Photos: At brush writing workshop during International Education Week, UH Hilo students learn an ancient Chinese art
Participants in the workshop found that, although the basic strokes look easy, it is rather difficult to control the brush, the amount of ink and the absorbency of the paper. “It is a discipline and it takes practice,” says Professor of Art Jean Ippolito who led the event.

By Susan Enright.
In celebration of International Education Week Nov. 18-22, a wide variety of events are underway at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo: An international menu at Campus Center Dining Room, books on display at Mookini Library, a photo contest, a block party, and a trivia night coming up on Friday.

Starting the week was a Chinese and Japanese brush writing workshop led by Professor of Art Jean Ippolito, an art historian with a research focus on new media art of Japan and China.
“My specialization is contemporary or new media art of Japan and China, but I have found that a thorough background in the traditional arts of both cultures is important to understanding the cultural components of the artwork,” Professor Ippolito explains.
“Chinese brush writing, or calligraphy, is an artform that is revered in China and Japan, sometimes even elevated above painting,” she says. “A work of calligraphy can be mounted on a scroll, or framed and hung on the wall. You do not need to know the meaning of the characters to appreciate the abstract quality, energy, balance and harmony of the shapes and forms of the brush work.”
For example, the written characters 漢字 are called hanzi in Chinese, and kanji in Japanese.
The Four Treasures of Chinese Calligraphy
At Monday’s workshop, participants learned about the Four Treasures of Chinese Calligraphy: the ink stick, the ink stone, the brush, and paper.
“There are two components to the ink grinding setup,” explains Ippolito. “There is an ink stick, which is made up of compressed charcoal, and the ink stone, which is made-up of a coarse-textured stone, like slate. A little water is added to the well of the ink stone, and then the ink stick is dipped in water and ground on the surface of the stone to make ink.”
Ippolito demonstrated to the students the seven basic strokes of calligraphy, as documented and described by a 4th century Chinese calligraphy instructor by the name of Lady Wei. The professor explained the similarities that this historical figure found in the brushwork to natural phenomena, like stretched clouds or a “gleaming horn of a rhinoceros.”
“After the students tried their own hands at writing the seven basic strokes, I demonstrated how to combine them into simple Chinese characters,” says Ippolito about the activities at the workshop. “I also explained their etymology, how they evolved from pictures scratched on oracle bones, as early as the Shang Dynasty in China, 1600-1046 BCE.” Oracle bones were oxen bone or turtle shell used for divination in ancient China.
“Since students asked about the relationship between Chinese calligraphy to painting, I did a brief demonstration of bamboo painting, which incorporates some of the basic brush strokes of calligraphy,” says Ippolito.
(There is no sound in the following video of Prof. Ippolito creating a brush painting of bamboo. Video by Carolina Lam/Global Education/UH Hilo )
Students at the workshop found that, although the basic strokes look easy, it is rather difficult to control the brush, the amount of ink and the absorbency of the paper.
“It is a discipline and it takes practice,” says Prof. Ippolito.
(There is no discernible sound in the following video of student Hinalea Spielman in the workshop learning brush writing. Video by Carolina Lam/Global Education/UH Hilo)

Students share their work

A lifetime of practice
“I first learned Chinese Brush Writing as an undergraduate university student during my spring semester in 1977,” says Professor Ippolito. “My teacher was a Chinese language teacher, from Taiwan, in the languages department of the university. I signed up for the calligraphy class, which had no prerequisites. I studied the brush writing techniques and learned about the aesthetics of calligraphy before studying the Chinese or Japanese languages, which I spent many years studying later in life.”
“I have kept up with the practice of brush writing because it is very meditative, calming and beautiful,” she adds.
The professor has incorporated this kind of workshop into her Art of Japan (ART 381) and Art of China (ART 380) at UH Hilo. “It has always been one of the highlights of the classes,” she says.
Ippolito says she was honored to be invited by Carolina Lam, director of global education, to do the workshop as part of the program for International Education Week “as it is an important cultural component of both Chinese and Japanese culture.”
To learn more about the art form, see Ippolito’s published paper about contemporary Chinese artists that incorporate Chinese characters into their artwork: Chinese Characters as Concept and the International Language of Visual Art (The International Journal of New Media, Technology and The Arts, 2018).
Story by Susan Enright, a public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.