Warringah Printmakers Studio in Guangzhou, China
Our exhibition 'Australia - Enchanting Impressions' was held at The South China Club, on Ersha Island in Guangzhou. The city has a population of 10 million, but Ersha is a relatively exclusive enclave with a lot of green space, prestigious buildings and expensive apartments. Mrs Kei Ying Wong and her staff did a wonderful job of presenting our work and it looked great.
Before the opening, Warringah Printmakers Studio had some editorial in the Guangzhou Daily and the Yangcheng Evening News. The circulation of one of the papers was 50 million!
At the opening, there were a number of very important people, and television cameras and news journalists recorded the event. I had the considerable honour of accompanying Mr Ye XuanPing, the President of Guangdong Chinese Cultural Promotions (GDCCP), around the exhibition.
Afterwards, we attended a lunch to celebrate the opening. Wonderful, wonderful food including shark fin soup and other delicacies cooked in a style even the most experienced diners had not tasted before. Our hosts seemed quite impressed with our facility with chopsticks!
A couple of days later we met the teachers and students of the printmaking department of Guangzhou University. It began very formally, but soon the studio was crowded with students and teachers and our party excitedly exchanged information about techniques and images. All were keen to find out more about our safer procedures, and we were keen to learn more about their special techniques - we saw a demonstration of woodblock printing and many examples of wonderful prints. We are all anxious to try Chinese style woodblock printing over the next few months.
The cultural exchange was a wonderful experience spent making new friends, giving and learning.
Anthea Boesenberg
President
Warringah Printmakers Studio
