On June 20th, the art travelling exhibition of RUC School of Arts in the U.S. opened in the art gallery of Kent University, New Jersey. Prof. Xu Weixin, Executive Dean of School of Arts, Tang Keyang, the exhibition planner, Farahi, president of Kent University and Stephen, Director of International Office saw the exhibition with other art lovers.
Works of 20 faculties were displayed, including oil painting, traditional Chinese painting, calligraphy, block print and digital works. The exhibition, which will last for 3 months, is due to continue in Michigan University after Sep. 20th. As part of mutual exchanges between two parties, Prof. Neal from Kent University will have his works displayed in RUC in this November.
Xu Weixin, Dean of School of Arts, together with the international office of Kent University, signed the MOU for student exchanges due to start in 2014. As an extension of cooperation agreement between two schools signed in 2011, each school will send 4 undergraduate and 2 postgraduate students, free of tuition fee and boarding fee to the other school.
The cooperation programs between the School of Arts of RUC with the School of Arts of Chicago University, music college of Oklahoma State University, and the School of Arts in Southern Utah University are in progress.
“It has only been 10 years since we are established. We are very young compared with Central Academy of Fine Arts, academy of fine arts of Capital Normal University and other universities. There is no bright future if we only follow them,” said Xu Weixin, “so we have focused on our internalization strategy, Working closely with world-renowned universities can help us to learn from them and explore our own way of development.”
In recent years, the school of arts has used "985" fund and social donation to develop a large number of international academic exchanges. Wang Wenjuan, associate professor will study at Harvard University as a visiting scholar in August. During her stay, she will work on the project "Modern Interpretation of the Spirit of Xu Beihong ", and translate some works of Fei Weimei. “With her 10 years study in this field and her solid academic background, I’m sure she is capable of this task. This is a golden opportunity to broaden one’s eyes and research vision.” Said Xu, “Our musical performances are also warmly welcomed in University of Southern California. They expect more performances like such in the future.
In addition, our digital design studio, along with the famous Cologne digital college successfully hosted the new media internet dance interactive performance in Beijing and Cologne;Prof. Xu Weixin held his oil painting exhibition at Harvard University and gave speeches at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California, Los Angeles, Wisconsin, Madison, and the University of Michigan. Guo Yidan was invited to teach at the art institute of Southern Utah University for a year; other forms of concerts and exhibitions will also be held in different universities.
"We are offering favorable conditions for faculties and students to' go out ', to make them more creative.The teaching of traditional arts advocates the "focus" and "specialty." However, Xu Weixin hopes that the students can learn different knowledge and broaden their vision, “One can never go far if you only learn one subject. I personally benefited a lot from my multi filed studies, such as politics, economics, history and so on. You can get an inspiration from certain factor at a moment while creating your works. Modern art is interwoven with other subjects, and we should feed ourselves on humanity subject. We try to broaden ways of teaching while consolidating our foundation, this is a creative teaching method for arts, but it is in accordance with the law of art.”
School of Arts is not only implementing the "going out" strategy to expand its international influence, but is also "introducing" talented professors, scholars from famous universities to build an international teaching platform. Many distinguished professors will teach at RUC for months.
"Judging from effect, it is the students who benefited the most, then the faculty, because they have direct contact with distinguished professors, scholars and artists of the world, and thus can broaden their vision." Xu also cited the example of Prof. Lellouche. During his stay in RUC, students of different grades can work with him, practice their English and participate in high-level art creation.
The effect may take a while to show, but we can't get things done overnight in talents cultivation. We need a process of accumulation. Our outline is clear," Xu said, "N ow, it’s the time to work from all aspects. We are establishing long-term cooperation with world class institutes. Then we will put efforts in different majors. It’s expected to take 3-5 years. Our students can get in touch the most advanced theories and benefit from them.”
