Assignment/Activity Title — Manchu Women Poets, Watercolor

Year — Junior

Portfolio Competency — Media and Communications

Skill(s) — Art, Poem Analysis, Interpretation

This project saw the class embark on an artistic journey into the poems of Manchu women. We were assigned to
choose one poem from a list written by Manchu women, and develop a plan for converting that poem into a watercolor
painting. In class, we were given the required tools for watercolor painting and we were able to use our artistic skills to
convert the poem into a painting. After painting, we were assigned to reflect upon our experience and our process of
converting a poem into a painting. I chose to be inspired by Sibo’s poem, After the Rain, having been struck by the quiet
return to normalcy following the rain. For my painting, I chose to express the emergence from the rain storm, side-by-side
with the emergence from winter, painting the result of a springs first rain on a barren field. I attempted to interpret the
tone wand feeling of the poem instead of the literal meaning of the words.

The Manchu women poets, watercoloring project was, in its most basic form, an art project. We first studied the
poets and poems, employing our poem and literary analysis skills. These skills helped us not only choose a poem to paint
from, but let us understand Manchu sentiment for a return to the countryside and romanticization of nature. Once we
picked a poem, we called on our interpretation skills to help us imagine what a painting reflecting the poem would look
like. Some students chose to paint literal interpretations of their poems, and some students, including me, chose to reflect
upon the tone and themes of the poem. Either way our interpretation skills were in full effect, converting the poem into a
painting.

Through this project I was able to explore the impact a medium has on the message and tone of a piece of art. In
analysing the tone and themes of the Manchu poem, I was required to employ an extensive understanding of poetry,
literature, and art to comprehend the imagery used by Sibo in After the Rain. After reading the poem I was required to
switch media while staying with constant themes and tone. This called upon my ability to understand the impact of images
and painting techniques on the final product’s effect on the audience. By converting one medium to another, I had to
understand both media and devices used to effect the audience used in both media.

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