Sep 29, 2021

Weekly Calligraphy Practice - Online

Deepening your brush practice through 6 weekly sessions with guided brush demonstrations

- suitable for practitioners who have been introduced to East Asian Calligraphy / Ink Brush Practice.

An In-depth practice with Yingge Xu & Matt Padwick

9.30 - 11.30am, Sundays, 10 October - 14 November 2021

* Recordings will be available afterwards for late reviewing

This weekly practice is designed for practitioners who have been introduced to ink brush practice / calligraphy and would like to continue their calligraphy learning and, deepening their brush skills through a dedicated practice and peer-to-peer support.

To help us relax and be present in the body, each session begins with simple movement and breathing exercises of Kum Nye (from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition) – suitable for people of all ages and fitness levels.

Your ink brush journey

In each session we will review or study a calligraphy stroke and learn an ideograph through guided exercises.
To understand how this ideograph formed, we will review its original form (symbols/pictures) backing to thousand year ago
We will study each ideograph in its formal script, and we will also stretch our brush skills into semi-cursive and cursive scripts.
Each stroke is demonstrated a few times (with different camera angles) to give us a clear sense of the brush movement, and each session ends with suggestions for home practice designed to help you cultivate your own calligraphy practice.
At the end of each session, we will answer questions you may have during your practice.

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Course Details

Lesson 1: 中 "centre, inside" We will review horizontal and vertical strokes we learned in the calligraphy foundation course and then study the ideograph 中 "centre, inside".

Lesson 2: 行 "walk, act, practice" We will review diagonal strokes and do a close study of the ideograph 行.

Lesson 3: 文 "literature, civil" We will review diagonal and dot strokes and do a close study of the ideograph 文；we will also study and practice the semi-cursive and cursive script of this ideograph.

Lesson 4: 光 "light, bright, to shine" We will study vertical-to-horizontal stroke with a rounded joint; followed by a close study of the ideograph 光.

Lesson 5: 魚 "fish" We will learn a new stroke - joint stroke, do a close study of the ideograph 魚 and explore through practice all three scripts: formal, semi-cursive, and cursive.

Lesson 6: 悟 "enlightened, to realise, to be awakened, realization" We study a pictophonetic character 悟. This character is a clear example of how this writing system developed to convey more complexed and subjective concepts.

Course Schedule

Each session last for 3 hours

Welcoming & peer-to-peer connection (20mins)
Kum Nye/Meditation (25 mins)
Ink Brush (60 mins)
Break (15 mins)
Ink Brush (60 mins)

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MEET THE TEAM

Yingge Xu

From an early age Yingge Xu learned Tai Chi, meditation and calligraphy alongside her father while receiving a traditional education in China. Later she trained at the Chinese Flower and Bird Painting Institute and continued her learning with ink brush artists from both China and Japan.

Moving to Ireland in 2015, and seeing how meditation is taught and applied in the West, inspired a new perspective of her own art and cultural background. Yinnge shares her passion for both meditation and ink-brush art, not as separate activities but as a ‘wholesome experience’.

Matt Padwick

Matt has been practising meditation and Kum Nye as a member of the Dzogchen Beara community since 1998. He has completed two years of closed retreat and worked in a variety of roles including Centre Director 2003-2013.

Matt offers Kum Nye workshops and retreats at Dzogchen Beara and elsewhere in Ireland - currently, in response to Covid-19, the programmes have successfully adapted to an online format.