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In partnership with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, we welcome artisan in residence Bertrand Mao, an expert in Chinese calligraphy and Shan-Shui brush painting.

The program kicks off with a captivating artisan talk and demonstration, during which participants will learn about Bertrand Mao’s techniques and craft practices in traditional Chinese calligraphy and Shan-Shui painting, a category of Chinese brush painting.

About Bertrand Mao
Bertrand Mao is an artist specializing in Chinese calligraphy and Shan-Shui painting. “Shan-Shui," commonly understood in the Western world as Chinese landscape painting, is the highest form of art in traditional Chinese culture. The literal translation of “Shan-Shui” is "Mountain and Water.”

Born in Jiangsu province, Mao has studied and practiced these art forms for over sixty years and is known for his “Four Gentlemen”—the plum blossom, chrysanthemum, bamboo, and orchid—brushwork. Mao's paintings express a poetic state of mind. He often finishes a painting by adding a poem or verse reflecting the mood and thoughts behind the brushwork. He paints in the traditional manner by applying Chinese black ink on rice paper with a slightly pointed traditional calligraphy brush, adding light blue and ocher pigments for color.

Bertrand Mao is a resident artist at the Metropolitan Center for the Visual Arts (VisArts) in Rockville, Maryland, and has been on faculty at the University of Maryland University College and at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at American University.