 people at the most. We ate a limited number of simple appetizers and beer. The main courses consisted of two fish courses, and, if you wanted, a bowl of rice. The fish is served in what looks like a turkey basting dish and under that are hot coals to keep it hot. It is a very simple fish cooked in a delicious sauce with lots of vegetables. It was superb. I asked for some rice so I could put the sauce on the rice after everyone had demolished this fish. The only other main course was the same fish in a much spicier sauce. Lennart, I and Shoran, the computer person in Li Gang's organization as well as the manager of the 2 Lines Gallery, got dropped off. Lennart went off on his new electric bike which was in the back of Li Gang's van. We couldn't find him on the road as we came back. I came back and did a little calligraphy just to relax and went off to bed worrying that I could not get up in time for the 8:00 meeting with the American Chamber of Commerce.

Day 20 -- Friday, April 28th (Departure Date)

This was a hectic day I was supposed to meet Martha Vincent at 8:00. She did not show up and I did not get a call. After waiting for an hour I did some work on the new woodcut and then decided to cut up the calligraphy and take it to the print shop. My old friend Zhang greeted me warmly. I explained to her in very slow English that I was leaving at 3:45 and we were pressed for time. She is taking English at school and always asks me to speak slowly. We laid out the proposal for the American Chamber of Commerce and the basics for a new stainless steel sculpture shaped like a globe with various writings on it. We worked well as a team and finished by 12:35. I rode the bike back to the compound, met Li, dropped off the disk and then packed in about ten minutes. As I was leaving, Li asked if I had breakfast or lunch. I said no. He had saved a little Chinese fried sandwich that he had left over from lunch and offered it to me. It tasted terrific. His uncle Henry drove me in the van to the airport. I got in touch with Martha Vincent and she lost the use of the car and driver so could not meet me at 8:00 A.M., and left a message to that effect on my cell phone at 6:30 a.m.

Upon reflection I realized that I got more accomplished than I originally intended. Things are happening so fast in the Beijing arts scene that it is difficult to keep up with it. I have a woodcut appearing in a show at the 2 Lines Gallery opening on Saturday April 29th. There is apparently another show of my small sculptures at the Musk Bi Gallery in the 798 district beginning in the middle of May. I have to do a summary of 100 words or less concerning these sculptures. They will be the steel maquettes for the small bronze sea critter sculptures and, hopefully, the actual bronzes will be done in time. I am excited about the joint project with the glass studio at Tsing Hua University. But the primary purpose of this trip was to cast the major bronze sculpture commission. I learned a lot. I had never done a bronze casting before. I also learned that I enjoyed the process of making a woodcut. The last day was so rushed that at the airport I ate my lunch and a beer. The cost was $15. That is what it cost for five for a gourmet dinner at the Beijing duck house in the Beigao area. Even though I knew it was rip off, I did not know when they were going to feed us on the plane and wanted to get some food in me so I could go right to sleep on the flight. The cold beer tasted great. Now it is back to New York and an entirely different world, but I look forward to seeing Leslie, my children and grandchildren and participating in a totally different environment. On the other hand, I can't wait to get back to China to work with the foundry on completing the sculpture, constructing some new sculptures and seeing the results of the experiment with the glass department of Tsing Hua University.


Page 3 of 3 | Back >>