This summer, VCUarts Theatre student Priscilla Franklin was awarded a Dean’s International Study Grant to travel to Shandong University of Arts in Jinan, China, to explore and practice Chinese traditional ink painting, language and theatre. This experience allowed her to become versatile and skilled in Chinese painting to use in theatre scenes, as well as practice the Chinese language in hopes of fully translating Chinese play scripts.
Priscilla recently reflected on her trip and the opportunity to travel abroad:
Before going to Jinan to learn traditional Chinese painting, I lived in Chengdu for the summer. I visited the history and art museums to study the making of ancient shadow puppetry and to analyze ink paintings. I was especially impacted by this magnificent 90 foot long dragon hand woven by Fang Tse Yu and his daughter. Besides color and lighting in a theatre set design, I have become more inspired to incorporate texture after seeing this dragon and other mediums of fabric used in Chinese ethnic minority theatre costumes. I want to design a production that uses more texture to evoke emotion and to experiment with how it interacts with lighting. Now that I have learned more about China’s history and other art mediums, I am ready to excel further in my painting skills, stay tuned!
Created in 2006, the Dean’s International Study Grant program was started by the VCUarts Dean’s Office to fund students’ international exploration. That first year, six $1,000 grants were awarded to students. Today, up to ten $2,500 grants are awarded each year as the Dean’s Office continues to strive to support international travel and enforce the importance of a global perspective on creative and scholarly endeavors. The deadline to apply is January 25.
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