VISITING ARTIST AT NATIONAL TSING HUA UNIVERSITY
www.artdesign.nthu.edu.tw
www.facebook.com/NTHUDAD
www.instagram.com/nthu_jad
From 1 September to 30 November 2024, I was employed as Visiting Artist at the Department of Arts and Design, College of Arts, National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), Hsinchu City, Taiwan. I was initially invited to submit an application, being recommended by Fine Art Professor Hong-Juin Shieh, under which guidance and supervision I conducted my activity.
My main task was to produce 4 works on-site, actually painting for my own in front of the students so that they could follow my process. I supplied explanatory texts and documentary photographs of all the key stages, which I uploaded for shared and public use, or published as posts in our private group. I provided links for all the materials I am using, adding preferences, recommendations and observations that I gathered over the years. I started my studio practice by unboxing canvases cut to size, shipped from Romania. I taped them on the wall, overlapped a grid of threads to have a guide every 10 cm, and painted my works in acrylics, referencing my photographic sketches. I varnished, photographed the finished paintings, waited for them to dry, and then unmounted and rolled them in a shipping tube.
www.artdesign.nthu.edu.tw
www.facebook.com/NTHUDAD
www.instagram.com/nthu_jad
From 1 September to 30 November 2024, I was employed as Visiting Artist at the Department of Arts and Design, College of Arts, National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), Hsinchu City, Taiwan. I was initially invited to submit an application, being recommended by Fine Art Professor Hong-Juin Shieh, under which guidance and supervision I conducted my activity.
My main task was to produce 4 works on-site, actually painting for my own in front of the students so that they could follow my process. I supplied explanatory texts and documentary photographs of all the key stages, which I uploaded for shared and public use, or published as posts in our private group. I provided links for all the materials I am using, adding preferences, recommendations and observations that I gathered over the years. I started my studio practice by unboxing canvases cut to size, shipped from Romania. I taped them on the wall, overlapped a grid of threads to have a guide every 10 cm, and painted my works in acrylics, referencing my photographic sketches. I varnished, photographed the finished paintings, waited for them to dry, and then unmounted and rolled them in a shipping tube.
MURALS PAINTED BY STUDENTS DURING "THE MULTIPLE ASPECTS OF PAINTING WORKSHOP" HELD BY PROFESSOR HONG-JUIN SHIEH AND ANA MARIA MICU
An additional task was that, throughout six meetings, I assisted Professor Hong-Juin Shieh, under the frame of the "The Multiple Aspects of Painting Workshop", guiding students through the process of designing and implementing murals. I started by introducing my portfolio, with emphasis on 3 projects in which I included temporary murals in solo exhibitions. I gave brief introductions of other artists who work on a large scale, such as Julie Mehretu, or the visual designs by Kylie Manning for Christopher Wheeldon's ballet "From You Within Me". I documented all the projects and offered the photos to students, as a resource and an example of how to photograph their works.
An additional task was that, throughout six meetings, I assisted Professor Hong-Juin Shieh, under the frame of the "The Multiple Aspects of Painting Workshop", guiding students through the process of designing and implementing murals. I started by introducing my portfolio, with emphasis on 3 projects in which I included temporary murals in solo exhibitions. I gave brief introductions of other artists who work on a large scale, such as Julie Mehretu, or the visual designs by Kylie Manning for Christopher Wheeldon's ballet "From You Within Me". I documented all the projects and offered the photos to students, as a resource and an example of how to photograph their works.
CLASS OF DRAWING, YEAR 1, HELD BY TEACHER YU-FANG CHI AND ANA MARIA MICU
I was also invited to assist teacher Yu-Fang Chi, in her Class of Drawing, Year 1, for eight weekly sessions on the practice of drawing. I first presented my drawing portfolio, proposing an assignment for the students to make a sketch of a concept, in a similar manner as I used my sketchbook with drawings of my left hand to formulate the concept of my solo exhibition "Left Hand To Distant View". In the following meeting, we reviewed as a group some of these assignments, and for the rest, I provided brief comments online. I continued with introducing the croquis and exemplifying in front of the class how one could draw, out of emphatic lines, a silhouette of a person sitting somewhere nearby. Next, for 2 consecutive sessions, we drew a portrait from life and I spoke about the properties of fixative, especially on how to fixate the notoriously problematic white chalk and soft pastels. The last three weeks were reserved for making a cast drawing. I recommended the knitting needle as a useful tool to take measurements, copy angles and transport lines. I explained my way of cross-hatching and how I further work to obtain textures that enhance realism, achieve gradients with a large variety of tones, or pursue types of artistic expression.
I was also invited to assist teacher Yu-Fang Chi, in her Class of Drawing, Year 1, for eight weekly sessions on the practice of drawing. I first presented my drawing portfolio, proposing an assignment for the students to make a sketch of a concept, in a similar manner as I used my sketchbook with drawings of my left hand to formulate the concept of my solo exhibition "Left Hand To Distant View". In the following meeting, we reviewed as a group some of these assignments, and for the rest, I provided brief comments online. I continued with introducing the croquis and exemplifying in front of the class how one could draw, out of emphatic lines, a silhouette of a person sitting somewhere nearby. Next, for 2 consecutive sessions, we drew a portrait from life and I spoke about the properties of fixative, especially on how to fixate the notoriously problematic white chalk and soft pastels. The last three weeks were reserved for making a cast drawing. I recommended the knitting needle as a useful tool to take measurements, copy angles and transport lines. I explained my way of cross-hatching and how I further work to obtain textures that enhance realism, achieve gradients with a large variety of tones, or pursue types of artistic expression.
MEDIA COVERAGE
Florentina Toniță, INVITATUL DE LA ȘTIRI: Ana Maria MICU, Video/Editing: Florin Timofte, 28 August 2024, 18:00, stiri.botosani.ro
Laura Lucescu (with Ana Maria Micu as first guest), Vară pentru voi, 9 August 2024, 16:00, TVR Iaşi
Florentina Toniță, Ana Maria Micu, artista din Botoșani care le va preda studenților din Taiwan, 6 August 2024, stiri.botosani.ro
Florentina Toniță, INVITATUL DE LA ȘTIRI: Ana Maria MICU, Video/Editing: Florin Timofte, 28 August 2024, 18:00, stiri.botosani.ro
Laura Lucescu (with Ana Maria Micu as first guest), Vară pentru voi, 9 August 2024, 16:00, TVR Iaşi
Florentina Toniță, Ana Maria Micu, artista din Botoșani care le va preda studenților din Taiwan, 6 August 2024, stiri.botosani.ro