Three ceremonies: the inauguration of PCAERI of the OUC, Your Art Network (Art Education Network) of the OUC going online, and a news conference for the painting and calligraphy exhibition to celebrate the PCAERI, were held at the teaching building for distance education of the OUC on 20 June.

 

Hu Kangmei(right), Deputy Chairman of Chinese Calligraphers Association, and Yan Bing (left), Vice President of the OUC, jointly inaugurated the Painting and Calligraphy Art Education Research Institute (PCAERI) of the OUC

The OUC’s PCAERI was jointly organized and established by the School of Art and the Publishing and Media Group of the OUC. The main work of the institute includes: close cooperation with noted painting and calligraphy experts who are concerned with painting and calligraphy education, exploring the deep integration of information technology in art education, promoting the popularization and modernization of art education, focusing on the research of teaching and education of painting and calligraphy art, building up the learning platform of painting and calligraphy, research into teaching and educational resources in painting and calligraphy art, and carrying out training and exchange activities related to the arts, and so on. The institute will maintain integration of degree continuing education and non-degree continuing education for distance education. Aside from providing art majors matched to the features of distance education, it will also utilize the network to provide training projects in art education combining both online and offline resources. All study of curriculum resources will be quantified and deposited in the OUC’s credit bank, which can be accumulated to the point at which an industrial certificate can be granted. This provides learners an opportunity to increase their study of knowledge and skills, and a chance to obtain authentication of their technical level at the same time. 

One focus of the institute will be teaching and educational research on the arts, and gathering a group of relevant domestic and foreign specialists and scholars to jointly participate in and carry out academic and teaching research on art and art education, especially research on the Internet based art education. Additionally, it will contribute to building up the learning and training platform for art education, and undertake the task of distance degree and non-degree continuing education. The content will cover teaching and educational information on the arts, the exhibition of special artworks, and carrying out online learning, project training, the exchange of scientific and technical research, and such value-added services as expanding online transactions of cultural arts. Finally, it will explore the formation of a new online and offline learning model integrating education, training, collection, exhibition, research, art-related activities, and so on.

Zhang Qing (far right), Director of Academic Department of National Art Museum of China, and Li Linshu(middle), Vice President of the OUC, opened Your Art Network. Liu Chen (far left), Vice President of the OUC and the Director of the Press, hosted the ceremony

Your Arts Network (OUC’s Art Education Network)(http://www.urart.cc)was organized by the PCAERI of the OUC with the goal of reaching out to social groups who have a love for calligraphy and painting. The word You’er has the English equivalent of “your” (meaning “you”), and a Chinese meaning that could be interpreted as “elegant you”, which reflects the sociability, popularity, and participation in art education of the OUC. The website relies on the OUC’s abundant art video resources (more than 3,500 credit hours) to provide an online learning curriculum and resources for members of society. The website includes five main columns: online courses, famous paintings by famous painters, the community, publications, and the institute. Among them, online courses were divided into seven sub-columns including Western painting, Chinese painting, calligraphy & seal carving, folk arts, youth art, life-art, and art appreciation. The initial 12 web-based courses and 98 video lectures, including nearly 15,000 minutes of courses resources, will be open to users for free. In the near future, 14 more video lectures and web-based course resources will be launched in succession. Your Arts Network (OUC’s Art Education Network) will be devoted to becoming a video website for painting and calligraphy art education with the characteristics of the OUC, and become the biggest of its kind in China, specializing in providing  video resources.

Hu Kangmei, Deputy Chairman of China Calligraphers Association, and Yan Bing, Vice President of the OUC, inaugurated the PCAERI of the OUC. Zhang Qing, Director of Academic Department of National Art Museum of China, and Li Linshu, Vice President of the OUC jointly opened Your Network.

During the conference, the ceremony of appointing visiting professors for the OUC School of Art was also held. The OUC School of Art engaged a group of famous artists, art educators, and famous scholars to be its visiting professors. Among them there were well-known great masters in calligraphy such as Yang Mochun and Yang Weiguo, and masters of Chinese painting such as Liu Xuewei and Xu Zhan. There were representatives of Chinese contemporary art including Liu Ye, Ai An, Xiao Fei, and Zhang Qing, the famous curator and scholar. There were Cheng Gong, educator and designer of new media, and Zhong Ma, a leading figure in the public sculptures circle. All of them will offer advice and suggestions and participate in person in the development planning, specialty construction, and course teaching of the School of Art and the PCAERI the OUC. 

Vice President of the OUC Yan Bing delivers a speech

Yan Bing delivered a speech. He explained that there is a wide gap in the development of social art education between China and other countries and regions in the world, especially in constructing an art education system which will reflect the lifelong learning concept. It’s necessary for the government and society to make greater strides in the development of social art education. The OUC, as a new type of university, has an inescapable responsibility. It should positively explore the development of social art education by means of modern information technology and its adaptation to the lifelong learning requirements of all members of society. In early July of last year, the OUC School of Art was opened. Its main task was based on the OUC’s objectives, position and functioning to carry out social art education, especially non-degree education, oriented to all members of society, and to explore the development of an art education curriculum with the OUC’s features, and at the same time, to positively explore how to provide courses and learning resources for community education centres and universities for the elderly, so as to make due contributions for the development of social art education in the construction of a learning society and lifelong learning for all. Yan Bing said that the construction and operation of the OUC School of Art had made progress in the exploration of these fields. The most important goal is to accumulate, integrate, and use the art education resources of the OUC, the entire system, and even the entire society. Today, the unveiling and establishment of the PCAERI of the OUC, organized mutually by the School of Art and the Publishing and Media Group, is a landmark event in the development progress of art education of the OUC. 

Ruan Zhiyong (second from the left), Former Party Secretary of the OUC, and Gao Runxiang (second from the right), the art director of Doudier Network, cutting the ribbon for the opening of the painting exhibition

Guests are visiting the painting and calligraphy art exhibition

Guests are visiting the painting and calligraphy art exhibition

Mr. Aisin Giorro Qi Xiang is visiting the painting and calligraphy art exhibition

Guests of the conference visited the painting and calligraphy art exhibition. The setup of the PCAERI of the OUC has aroused wide attention in painting and calligraphy circles and gained great support from many artists and related art institutions, as evidenced by their generous donations of paintings and calligraphy works. In the exhibition, the works of Zirou Ligang, a contracted artist of Doudier Network, and other works donated to the institute by famous painters and calligraphers including Yang Mochun(calligraphy), Zhan Renzuo(Chinese traditional painting), Xiao Fei(oil painting), Yang Weiguo(calligraphy), Ai An(watercolor painting), and so on were displayed.

The artists who donate painting and calligraphy works are awarded with collection certificates

At the press conference, Tang Yingshan, the President of the OUC School of Art briefly introduced the institute and its website. Ruan Zhiyong, Former Party Secretary of the OUC, and the Art Director of Doudier Network Gao Runxiang, cut the ribbon for the opening of the painting exhibition. Vice President of the OUC Yan Bing, Li Linshu, Party Secretary of Xi’an RTVU, Yang Xinzhou, Party Secretary of Gansu RTVU, Zhu Weiguo, and the Deputy Party Secretary of Tianjin RTVU, Zhou Zhi, issued collection certificates to the artists who donated their paintings and calligraphy works

Video news:

http://www.centv.cn/news/folder211/2014/06/2014-06-2181410.html

By Yu Minsheng, He Jing, the OUC   Photographer: Yu Zhangli