Cross-Cultural Communication in Creative Work

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On July 22, 2020, the Greater Columbus Chinese Chamber of Commerce welcomed an expert panel to discuss US-China cross-cultural communication in the creation and interpretation of artistic works.
The panel, composed of Catherine Stuer of Chamber member Denison University, Tom Gattis of the Columbus College of Art and Design, and Hank Abbott of Pearl Studio in Shanghai, shared their diverse experiences, including:

• Professor Stuer’s research on the composition and meaning of late 19th-century photographs taken by a local Nanjing photographer. Sample takeaway: the photographer sometimes staged images that mirrored the composition of traditional Chinese paintings, thus evoking interpretations that would be known to educated Chinese viewers, but inaccessible to most non-Chinese viewers.

• An animated short created by students from CCAD and the China Academy of Art that tells a story that is meaningful to both Chinese and American audiences.

• Professor Gattis’ experiences visiting China and working with Chinese students. One takeaway: once the Chinese students understood that the American classroom encourages (requires?) participation, there were no shrinking violets among them!

• OSU Chinese Flagship Program alumnus Hank Abbott’s work at Pearl Studio, making feature-length animated films accessible to Chinese and American audiences. Their most recent work is “Over the Moon,” available on Netflix this fall.

Many thanks to Jane Palmer of Denison’s Global Commerce program (Chinese Chamber member), Dr. Melanie Corn of CCAD, and Dr. Galal Walker of the National East Asian Language Resource Center (Chinese Chamber member), whose introductions made this panel possible.

Useful links:
Article by Professor Stuer on the photographs in her talk
https://www.racar-racar.com/uploads/5/7/7/4/57749791/44_2_08_stuer.pdf

Animated short by CCAD and CAA students
https://vimeo.com/187993027

Trailer for "Over the Moon"
https://www.netflix.com/title/80214236

Denison Global Commerce Program
https://denison.edu/academics/global-commerce

National East Asian Language Resource Center
https://nealrc.osu.edu/

CHROMA the best of CCAD
https://www.ccad.edu/chroma

CCAD List of Endowed Scholarships
https://www.ccad.edu/endowed-scholarships

CCAD Fashion Scholarship
https://youtu.be/znBTaUCQWgg

Jiahao Peng - CCAD student photographer
https://www.ccad.edu/blogs/ccad-stories-jiahao-peng