In 2010 I was given an incredible opportunity - a scholarship that enabled me to travel to China for 6 weeks to conduct a research project on contemporary art and art education. With the NSW Premier's Kingold Creative Arts Travelling Scholarship I was able to go to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong to interview artists and produce educational materials for students and teachers. Looking back, I was utterly naive and completely ignorant when I arrived, with just a few phrases of mangled Chinese. But I was immediately enthralled by what I found. I began a blog in 2010 and I began to find my voice as a writer. I've continued the blog through the following ten years, documenting my meetings with artists and curators in China, my experiences living in Beijing on a 3-month writer's residency in 2013 (thanks to Redgate Gallery), my travels around China (although my time has mostly been spent in the artist enclaves of Beijing and Shanghai) and the joys and frustrations of learning Chinese (ten years later, I’m still learning!) I called the blog 'An Art Teacher in China', although somewhere along the line I underwent a metamorphosis, becoming a writer, critic and researcher. I combined this new and somewhat precarious identity with teaching until late 2015, when I took up the position of Manager of Research for the White Rabbit Collection of Contemporary Chinese Art in Sydney, where I worked until March 2020, and began a PhD in 2016, which continues. You can find the blog ‘An Art Teacher in China’ HERE
Image credit: Liu Zhuoquan, Seven Sparrows (detail), 2011, courtesy White Rabbit Collection Sydney
Image credit: Liu Zhuoquan, Seven Sparrows (detail), 2011, courtesy White Rabbit Collection Sydney
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