Art of the dragon in Lexington
Judy Funkhouser paints imperial dragons with blazing eyes. Keith Nelson’s dragons fly through the clouds in a swirl of claws and tails. Painting or making pottery, Bick Mee Lee infuses her dragons and maidens with the energy and beauty of Hong Kong where she grew up.
Dragons are so mysterious for their painting teacher Qing Xiong Ma, he hides them among the misty mountains of his native China.
Chinese new Year officially arrived last week but there’s still “Dragons and More’’ at the Lexington Arts and Crafts Society.
In a fruitful collaboration, the Chinese Painting Guild and LACS Ceramics Guild are showing and selling paintings, pottery and other art inspired by dragons.
For most of us, it’s 2012, time to elect a president.
For traditional Chinese, the lunar year of 4709 is the Year of the Dragon, a time when healthy children will be born and bold actions
will be rewarded.
the CPG’s president, Funkhouser, said Ma and 16 members are exhibiting 32 paintings of dragons, mostly done with ink and watercolors in traditional styles.
Since organizing the guild in 2001, she said it has about 70 members who generally exhibit their work at least once a year in several different sites.
After several visits to China, Funkhouser said studying Chinese painting requires her to learn the ancient techniques of an intriguing culture while allowing opportunities for personal expression.
a native of Guangdong province in southern China, Ma studied art and opera before coming in 1991 to the U.S. where he teaches at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum and gives private lessons.
“In old times, Chinese artists painted dragons by giving them the characteristics of animals they’d seen. look closely. You’ll see dragons have the claws of eagles, bodies of crocodiles and the scales of snakes,’’ he said.
a Waltham resident, Ma is showing the show’s largest painting, a striking triptych of mist-shrouded peaks enlivened by bursts of yellow, titled “Mountain Hidden Dragons.’’
When painting dragons which have complex meaning in Chinese culture, the Waltham resident urges students to use “powerful and energetic’’ strokes of the ink brushes to convey their subjects’ strength and wisdom.
Citing a Chinese proverb, “if a student copies the teacher, he’ll never leave the cave,’’ Ma said he encourages students to use their training and creative instincts to paint their “own personal dragon.’’
LACS publicist Jean Hart said nine members are showing ceramics in varied styles, many featuring dragon designs or imagery.
Founded in 1936, the nonprofit society is comprised of 10 guilds, each devoted to a particular art form. several artists in the show belong to both guilds and are showing paintings and pottery.
a Watertown resident who belongs to both guilds, Lee is showing nine works in both media. a physicist who grew up in Hong Kong hearing folk tales about mythological creatures, she painted a shadowy, ancient dragon in “Peeking from Dark Clouds’’ which she’s showing alongside a ceramic figure of a delicate maiden.
rather than do dragons, Maureen Cagliuso used a wolf hairbrush to paint fruit and flowers in the “gong bi’’ style which emphasizes fine detail.
a Lexington resident who belongs to both guilds, she has also studied Chinese martial arts of tai chi and kung-fu.
the CPG’s vice-president, Nelson said he followed Chinese customs in his painting “Dragons in the Mist,’’ which is based on a famous painting at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. “I put in five dragons because the word for ‘four’ sounds in Chinese like their word for death. When painting dragons, the hardest thing to get right is the head.’’
a two-decade member of the ceramics guild, Cora Pucci is showing seven works, including tea cups that reveal her love of lotuses as a decorative element. the author of “Pottery: a Basic Manual,’’ the Arlington resident said she paints her designs on the surface of a porcelain glaze before firing her pieces in a kiln at 2360 degrees.
“the glaze is my canvas. I love lotuses because they rise from the mud and ascend toward the light,’’ she said.
“Dragons and more!”
WHERE: Lexington Arts and Crafts Society, 130 Waltham St.,Lexington.
WHEN: Through Feb. 13
HOURS: Noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and Sunday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
INFO: 781-862-9696, www.LACSma.org
To learn about Qing Xiong Ma, visit www.maqingxiong
To learn about the Chinese Painting Guild contact Judy Funkhouser by emailing cranehall@comcast.net
Art of the dragon in Lexington
