Exhibition View
Co-organized by the Central Academy of Fine Arts (abbr. CAFA) and Shandong Lucion Public Welfare Foundation that belongs to the LUCION Group, the “20/21 Excellent Works of CAFA & LUCION National Competition for Calligraphy and Artworks by Children” commenced on the first floor of CAFAM at 14:00 on 29th September. The exhibition presents 180 excellent award winning works from the years 2020 and 2021, 112 fine-art works and 68 calligraphy works are included, and participating children in the three age groups 4-7, 8-10 and 11-13 are covered. The exhibition contains multiple forms of art including paintings, calligraphy and installations, among others. It is also notable that this is the first time that such an exhibition featuring excellent works has entered a national key art museum since it was held.
Fan Di’an, President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Xu Yang, Vice President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Su Xinping, Vice President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Rong Gang, Chairman of the Shandong Lucion Public Welfare Foundation, Deputy Director of the Propaganda Department of the Party Committee of LUCION Group, Chen Qiang, General Secretary of Shandong Lucion Public Welfare Foundation, Jia Ruitao, Secretary of the Youth League Committee of LUCION Group, Liu Fangye, Artistic Director of Qingdao Blossom Education Management Company, and heads of relevant departments of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and teacher representatives attended the opening ceremony. The expert judges of this competition (in order of age): Tony Brown, Franco Amadei, Yin Hailong, Kang Lei, Huang Huan, Yi Xuefeng, Zhang Yonghua, Liu Hongyu, Wang Haiyong, Han Yuhu, and Liu Fang witnessed the award ceremony as representatives of the jury. The opening ceremony of the exhibition and awarding ceremony of the competition was hosted by Feng Haitao, Dean of the School of Continuing Education at the Central Academy of Fine Arts.
View of the Opening Ceremony
Fan Di’an, President of China Artists Association and President of Central Academy of Fine Arts, attended the opening ceremony.
Rong Gang, Chairman of the Shandong Lucion Public Welfare Foundation, delivered the speech at the opening ceremony.
Rong Gang, Chairman of the Shandong Lucion Public Welfare Foundation, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. He mentioned that, “Shandong LUCION Group initiated the Shandong Lucion Public Welfare Foundation in 2017, which intends to participate and support social welfare in various ways. Since 2019, the Lucion Group and CAFA have jointly organized “CAFA & LUCION National Competition for Calligraphy and Artworks by Children” for three years, the cooperation promotes the development of children’s art education and reflects the responsibilities of both parties. “CAFA & LUCION National Competition for Calligraphy and Artworks by Children” has established a good brand image within the field of children’s art education and has attracted increasingly broad attention. During the three years, the professionalism and dedication of the experts and teachers from CAFA have largely strengthened the determination and confidence of the Lucion Group in continuing to support children’s art education. With the endeavors of both CAFA and Lucion, it is believed that an increasing number of children could find the key to a fantastic world, and improve their awareness and practice of beauty. CAFA and Lucion will continuously make efforts to be a good guide for children, and contribute to cultivating the feelings of aesthetics of Chinese children and shaping their beautiful hearts. ”
Xu Yang, Vice President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, attended the opening ceremony.
Su Xinping, Vice President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, attended the opening ceremony.
Liu Fangye, Artistic Director of Qingdao Blossom Education Management Company, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony.
Liu Fangye, Artistic Director of Qingdao Blossom Education Management Company mentioned his deep impression of the artworks in the exhibition in his speech at the opening ceremony. “We can see children’s unique perspective and passionate creation through their imagination, colors and the lines they used. Blossom Education is committed to integrating the enlightenment of children's art education with the multi-creative course. I hope that every child from Blossom Education can have a happy childhood and life.”
Feng Haitao, Dean of the School of Continuing Education at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, hosted the opening ceremony.
Group Photo of Honoured Guests and Awarded-winning Children
As a public welfare competition, “The Exhibition of Excellent Works of CAFA & LUCION National Competition for Calligraphy and Artworks by Children” has been successfully held three times. The innovative guidance model of “selection, guidance, interaction and accompanied growth” has insisted that for three years as they would deliver the holistic education concept and a de-utilitarian artistic value. As a platform of CAFA integrating with society, the School of Continuing Education at CAFA has always practiced the notion of “life-long art education, serving society, and keeping going” which continues to promote basic art education, and introduced the educational resources of professional institutions to the public through diverse means. Taking the exhibition as a channel, it also intends to guide society to pay attention to excellent artworks from children, and encourage young kids to explore the world through painting and calligraphy.
Fan Di’an, President of Central Academy of Fine Arts, was with an award-winning child at the opening ceremony.
From the perspective of the exhibition venue this year, the CAFA Museum, which is based on the academic research spirit of CAFA, guarantees a first-class display and a rigorous academic style for the audience. It is worth noting that in order to adapt to the height and viewing angle of children, the exhibition deliberately reduces the hanging height of all works by 10 cm, and ignores factors such as children’s age and work category as the basis for the exhibition division. Instead, rich artistic languages from different ages of children are integrated and juxtaposed to realize a specifically warm visual experience for children.
Exhibition View
In addition, the calligraphy unit was newly added this year in order to promote the integration of multiple art forms and cultivate young kids’ understanding and practice of the traditional Chinese art language. The final award-winning works featuring calligraphy were also included as a new unit in this exhibition. In this part, viewers can recognize a variety of calligraphy styles, showing the fun and freedom of children's calligraphy practices. Meanwhile, taking calligraphy education and children’s art education as the starting point, many experts and scholars have pointed out the new trend in children’s calligraphy education, namely, the balance of writing standards and artistic expressions.
Awarded-winning children were at the opening ceremony.
Compared with previous competitions, the participation of foreign judges is another highlight this year. With the increasing attention from communities with various cultural backgrounds, the number of submissions and the proportion of award-winning works from overseas has increased. Due to the participation of foreign judges, the third “CAFA & LUCION National Competition for Calligraphy and Artworks by Children” presented a more diverse cultural perspective for the jury review.
Mr. Tony Brown, Tenured full Professor of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts de Paris, France and former Provost of the Parsons School for Design, Paris
Mr. Franco Amadei, an expert in European music history and former Director of the Italian Cultural Center and Cultural Counsellor of the Italian Embassy in China
Awarded-winning children were at the opening ceremony.
Besides, “The Awarded-winning Works of CAFA & LUCION National Competition for Calligraphy and Artworks by Children and 2020/2021 National Children's Art Education Achievement Survey Report” (abbr. the report) were released at the same time as the exhibition opening. The organizing committee of the competition conducted a comprehensive analysis of the representative issues of art education in children’s painting and calligraphy through statistical analysis of big data, expert forums and institutional investigations. The organizing committee proposed its suggestions and solutions from CAFA to a wide range of parents and teaching and research of children’s art education throughout society.
View of “The Award-winning Works of CAFA & LUCION National Competition for Calligraphy and Artworks by Children and 2020/2021 National Children's Art Education Achievement Survey Report”
It is reported that during the exhibition, the organizing committee will also organize award-winning works to be exhibited in the countryside and other multiple events. The school will continuously unite forces from all sectors of society to jointly explore the new models for children’s art education and witness the growth of a generation of children.
The exhibition remains on view until 19th, October, 2021.
Edited and Translated by CAFA ART INFO
Photo by Li Biao, Hu Sichen, Hong Danhong, Sun Yang, Li Yanci
Courtesy of the organizer.
