Registration required. One ticket is required per person. Register through Eventbrite.

There are two iterations of the same workshop: Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19. PLEASE ONLY REGISTER FOR ONE WORKSHOP. The workshops will be the same.

If registration is sold out, you are more than welcome to attend and wait in the standby line; if those who registered do not arrive at least ten minutes before the program starts, those waiting in line will be invited to join the workshop on a first come, first served basis.

The ImaginAsia Studio is located on level B2, one floor below the museum store, of the East Building.

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 painting.

In this engaging workshop, participants have the unique opportunity to explore the craft of Chinese calligraphy and brush painting.

Gain hands-on experience with the artist’s “four treasures”—the round brush, black ink, ink plate, and rice paper. Learn and practice the basic brush strokes of Chinese calligraphy and then see how to use this newfound skill to paint the natural forms found in "Shan-Shui" painting and other related Chinese brush painting. Make your own original piece while enjoying the beauty and philosophy of these ancient art forms.

All ages welcome. No expertise required. Limited seating available.

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.