Instructor Profiles
Jinxiu... admires and respects the fact that in America some people continue to learn into their golden years: unafraid and interested.
Meet Jinxiu Zhao - by Lynn Lothman
Humble, reserved, private, effusive, disciplined, and accomplished are a few words that come to mind when considering Jinxiu Zhao (Alice). Her name in Chinese is translated to mean ‘the bright future, land of charming and beautiful landscape.’ Her name is most fitting, a good name indeed. For the last seven years Alice has been teaching the art of Chinese Brush Painting at OLLI. Her students return semester after semester to refine their touch with black India ink and round tipped animal-hair brushes seeking perfection. Alice immigrated to the United States in 1994, nineteen years ago, bringing with her a passion for traditional Chinese art forms. As a girl she grew up in the city of Wuhan in Hubei Province in Central China. Art has always been a part of her and she attributes her artistic eye to her parents. Her father, a city leader, was also a master calligrapher and encouraged her artistic talents throughout her childhood. “My mother was an accountant but she loved to cut paper with sharp scissors into tiny designs creating little people, animals, and birds. As a teenager, I sometimes watched my mother doing paper cutting and was amazed at the magic simple scissors could make. When I was 18, I was chosen, one of eight people from my city, to display my paper cutting creation at the National Gallery of Art in Beijing.” Her creation was also exhibited in ten of China’s largest cities requiring that she cut ten more identical copies of the original within a month! The exhibition was the last art show conducted by Chairman Mao’s wife, Jiang Qin, near the end of the Cultural Revolution in China. Alice described her creation- a creation that demonstrated her patience, skill, and an eye for detail. She cut six diamond shaped groups of children being acculturated and taught by various groups in Chinese society: peasants, workers, soldiers, and commercial. She spent day and night in the summer months scoring the paper to create the finished products finding little time to eat, drink, or sleep. Her room was sweltering hot and stifling close; she was afraid to turn on the fan for fear that the paper would move and she would have to begin again. A few years later, Jinxiu Zhao had a “nian hua” (a detailed brush painting with color) of groups of young children celebrating Children’s Day, awarded for its excellence and chosen to be on display at the Hubei Province Art Gallery. She smiled as she recalled the children listening to a story, waving their hands to catch Jinxiu Zhao’s attention. “Paint me! Paint me!” “I painted the ones with the most expressive faces, the most unique.”
Alice loves teaching; besides OLLI she teaches at the Chapel Hill Zen Center and conducts private lessons in her home. She is honored to share her gift with others and is impressed with her student’s passion, diligence, and dedication. She finds pleasure and many rewards from seeing the growth of her students and appreciates the fact that they are eager to learn. She admires and respects the fact that in America some people continue to learn into their golden years: unafraid and interested. When asked what people would be most surprised to learn about you she said, “that she had never gardened before; she had no idea about growing things.” Her students began to bring her native North Carolina plants, seeds, and ideas. She now spends as much time in the garden as she does with a paintbrush in her hand! An artist’s work is a good measure of personality. Alice’s kind, respectful, and gentle spirit is indeed reflected in her many paintings of nature: serene, simple, and beautiful.
Alice loves teaching; besides OLLI she teaches at the Chapel Hill Zen Center and conducts private lessons in her home. She is honored to share her gift with others and is impressed with her student’s passion, diligence, and dedication. She finds pleasure and many rewards from seeing the growth of her students and appreciates the fact that they are eager to learn. She admires and respects the fact that in America some people continue to learn into their golden years: unafraid and interested. When asked what people would be most surprised to learn about you she said, “that she had never gardened before; she had no idea about growing things.” Her students began to bring her native North Carolina plants, seeds, and ideas. She now spends as much time in the garden as she does with a paintbrush in her hand! An artist’s work is a good measure of personality. Alice’s kind, respectful, and gentle spirit is indeed reflected in her many paintings of nature: serene, simple, and beautiful.
