Home from China, part 5

In Beijing we attended the Graduation Fashion Show at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology. Amazing and innovative designs were presented by models who could have been on a New York runway.

 The next day I gave a presentation to students, thinking, "What am I going to tell these students about color and design?" I focused on the creative and originality aspects of my material, and they responded with great curiosity and interest.

At each venue I began with "who I am and what I do," which showed pictures of my map location, home, yard, and studio, and the thought of living among trees and a grassy yard was appealing, since most of their experience is in high-rise apartment living. I told the Rise and Shine, Inner City story about how the arrangement of colors creates "neighborhoods" which have to touch and merge and interact to become a successful city, which is also a metaphor for countries in our world. It was rewarding to see smiles of recognition and agreement on many faces as they understood the message the quilt portrays.

We were fortunate to see Beijing on a relatively clear day but also saw the frighteningly sad smog on other days. There were trees planted along most of the streets we were driven through, but they were still bare from winter. I can just imagine how different these streets will look when all these trees are fully leafed out!

Sidewalk in Beijing

On a clear day

Same view from hotel window on smoggy day