Cultural Diplomacy and Watercolor Unit

In the community, I have actively engaged in integrating art into academic subjects and developing lesson plans with cultural organizations. In summer 2019, I collaborated with the Diplomatic Reception Room by creating a watercolor unit that integrated history and social studies content based on its exported Chinese porcelain collection. In this unit, students also learn about watercolor techniques and color theory.

Learning Objectives：

Students will understand why art is a powerful method to assist better communications with other cultures. Students will research and make connections between different cultures by studying the meaning of symbols in different settings and applying them to their art design to convey communication.

Vocabulary wall & the Project Zero See/Think/Wonder learning approach poster

Summative Project Scenario:

To celebrate the 41 years of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China, a special exhibition will happen at the Diplomatic Reception Room. You are the chief designer and get the commission to design a porcelain piece that will be presented in this exhibition. The theme is peace and friendship between the U.S. and China.

Project Requirements:

1. Your design needs to include at least one Chinese symbol and one U.S. symbol. These symbols work together to represent the theme of peace and friendship.

2.Media and technique requirements: you have to demonstrate the watercolor technique of wet on wet and one of the following watercolor application techniques (wet on dry, dry on dry, dry on wet). Second, you need to use a convincing color scheme to express your intention. Third, you need to create a balanced composition for your design.

Unit Reflections:

Here I want to share some thoughts with teachers who are interested in integrating Chinese art into academic subjects. When creating a research topic, the teacher needs to set a precise scope rather than a general direction to avoid using stereotyped keywords to start the research. Suppose in an art and social studies interdisciplinary unit, the teacher wants to create a research project to deepen student’s understanding of the international trade's influence on local cultures. In that case, rather than asking students to search for "Chinese porcelains," the teacher can set a detailed scope of this research to guide students to step out of things they've already known and explore new knowledge. For example, "search for one Chinese export porcelain image before the 18th Century and one in the 18th Century, each of them shall bring an instinctive feature that you want to discuss in the class". Students will probably find out that besides the well-known Chinese blue and white porcelain and the symbol of a dragon, Chinese export porcelains have various porcelain types with many different kinds of decorative patterns. Before the 18th Century, the exported porcelains' design reflected what was popular in the Chinese market. However, with the development of international trade, the 18th Century, the Western market's feedback got valued. During the 18th Century, exported porcelains were deeply influenced by the Western aesthetic value or even was a commission work with Western images such as a family crest, and Mount Vernon. These discoveries are the foundation for further discussion and help students to break their stereotypes. In the unit summative project, teachers can let students choose symbols to design for a modern time China export porcelain to the United States. Below is an example of my student who has created a plate design with successful application of the symbols to convey his wish of peace.

More Examples of Student's Summative Artworks:

Unit exhibition at the school