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Introductions:  Hi!! I'm Delila Lyshik and I'm a freshman trying to get a bachelor's in Language Arts / English education. Right now I'm mostly taking my GEP classes, I have two cats back at home and their names are Bonnie and Clyde. I'm from a south-western part of Chicago and I'm trying to get used to the cold here!! Over break, I worked and hung out with my family and boyfriend and tried to cuddle with my cats but only one of them appreciated it. I don't know enough about plants to have a favorite, I guess I like football (Go Bears!!), My favorite book right now is The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, I love painting, listening to music while driving and I do believe in ghosts. What I love most about Stevens Point is that it has a lot of hidden treasures, like the beautiful green circle parks and the small downtown area with some great family-owned food places. Olympia is my favorite place for breakfast, they have amazing greek omelets. :)

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Chinese Art Under the Mongols: Traditionalists - 1279 to 1368

During week 2, we discussed the art concepts of foreground, midground and background in Chinese art scrolls. Chinese Art is different from western art in a few ways - composition, brushstrokes, and use of color. In Western art, we tend to paint from foreground to background, we paint vertical brushstrokes instead of horizontally, and we use a lot of colors to capture our ideals of beauty in art. Chinese painters do the complete opposite, in addition to the use of colors, Chinese painters use less color and more composition and brushstrokes in contrast to western art. This week we learned about the Mongols and how their invasion of China reflected in the artworks made by Chinese people from those times. Often during this period, there is a political message or underlying meaning to the paintings. One example of this is Wang Xizhi's painting Feeding Geese, which shows a horizontal composition, fine line details in the brushwork, and not a lot of color. This painting references the Song Dynasty by putting the subject of the painting looking outward.

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Chinese Art Under the Mongols: Four Great Masters - 1279 to 1368

This week we centered around the Four Great Masters. Four well-known artists that lived during the Yuan Dynasty and created artwork during this time. They each had their own art style. The first Master was Huang Gongwang. He was greatly known for a 30 foot scroll he completed in the span of 3 years. His work focused on his retreating to the mountainside to find peace. The next master, Ni Zan, painted mostly on scrolls that hung above the ground. He was described as arrogant and his paintings reflected his lonesome and sad emotions during this time. The third master, Wu Zhen, was very smart and yet refused the workplace setting. He decided to escape the city and the Mongols, becoming elusive and not well known. He eventually became recognized by art critics. One thing he liked to paint was fishermen from different perspectives. The last master, Wang Meng, wanted to follow after his father, the famous painter Zhao Mengfu, through taking a role in the public workplace, however, through the Yuan dynasty, he became imprisoned. His artwork had a lot of texture and he used densely packed brush strokes, leaving little to no blank spaces.

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Ming Dynasty China: Wu and Zhe Schools - 1368 to 1644

This week focused on the Ming Dynasty and art schools created by a Chinese rebel from a peasant background named Zhu Yuanzhang, The two schools were the Zhe school, which was for professional painters, and the Wu school of literati painters, who were able to do painting, poetry, calligraphy, and who were scholars. Some artwork from this time included hanging silk scrolls, created by artist Dai Jin; ink on paper 'Album leaf' paintings by Shen Zhou, and more. some characteristics of these paintings were that they had a lot of shading and use of contrast, and very expressive brushstrokes.

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Ming Dynasty: Traditional Chinese Architecture

Week 5 focused on architecture during the Ming dynasty and the art behind buildings in China that are still there today. there are many different ways that colors and numbers are used to symbolize different things in Chinese culture that were used for certain buildings because it was believed that these colors and numbers would bring what they symbolized. For example, the color red symbolizes good fortune and joy and black and white symbolize the Yin and Yang. Building structures were also important and the most used system of building was called the modular system. Perfectly interlocking parts made of timber were pre-cut and pre-sized. Buildings made using this system are resistant to 8.5 magnitude earthquakes, are easy to reconstruct if parts rot or are damaged, and expand and contract in warm and cold weather. Buildings were also made specifically for things such as praying, remembrance of the deceased, and for emperors' sacrifices and worship. An example of this is the Emperor's circular mound temple, where each part of the temple is used for something different. The circular mound was a site where the emperor performed sacrifices to heaven for the winter solstice, the imperial vault of heaven was to store the stele with the name of the heavenly deity, and the hall of prayer for a prosperous year was where the emperor prayed for a good harvest. We also discussed the Forbidden city and how its layout is important for its functions. A city similar to the forbidden city was modeled and the plan looked like the Forbidden City with halls on a north-south axis with courtyards in between. The color palette and decoration used at this site were similar too. The difference between them was the function of the halls. The plan was dedicated to sacrifices or the celebration of the deceased's spirit.

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Qing Dynasty: Dissident Monks - 1644 to 1911

This week we learned about the Manchus and how their invasion of China set off the Qing Dynasty. One of the monk painters we discussed was Badshanren. Badshanren lived from 1626 to 1705, and is known as one of the great monk painters (out of four). Originally, he was a prince from the Ming dynasty and was rich as a child and young adult. The Manchus invaded when he was 18, and he became antisocial. He then devoted his life to becoming a Buddhist Monk, which set off his artistic career. He started with poetry and eventually moved to calligraphy and painting, and renamed himself to Badshanren, which when he signed it was also the characters for laugh and cry. This signage was because of his artwork and life and how he changed throughout the years between his royalty and becoming a monk.
Another artist we discussed was Shitao. His past was the same as Badshanren's, coming from a wealthy royal Ming family and becoming a Chan Buddist Monk. After he started his artwork, he mostly sold it and lived off of his earnings. His philosophy was to see things for yourself and to paint from the heart.

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Qing Dynasty China: Eccentrics and Beyond - the 1620s and 1630s

After the Manchus invasion, eccentric painters who were amateur - literati painters became sellers of their artworks and never really followed the traditional ways of Chinese painting. They had a different sort of individuality that is easily recognizable with the use of colors, brushstrokes (or fingerpainting as seen by Gao Qipei), and what was called "painting from the heart," similar to how Shitao referred to his painting process after becoming a monk.
Gao Qipei lived from 1672 - 1732 and  his career as an eccentric painter was his fingerpainting technique, using his hands, fingers, and nails to create artwork that was different from what we've seen in the past Chinese paintings.

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Heian Japan: Court Culture and the Tale of Genji - 794 to 1185.

During week 8, we started talking more about Japanese art and China's influence on Japan. The introduction was about stories written and told by Japanese ladies-in-waiting, and how they have been passed down through handscrolls. The world's oldest novel, "The Tale of Gengi" was created using handscrolls, and in English translates to about 1000 pages long. The novel is said to be written and painted by 5 teams of artists. The novel's artistic style is very minimalist, and the characters have little facial features and more focus on backgrounds. The style of which they were painted is called emakimono painting. The two styles recorded are men's painting (otoko-e) and women's painting (onna-e). The tale of Gengi was recorded in women's style. It depicts a lot of emotion and sympathetic pity, with the notion of karma being a large focus in the storytelling.

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Heian: Otoko-e Narrative Scrolls - 784 to 1185

Week 9 was about the Otoko-e style in Japanese art during the Heian period in modern-day Kyoto. This week we discussed Pure Land Buddhism, The Tale of Gengi, and the differences between Onna-e and Otoko-e scrolls from this period. Firstly, Pure Land Buddhism focused on the idea that individuals couldn't achieve enlightenment by themselves, no matter what they did. The only way to achieve enlightenment during this time was to "Hail Amida Buddha" to get into the "Western Paradise". We moved on to the Tale of Gengi to further discuss the differences in the styles depicted in the scrolls and other stories of that time.

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Kamakura Japan: Six Realms of Existence - 1185 to 1333

In week 10 we talked about cautionary pictures and the six realms of existence. The six realms of existence include unenlightened heavenly beings, humans, animals, demons, hungry ghosts, and beings in hell. The six realms were thought to be where people would go if they had committed a certain amount of sins or were not able to be reborn with salvation. People in Japan were anxious about getting into one of the reborn realms that were considered good through karma, and after the Genpai War, they believed they would be reborn into these realms and that it was a bad thing if they did. Some scrolls from this time were the Scroll of Hungry Ghosts, Hell Scroll, and Scroll of Diseases and Deformities.

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Muromachi Japan: Zen Buddhism and the Arts - 1392-early 1500s

This week we learned about Zen Buddhism and Japanese beliefs related to it. Zen Buddhism was introduced to Japan from China through the opening of trade during the Muromachi period in Japan. Someone important to the practice of Zen Buddhism is the Bodhidharma, who was a Buddhist monk credited with introducing Buddhism to China and later, Japan. The goal of Zen in Japanese Zen Buddhism is to achieve the truth of life and death through zazen and koan. Zazen is described as meditation sitting with legs crossed with a straight back. Koan are irrational questions with irrational answers, the teaching of Koan is thought to break rational thought processes to become more enlightened. Art during this period focused on variations of Chinese ink painting brought to Japan known as Haboku. The Muromachi period was highlighted by the idea of achieving Zen and artwork similar to Chinese art of the time.

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Raku ware and a Momoyama period painting

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Momoyama Japan: Age of the Daimyo - 1573 to 1615

The Daimyo period in Momoyama Japan was characterized by new innovative architecture to the culture; castles for samurai. The military was important at this time, so the Samurai had begun to create castles and other dwelling structures to train themselves, meditate with zen Buddhism, and show their wealthy status with decor. Daimyo were Japanese lords who overlooked shoguns. Art during this time period was large, bold, and flashy under the Kano School of painters' ideals. The paintings were very decorative, complex, and large. Something else that was important during this period was tea and tea ceremonies. Matcha was introduced and a specific type of tea bowl called Raku ware was popular. Raku ware was characterized by long and low temperature kiln flaming of the pottery that was glazed and then flamed, taken out while hot and let sit. The glazes on these pieces would behave in many different ways, creating unexpected patterns.

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Kitagawa painting of a woman bathing a child

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Edo Japan: The Floating World - 1615 to 1868

The Edo period created a new class system, made Japan a more peaceful place, and was centered around feudalism and court nobility. The new Edo class system was ranked hierarchically from highest to lowest: Shogun, Samurai, Peasant, Artisan, Merchant. Chonin or city dwellers became the wealthiest of the country and samurai fell, becoming poor. New styles of writing and art were developed to cater to chonin people, instead of noble figures. Art during this time was stylized with a 'floating' perspective based on theatre and tea houses. The capital of Edo was what is modern-day Tokyo. One well-known artist from the Edo period is Kitagawa Utamaro, whose art was centered around women who were considered beautiful. He focused on the facial features and expressions of these women. The women he painted were often seen doing everyday things, which can also be described as similar to the Otoko-e style of the Heian period. His art has a shimmery pigment in the background, which was mica powder washes.