International travel is an important part of my usual life.

My first international travel is to take part in   the 31st Annual Conference of the World Association of Chinese Newspapers, as a delegate of Chinese Financial Newspapers in Malaysia in 1997. Since then, I have had 16 international travels, such as having a vacation in Europe in 2000, visited family in Australia 5 times, and came to the US 10 times for studying, art exhibitions and teachings 2008 to 2020.

If saying the travel in Europe in 2000 is the start point of my cross-cultural and comprehensive art dream seeking, then the travels in the US 2008 to 2020 is the process of my dream seeking with studying, exploration and theory thought...  

The travel in Europe has not only given me a chance to touch some of the greatest arts and human civilizations, to touch Bible and Christianity, and laid a foundation for me to become a Christian in American 13 years, but also it has given me a courage to connect with a group of native-English-speaker graduates of Oregon State University from Paris, then in 2 years, we  published a series of publications with 4 books and 4 CDs to talk American arts (mainly movie and music) for helping non-Chinese speakers to learn American language, which is the first experiment on my cross-cultural and comprehensive art dream seeking…

Then the travels in the US 2008 to 2020 have endowed me more opportunities and a wider room to work from an opposite angle, to engage in finding, exploring and creating something unique to help non-Chinese speakers to learn Chinese culture and language with a more natural, an artistic, easier style…

It is said “If you want to give someone a drop of water, you must have a bucket of water,” and I never thought an amateur can stand the duties over, therefore, I have studied in two art colleges in Beijing for 10 years, for the purpose to transfer myself from an amateur to be a professional artist, who has many aspects of self-cultivation…very often, I encourage myself very often, I am not the best now yet, but I will certainly be the best suitable one to stand the duty to create a Cross-cultural and Comprehensive Art.

With this idea, I have been keeping the trips between China and US, between Chinese art colleges and American full time schools and art organizations, and try to combine what I have learned in China and what I have seen, practice and felt in the US, write them into my books, practice them into my teaching and creating…

The biggest gains during those international travels, not only have I painted over 1100 paintings, had 6 art exhibitions, taught about 500 hours in 40 American schools and organizations for more than 6300 non-Chinese speakers, published a series of publications with 2 books, 2 DVDs and 2 closed web sites which only open to my readers, but also and more important is that I have found the connecting point between traditional Chinese painting and modern Chinese language, and the relationship of a variety arts on a Chinese painting itself… Base on it, I have created a method to combine them together with a cross-cultural and comprehensive art style.

Anyway, I know very clear that I have just created a simple model which is in its infancy phase now. If I want to improve it on its youth, and adults’ period, it’ll take a longer time and I myself must work harder in the upcoming another decades.

So, I am thinking, since I have majored in Chinese art in two Chinese colleges for 10 years, maybe it is the time to learn western art and cultures in the upcoming 10 years with more international travels?

Do you think so?

Do you enjoy international travels?

Sincerely

Shirley Yiping Zhang