Artists link through ink

FINISHED WORKS: Filmmaker and Chinese calligraphy writer Ji Hao, pen and ink artist Ihipera Walker, and print-maker and art teacher Hannah King gather at Captain Morgans restaurant to demonstrate the ink-based art forms they work in.

Chinese calligraphy, pen and ink drawing, and print-making were part of an artistic demonstration at Captain Morgans restaurant this week.

The low-key event brought together filmmaker and Chinese calligraphy writer Ji Hao, pen and ink artist Ihipera Walker and print-maker and art teacher Hannah King.

The demonstration was organised by Captain Morgans restaurant owner Simon Ong.

A film director and master calligrapher, Ji Hao rolled out a banner of Xuan paper — soft, fine-textured rice-paper — on a table and placed carved paperweights at each end of the banner.

He used a thick, pointed brush dipped in ink to write characters in quick strokes on the paper.

He completed the work by inking three seals with red, oil-based “mud” and pressing these on to the paper.

One of the stamps was marked with the artist’s name and was used by “famous artists only”, The Herald was told.

Another featured the head of a cow, which indicated when the work was written and the other seal carried a saying or proverb.

Asked if the spontaneous nature of Chinese calligraphy was a form of meditation, Ji Hao explained (via translation) that there were two ways to write. One was slow, the other fast and accurate and the fast style was a form of meditation.

Mrs Walker uses calligraphic pens to create abstract, organic works that are suggestive of forms drawn from nature but can include cityscapes and faces.

As a student at Ngata College in the 1960s, she developed her style under teacher Keriana Hunter, she said.

“I’ll start with a line and it grows from there,” she said.

For instance, if she sees the suggestion of a face, landscape, fish or buildings, she develops the motif within the abstract line drawing.

Mrs King took up Chinese calligraphy last year although her art practice centres on the ancient art form of print-making.

“Print-making is a dying art,” she said. “I want to make sure there is awareness around print-making.”

She displayed examples of drypoint prints and demonstrated woodblock printmaking with motifs that are part of her involvement with the Moth Migration Project.

The international project is a crowd-sourced exhibition of hand-printed, drawn and cut paper moths.

An installation of a moth migration map represents artists from 26 countries and their connection with the project.

An auction of the artists’ works at the demonstration raised $150 for the homeless shelter set up by Oasis Community Church and run under the leadership of Lizz Crawford and her father and pastor Tom.