Show Sumi- Sumi What Sumi-What What Not sue me Sumi-E Sumi i Jack Foriska Staff Writer The liThe importance of of this work is that I I. I teach simplicity In this class less is ismore ismore ismore more said the instructor as ashe ashe he gently guided my little girls girl's hand with another brush stroke If an artist does not take those last few strokes the painting may be better Monday night my year seven-year-old daughter and andI I got our first lesson in SumiE Sumi- Sumi iE i- i E pronounced sum sumi-a sumi i-a i a delicate art taught by a gentle gentleman man Monday nights in the crafts center Sumi-E Sumi is oriental brush painting with ink It originated thousands of years ago in China and is a process of learning proper brush brushstrokes brushstrokes brushstrokes strokes through painting The liThe Four Gentlemen before moving on to landscape paintings The First Gentleman is the bamboo Beginning artists start by learning the use of various brushes and different shades of gr gray y to create the thelong thelong thelong long slender leaves and knobby knobby knobby knob knob- by stalks of the bamboo Bamboo represents strength and longevity and arid is associated as associated as- as s- s sod ted with summer They then move on to the Second Gentleman the chrysanthemum Through the use of color combined with more sophisticated brush strokes the budding artists create these delicate flowers of autumn The third and fourth gentlemen the orchid and the plum represent spring and winter By learning the soft basic strokes it takes to paint these students then become become become be be- come ready to move on to landscape painting and more creative endeavors Pam Gardner Title III grant director took the class lass three quarters ago with her mom arid got hooked I Ilove Ilove Ilove love it It relaxes me and gives me q quiet iet time She said E Sumi lets let's me do something totally different I never th thought I was good at art Its It's given m me e a creative outlet Pam is truly an artist and her art work will be on display next week Patrice Mahoney who does commercial art work for fora a living says she couldn't paint anything before she came to this class II Im I'm learning to express myself freely and Im I'm learning a lot lotof lotof lotof of brush control and simplistic tic ba basics She continued I relax a lot more now and it takes the stress out of my day I used to say Come home and do art work No way way I come home now and do Sumi-E Sumi and I relax Sumi-E Sumi is taught by Michael Lortsher a baker by day and a teacher by night He has a degree in psych psychology logy l- l ogy and studied E Sumi-E under Mary Lou Romney a local artist who teaches at atthe atthe atthe the U of U. U He also studied under Yeh Sumi-E Sumi in in- Ning a from Coastline Community Community Com Corn College in Calif Michael is not paid by the college but solely from the class fees which makes class enrollment critical There will be a Sumi-E Sumi exhibit exhibit exhibit ex ex- hibit on the second floor of the College Center May 8 18 for those who may ay be interested interested interested in in- in this ancient oriental oriental orien orien- tal art Demonstrations and instruction will be given in inthe inthe inthe the south cafeteria by Michael Lortsher on May 8 and by Patrice Mahoney on May 9 h. h k |