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the creation of bernadette

 Bernadette's c.v in extended version

what is in a curriculum vitae? This is a detailed account of what I have been through as an artist, beginning from how and when I began to study Art, and what I have done after I finished College, as an artist or not as an artist.

The reason for putting this page , inserting it as part of a Curriculum Vitae seems  unusual, but the  normally accepted C.V. format is not that truth revealing as far as art practice is concerned, and therefore , I have decided this detailed account is a much more sincere layout for the eventual employer, who could make a better decision in hiring the artist as an instructor in art, or for other institutions to decide whether the artist should be granted a residency, or in the case of art education, scholarships etc.

Bernadette Kam Fu Lee Pisapia alias

Kam Fu Bernadette Lee-Pisapia alias Bernadette K. Pisapia

address in Hong Kong:

 Mui Wo P.O.Box 19

Lantau

New Territories 

Hong Kong

Address in Italy:Villa Bernadette                                                            

  Viale Caduti in Guerra n.23

  Castelnuovo di Porto

  00060 Roma  Italy

www.bernadettekamfulee.it

www.bernadetteleepisapia.it

Bernadette.simpl.com

           email: ahfuleepisapia@ gmail.com 

                                       leekamfubernadette@gmail.com

as artist, writer, printmaker, illustrator, cultural exchange coordinator,

art educator, audio visual artistic creator

What is in a nationailty? 

Nationality: Chinese , Canadian, Italian

I was born in Hong Kong in 1958 of Chinese parents, and therefore formally speaking,  British was the Nationality that granted me at birth. At the age of eighteen I went to Edmonton, Canada to study Audio- Visual Technique at Grant MacEwan College, after two years of completion I was accepted to a four year Fine Arts  Degree Program at the University of Alberta, which I finished in 1982. In my third year of the Bachelor of Fine Arts, I became a visiting student at the Edinbugh College of Art , Scotland, where I returned to complete my Postgraduate Diploma in Drawing and Painting in 1982. To continue my art studies as someone who was eager to learn, I moved to Florence and re-enrolled myself as a first year Fine Arts student  at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze , the prestigious Academy thought to have been found mainly due to the suggestion of Michelangelo  ( in 2013  such Programme was being officially recognized by the European Community as Master Degree in Fine Arts- Laurea Magistrali of second Level .)  At the time, I was actually more intrigued by two inspirational questions: what would it be like to reside in Florence, the once Renaissance city?  And what would it be like to live in a city where one is not familiar with its language except the visual one ?( i.e. Renaissance Art ) But destiny had its other plan: in 1990 I was married to an Italian citizen, hence my last name is that of my husband's - Pisapia. I applied to be a Canadian citizen at one point as it is the country where most of my family members reside, and where I obtained my University education.  But my husband and I chose to reside in Italy after I was granted Canadian citizenship, and since in Italy, it is natural to also keep one's maiden name after one is married, my last name is therefore known formally as Lee- Pisapia, or Lee in Pisapia.

My last name Lee was used when I went to University in Canada though on my birth certificate Lee was spelled differently: Li.

The Italian system adviced me to stick to the spelling on my birth certificate, and therefore I had to register myself as Li when I went to the Art Academy in Florence. I used therefore the spelling Li when I got married.

After I was granted Canadian citizenship, I was adviced by the Canadian Immigration officer to keep the same spelling in all documents, and therefore I had to apply to change the spelling back to Lee, as it was the one I used when I went to University in Canada. Later on when I obtained Italian citizenship, I had applied to use the Canadian document official spelling as a guide in order not to encounter identity confusion problem, and therefore my previous last name Li used on my Italian permitt of Stay was changed to Lee, and the record of my marriage name was also changed from Li to Lee.

In Hong Kong, the usage of Lee and Li as spelling has often been interchangeable as it is the Chinese character that counts, since either Lee or Li is just an approximate transliteration of the Chinese pronounciation. I remember at one point, I needed only to declare the fact that I was  named both Lee and Li ( Lee alias Li ) in front of a Hong Kong notary public provided by the government.

What is really in a name?

My name in Chinese is Kam Fu. Bernadette was the name I used when I went to school, since kindergarten.  My father's passport was spelled Lee, and so I was adviced to go by that spelling when I went to school in Hong Kong. But something happened at one point, the moment I had to take public exam ( equuivalent to O Levels British education system ), I was adviced to go by the spelling on my birth certificate: Li. But the problem did not seem to exist since in Hong Kong, the Chinese name written in Chinese was supposed to be the official one.

This problem only existed later on in my life after I had noticed a misunderstanding even occurs in the placing of my last name and first name, in a different order.

It is usual practice for the Italians to register one's Last name before registering the first name. But it is quite possible that such a practice might confuse the proper identity when an oriental name is used. In my case, Li Kam Fu Bernadette was used when I went to the Academy of Florence, and for some of the secretaries at the time, ( to my surprise ) Li Kam Fu was my last name in Chinese, with Bernadette as my first name. For others, Li Kam was my last name, and since the spelling Fu in Italian simply means was, my name thus became : Li Kam, was once the descendent of Bernadette.

Such confusion also came in when some other institutions decided to read my first name in Chinese as my last name, so on a couple occasions, my name was understood as Kam Fu Lee Bernadette , that is someone with the last name Kam, first name Fu Lee Bernadette. This was used both in a catalogue titled Mani Mario, as well as the print catalogues for artists in Bagno a cavallo.

Due to such confusion, even at an earlier stage, I had at one point decided not to use my  Chinese first name, and therefore on my Diploma of Fine Arts at the University of Alberta in Canada, it appears Bernadette Kam Lee with Kam being understood as a middle name. But the full record stored in the University does register my name in full: Bernadette Kam Fu Lee. Such full name was used when I went to College there, in the Audio Viusal Programme. I also used Bernadette Lee as my name for teaching at the American Studio in Florence, and stuck to that as my name for my painting signatures. In Scotland, I was known as Bernadette K. Lee who studied at the Edinburgh College of Art as a visiting student  in 1980-81 ( the name was the same as that used for the Fine Arts Programme registered at the University of Alberta ). Then Bernadette Kam Fu Lee was used in 1983, when I was granted the postgraduate diploma in Painting and Drawing.

Later on when I got married, on some rare occasions, perhaps, I added Pisapia when I signed some of my prints. Kam Fu Pisapia or Bernadette K. Pisapia  as pen names were used also when I became a journalist, to give the articles an oriental Italian look when they were intended to be articles sent from Italy, by someone who wrote in Chinese  ( as foreign correspondent ), or to give the article an artistic orientation when Bernadette K. Pisapia  was used, as Bernadette was the name I used ever since I began to study Fine Arts in Canada .

I do not sign most of my works, especially paintings. I did sign some with the name Bernadette Lee. I do sign all prints ( mostly as Bernadette Kam Fu Lee as I began to include my Chinese name as an artist's name after I moved to Italy ) when they are of a quality that I believe acceptable. Kam Fu Lee ( without Bernadette ) for some reasons has been used for the Italian printmaker  Mavida at Reggio Emilia in some of the prints or handmade books that I was invited to collaborate with them.

The paintings done during my Rome period, that is from 2003 to present, some works are signed with a seal, made by a Chinese artist , together with some graphic lines that do not resemble my name, or any name at all. They are just oriental quality marks on canvas. To sign and to put the seal on the painting is a usual practice for a Chinese painter. These works are meant to pay tribute to the Chinese painter Qi Bai Shi, who questioned the intrinsic value between resemblance  or non resemblance, and how he painted the essence of Nature with a ease and an observational skill not common to the traditional Chinese painter, who based perhaps not their source of inspiration from life.

It has been said, a Chinese painter paints the bamboo, does so only after years of internalising the essence of the bamboo. Such is the attitude Qi has towards the expressive quality of an art piece.

My reason for not signing on paintings is yet another: the signature as a sign might be foreign to the pictorial composition of the painting, and might give a kind of space not intended to be conveyed as the rest of the image. I believe every mark made on the canvas has an important visual existence.

Language spoken: English, Italian, Chinese

with Chinese Cantonese as my mother tongue ( for those who are not sure what this means- Cantonese is a dialect while Mandarin is a now official Chinese language.  Generally speaking, written Chinese is assumed to be following a certain standard that is acceptable to all - even if, for instance, such a way is usually not used as a spoken form in Cantonese. So when a born Cantonese person writes Chinese, he usually is expected to write in the proper official form., i.e., not in the way he speaks. The common written system in Hong Kong and Taiwan is the use of complex Chinese characters instead of the simplified ones, that is, the one introduced to China after 1958 )

Both written English and Chinese were taught to me since kindergarten 

I learned to speak fluent Italian after I made the decision to complete my Art Studies also in Italy

Date of Birth: 11 March 1958,  Hong Kong

Health: excellent

ART EDUCATION (UNIVERSITY and Postgraduate Art Studies, etc)

UK 2016

Royal College of Art

summer intensive ( August 1-August 12 ) Contemporary Art in Practice coordinated by the Department- Innovation Executive Education, with its nature more geared towards Fine Arts practice

a group exhibition was held at the end of the stay at the Battersea Campus

‘Now I remember’was the work I exhibited where I inserted an I Pad showing short sequences I created into a sketched image of Michelangelo's sibyl Libica done on board. A triptych, this  central panel in motion is flanked by two side sequences on each side, defined by still shots repainted on canvases taken from films in Hong Kong seen on I Pad. It is the beginning attempt to put together Hong Kong film memories in pictorial images. A question is raised about celebrities and face. David Hockney ( my favourite British artist who was once a student at the Royal College and Patrick Tse ( my favourite Hong Kong actor ) are painted and placed in a context where such question is proposed.

To be able to see and ponder a face on I Pad is an interesting source of Visual experience. To revalue what could have been missed by stopping the Frame of a motion picture is too good to be true for any student of film making in the past who had to struggle to register with Visual memory how a good montage is done , for instance.

The central panel where my I Pad in motion is simultaneously placed within a static image of Michelangelo 's Sybil is about seeing : how much do we remember when we see in motion and when we see in still ?  The two other sections on left and right of the central panel are sequence of still images reproduced on canvases which were once motioned segments of a film. Again, how much do we see now once the motioned action is now frozen as a painted image.

Another aspect of the work is about a personal diary: from self portrait in a Royal College T Shirt when I was 22 to a letter from the celebrity are being treated as the departure point for this work ‘Now I remember.‘ A self portrait in my favorite dress at the age of five together with my brother is also inserted , seen as a moment of innocent mind, worthy to be recalled and resurfaced as a link to the present in order to raise the most important questions in life: why I am here and who am I? What I remember and what I would like to remember tells one a great deal about oneself.

This work is ongoing in order to act as a process to witness the almost lost memory of an epoch through the revisitation of a past which will gain further significance as time goes by- of a Hong Kong where west and east were seemlessly fused without effort

ITALY University of Florence, Department of Literature and Philosophy ( Art History )

1989-90, 1990-1991 visiting student

at the University of Florence, after my completion of the painting diploma in 1989 , granted by the Academy of Florence, I enrolled myself as a third year student in History of Art

I went to lectures constantly and attended lectures on Medieval art by Professor Peroni, on Caravaggio by Professor Mina Gregori, on a revision of History of Art by Professor del Bravo. At a later stage also attended some lectures on Contemporary Art by Professor Ester Cohen.

Only a couple times I managed to attend lectures by Professor Martelli on 'Filologia' of the poems by Lorenzo de Medici.

Though I wrote an essay for the seminar on Medieval art and received good response from the Professor, I did not take the exams and therefore only took those classes as visiting student. Later on I had thought of completing the exams when my knowledge of Italian got better, but when I found out that I had to pay all the fees  for the years that I did not attend the lectures, though still registered as a student ( in the sense my record was still kept there ), I had given up the idea of ever wanting to complete the degree of Laurea in Art History, and therefore finally ( after twenty some years ) made my decision of withdrawing my diplomas ( as requested according to the Italian regulations )  previously stored at the University there. Allowing the University to store one's previous diplomas is a requirement for anyone who enrols at an Italian University. This regulation prevents the student to double register him/herself at other Institutions.

It is artists that make history, not vice versa, I was told by Professor Donald Hamilton Fraser, when we conversed at the student canteen at the Royal College of Art, in front of the art work done by David Hockney when he was a student

Such an insight still stays with me, after all these years.

(note: Professor Donald Hamilton Fraser was the outside examiner for my postgraduate year at the Edinburgh College of Art, who actually was the one who showed me how to approach the Italian Cultural Institute in London in order to prepare my journey to be a student -teacher in Florence. As I happened to found the address of Fortman Studios led by leo Forte and Clara Carboni from the booklet given to me by the Italian Institute of Culture, I therefore applied to be an assistant and began my first art teaching practice there )

 ITALY   1983-1984, visiting student

            1985-1989     

Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze    Diploma di Pittura con lode , Diploma of Painting/ Licence of Painting wIth distintion

recognised by European Community since 2013 as Magistrali of Second Level, i.e. MFA equivalent ( provided that an earlier art training was completed before enrolling in this four-year program). In my case , I had completed 2 years of Audio Visual technical training, 4 years of North American Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program and one year of post graduate diploma of Fine Arts in Scotland before enrolling in this highest Fine Arts Program that existed in Italy )

art studies in painting, mainly developed during and after my postgraduate year in Scotland, with the theme on Chinese calligraphy, poetry and color as inspirational source.

a thesis on Marcel Duchamp, Art and Zen a possible relationship? set on a rotolo , embedded in a transparent box in five editions was completed in 1989

SCOTLAND   1980-1981, visiting student

1982-1983                                                                     

Edinburgh College of Art   

as exchange student with the University of Alberta Fine Arts program 1980-1981

concentrated on the British school -observational approach in drawing

Postgraduate Diploma of Painting and Drawing  1982-1983

began to develop the theme of research on the possible relationship on Chinese Calligraphy, poetry and western approach on color -space compositions. A group exhibition was held when the diploma was granted where several large scale paintings were meant to be a visual statement of such beginning research.

CANADA   1978-1982

University of Alberta    Bachelor of Fine Arts

a four-year fine arts programme , majoring in painting

with three years completed in Canada, and one year in Scotland

Grant McEwan College 1976-1978   Diploma in Audio Visual Technician Program

a two -year programme which covers basic techiques on small format audio visual image making ( photography, slide production, video production, tv studio production, audio production, graphic image making for educational purposes or TV production )

ON LINE religious EDUCATION on Eastern and Western cultural exchange

2007-2008 evangelisation on line- www.evschool.net 

began to be interested in some aspects of the cultural exchange in the context of reglious beliefs in order also to add a different dimension to my everyday art making- just how spiritual consciousness influences and changes one's way of living one's life- i.e. from a conscious level to an inconscious level., from behaviorial attitude to non verbal attitude, or simply to requestion one's inner spiritual quest- am I Christian and in what way?

Personal Art Research

Since 1983, research on color and space, line and space, synthesis of color and art of chinese calligraphy together with poetry as one of the main inspirational source 

2012- recent Art work in progress

A series of small watercolors with the theme: Self Portraits in the form of a dress 

A second self -examined thesis on Art, Daily life, Further Questions, Further Doubts following the first thesis done in 1989 on

Marcel Duchamp: Art and Zen, A possible relationship?  

2013  Recent Art work in progress

A series of small watercolors with the theme: Self portraits - what was in my old house?

memory portraits to celebrate a happy childhood

visual memory is perhaps not an in- born one but crucial for personal survival issues. Traces of memory , especial the revisitation of an inner mind, through a process that is uncommon- the use of an inner eye instead of the external one sometimes, somehow could help oneself express an image that is as true and as real as that of the observational one.

2012-2013  wearing dresses made by yourself 

from the idea of using old painting as a dress to the idea of creating wearable items by being inspired either by the natural tendency of the limited measure of the material, or by the natural tendency of the item during the hand-sewing process

It was my intention to discover the secret behind the making of a dress by not trying to learn such an art of making in the conventional accepted way., instead, to put oneself in a position as an artist, thereby treating the material as a piece of art to be worn eventually by the artist herself. Such a concept does not necessarily mean the normal tailoring is not an art process- it simply means, perhaps, that an artist who is accustomed to discover the art of creation might give some insights to the field, perhaps overlooked by those who are experts in the art of tailoring. How often, for instance, an artist has to unlearn certain accepted ways of seeing, such as a too capable hand in rendering what he or she sees, in order to perhaps, rediscover the very basic act of creativity- such as an act fully expressed by a child.

The hand sewn process, therefore, is a step to step self- introduced method in order to slowly discover the perhaps more primitive way of seeing while making a dress from a piece of material. The thought process- how the sleeves are to be conceived, or how the openings and closings of the piece would influence the eventual form- is to be examined and rexamined in order to question some very basic questions about the concept of Openings as well as Closure. 

LET the work grow by itself was the central themes of a series of dresses made by myself. Most of the dresses were terminated when no one tiny piece of the material remained. Such was the task I gave myself- how to let that piece of material transform itself until the very end- when it totally surprises you by its own suggestion of wanting to be Modelled and Completed.

The idea of wanting to venture myself in something totally foreign to me- this art of the making of a dress- came first from the Art and Fashion show held in Florence in 1996, where I was the journalist artist who followed the event.

The surprised encounter of my first interview with the Fashion designer Romeo Gigli impressed me  - as I was allowed to witness how he interpreted his preconcieved sketch of a piece by the process of draping. Such a similar approach to the art of sculpting concivinced me that too many good creativity possibilities in the making of a dress could have been overlooked , and therefore failed to be appreciated by most.

To really think of it, a dress or whatever we wear needs no experts to consult, in the sense that the idea of wearing anything begins from the first moment when we were born- the moment when the mother wraps the child- and therefore, we , or anyone, could pretty well be experts in the shoes of a crtitic. It is one of the many fields that any person , no matter where he comes from, could be an expert of such Art - the moment he wishes to be one, as he or she is well provided by his or her very own history in the wearing of one.

Then of course, the series of Self Portaits I made in watercolors are fortunately witnesses of the years I spent in Hong Kong from 1958 to 1997- where those dresses I did not make myself coincided with the idea of how Hong Kong intended to be nurtured aesthetically, or simply how a young person born in Hong Kong came to learn the notion of certain sets of tastes, suggested by a mixed cultural importation-from Britain to Japan. In my case, there were plenty of dresses I wore that were a mixture of European and Asian notions unconsciously mixmatched.

2014 work in progress

Drawing - to draw in order to feel  ( from the first mark to the last )

A return to the study of image -making either by a renewed approach in observation, be it in nature or in works of art in order to ask some foundamental questions regarding the way we truly see, and how seeing intensively or non intensively would lead to results that are totally different, and therefore change our way of understanding realities as a whole.

The Tao of seeing the first chapter of Tao Te Ching as a visual insight-pattern

A re-examined approach on the original meaning of the first chapter of Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu in order to see some possible missing insights, overlooked perhaps by a more classical accepted approach suggested by scholars. It is my belief that there is a visual pattern set in the chosen ideogrammes, which perhaps yield a different level of meanings when intuitively grasped.

WORK EXPERIENCE                                                                                

2004-2006  Medical Research Centre, Rome                                            

Translator from   English to Chinese

due to my interest in the study of chinese ideogramme and etymology, this job allowed me to have an experience on utilizing words that were unfamiliar to me as they belong to the scientifc field, which intrigued me a great deal. The fact that each single Chinese character I used was being decoded as a number systemic code by the technician also inspired me. Perhaps for such an experience I began to look at Art in a different way- perhaps more open, less limited to only an art- related field.

2005  Lorenzo de Medici, Florence, Rome

a  three day workshop promotion for LDM as an art institution in Hong KonPerhaps due to coincidence., I happened to begin my journey of research on Chinese calligraphy, color and poetry or poetic quality after my conversation with my then Postgraduate Professor , advisor Jimmy Cumming at the Edinburgh of art, and thereby applied for a one month travelling scholarship to Florence, where I painted in the studio of Lorenzo de Medici the first series of small paintings based on such theme. The paintings were the first attempt to look into Chinese etymology, questioning on how an accepted contemporary ideogramme could be depicted pictorially in the western sense of understanding in color compositions- that is, shifting the solely graphic quality concentrated image into an image embedded in a definite space defined by colors that could be either a spatial definition or a symbolic one. Such a shift was necessary for me as I was too accustomed to seeing the graphic quality of the specific chosen ideogramme as something that gives me meaning, which is only true for those who have learned the accepted notion of such meaning. Therefore, with that in mind, it was crucial for me to try to place myself in the shoes of one who sees the sign or ideogramme as simply a visual composition, without the learned understanding. The few small paintings completed during the journey were then exhibited during the final exhibition at the Edinburgh College of art when I recieved the Postgraduate Diploma.

However, such an approach towards shifting from the familiar to the unfamiliar by using color space as a possible solution soon replaced itself into color- poetry approach., thus the big scale works done after the travelling scholarship period were all concentrated on finding a more liberated approach in the understanding of Chinese calligraphic lines- how to rediscover the spontaneous lifting and pressing of the brush ( typical of the practice by traditional Chinese calligraphers) and incorporate such into a color space composition, inspired mainly by poetic images, borrowed from either Chinese or western source.

The poetic insight as a starting point of spiritual expression at the time seemed to give the proper answer: the boundaries defined by poetry seemed to give the graphic quality innate in Calligraphic sign a soul that is boundless, and therefore, unlimited in either time and space as a foundation. It seemed to point to a future with eternal suggestions- a never ending possibilities of every realm.

The fact that Chinese poetry, basically composed by pictorial ideogrammes seemed to be legitimate enough as a reason for me to begin this journey of placing ideogrammes ( turned to expressive colored lines ) and poetic suggestive images ( turned into poetic atmosphere ) for this research on the theme : Chinese Calligraphy, color and poetic relationship.

To go back to the shifting process of the ideogrammes which signalled the beginning of such a research, I have recently begun to ponder upon such method as a second possibility: can an ideogramme be looked at purely from a pictorial point of view, in the sense of trying to put oneself in the shoes of the first author who saw himself necessary to borrow elements that were common to all, that is, Nature , to deduct from it , or to isolate certain elements in order to communicate? Note that this insistance has an important reason behind : as Chinese language is the only language that began its journey pictorially and still maintaining such a root today, and that also implies, there is a mystery , perhaps a visual mystery of common way of seeing, and recording, thereby communicating since the very beginning- when human beings found the first means of defining what he understood internally and externalises it through the use of an image.

The fact that such a root can be traced more or less without a break is intriguing. For those who are interested in visual representation, it seems vital to look at this engima, while wondering, which means of communication is absolutely necessary, or how such visual communication could be regarded as one of the most intelligent means of codes, or of a means to evade misunderstanding ?

The 2014 notebook - work in progress, on the random selection of a series of archaic Chinese ideogrammes , prepared for the etymological study of the first chapter of Tao Te Ching ( a must for anyone Chinese or anyone interested in Chinese thoughts and culture ) is an attempt for a preparation of a second series of works, begun in 1982 in Florence at the Lorenzo de medici during that brief stay . However, after a thirty years of concentration of the same problem, I am interested to see if a means could be found to express such pictorial understanding by turning it into an intuitively grasped pictorial lanugage, almost as forceful and spontaneous for the other motherly element: poetry.

 ( three volumes In variations together with the original manuscript are printed as single piece of work by Apple in 2016/17)

2002-2003  White Mountain Academy of Arts, Ontario, Canada                    

Professor of Foundation Studies, Business of art, team-taught seminars

in a College where mainstream western art and Canadian native art was encouraged to found mutual inspirations 

taught basic color thoery and drawing for foundation course students, suggested new approaches in running the school art gallery- how to creatively exhibit a theme, how to see group exhibition as a holistic kind of installation

taught Business of Art in a way that contradicts its title: Business. It was my intention to question the validity of an art piece if such was misused in a way that betrays its spiritual value. What is the ethical value of an artist when he is admist the too commercially orientated Art World? How could an artist be free from the corrupted practise of some of the mismanagement of the Business of Art? Such questions were raised in class in order to prepare the young, especially native students so they would not be tempted into selling their soul without realising it. In other words, how could an artist be true to oneself though engaged in the world of the Business of Art, with certain sets of rules that could be too tempting in not making one corrupted?

in a group seminar, followed the last year student works by constantly writing to them about their works in progress, sometimes with illustrated suggestions in order to give them proper stimulus in creating more inspiring works

1998-2001  Cofounder of Associazione Culturale Est-Ovest, Florence            

Instructor in  Appreciation of Oriental Art, including creative workshops on Chinese calligraphy, Chinese ink paintings in a zen- meditative approach, some basic notions on the appreciation of drinking Chinese tea, with the introduction of various types of good quality tea

coordinator for a travelling tour in Guilin, China  - meeting local Chinese calligrapher and artist    in order to allow the members of the association to have an unique opportunity in understanding Chinese culture as a workshop of Chinese Calligraphy was specially arranged with a well established Chinese Calligrapher and a Chinese ink painter from Guilin

Artistic Tour Director

2000   March, Artist in Residence,Villa Romana, Florence                  

as Visual Artist 

A series of large scale paintings were created in the brief stay of one month. Theme of the paintings were Poetry, Chinese Calligraphy, color compostions met on canvases through three layers of language painted in Italian, Chinese and German

A recital performance was also held in order to LIVE the songs (borrowed from a poem of the Sung Dynasty by the lady poet Li Ching-chao (1084- ?) who wrote the kind of poetry 'Tzu ' -originally meant to be sung ) painted in three languages

2000-2001  published articles on Travelling in China for Super Eva.it                  

as Artist-writer

various articles on Chinese culture and Chineseness were written, based on the author's own experience, how her traditional upbringing in a large Chinese family in Hong Kong allowed her to live her own understanding as being a Chinese, though very much influenced by British culture, or subsequently, by Italian one.

1996  illustrated ink drawings for Tom and Alice in New York,

a text book in teaching English for Lexis, Florence                                                                          

as Illustrator

A collaboration with Lexis, a language school in Florence began in 1983, the year I arrived in Florence, and where  I taught the first Chinese Calligraphy course in order to fully begin my research on the theme Chinese Calligraphy , color and poetry.

several one person exhibitions were held at Lexis and as a consequence, a permanent one person exhibition is on display ever since.

A couple of volunteer works as an art illustrator were realised:

illustrated a watercolor image for the  hotel map guide for Lexis, Florence

illustrated pastel drawings for the text  Un Ponte di Parole, concieved for bridging the language gap between the children of Chernobyl and the family that hosted them in Italy. ( collana  anpaSmall - Lexis )

1994  provided watercolor images and linocut images for the production of a series of greeting cards- Lucky Animal series- Chinese Horoscope series-

for Kam's Art Gallery, Hong Kong, a company founded by my sister in Hong Kong, who then printed the images, with the layout designed by another artist

created limited edition- T shirts with the images of Lucky Animal series, Chinese Horoscope series on the occasion of the one person exhibition Grandi Quadri, Quadri Invendibili held in Florence- Galleria of Compagna del Paiolo-Stazione Statuto in 1993

an exhibition which includes most important pieces of works on the theme Chinese Calligraphy, color and potery from 1982 to 1993

created a limited edition wine label L'ombre del bambu' for the limited edition of self-bottled reserve wine, bottled by Giovanni the game-keeper at Torre a Cona, Florence

1983 assisted in the design and layout of a booklet titled  We are dandelions, for Sign Publishing company, Hong kong Catholic Centre

1994-2003  freelance journalist in Italy  for several magazines in Hong Kong        

as Foreign Correspondent

covering topics on Made in Italy, Art and Design: Zip Magazine, Modern Home,

Capital, Sisters’ Pictorial,  M. Magazine, City Magazine, The Securities Journal- Offcial Publication for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

( including also on-line articles on Art and Fashion  for The Securities Journal . The articles published on the Securities Journal were exclusive interviews, with the author acting as interviewer who did sketches of the protagonists. Such a series of articles began with the Art and Fashion show held in Florence in 1996-97 , concieved by Luigi Settembrini. Subsequently, a fashion designer was being interviewed every month from January of 1997, which includes: Romeo Gigli, Missoni, Versace, Prada, and Ferre'- It was my intention of finding a possible linkage between Art and Fashion, following my research on how art and daily life, and therefore, daily making or daily living could or could not lead to an artistc level- Does it not depend on you- that is, if you wish to heighten your level of understanding about life, or about anything, be it material or spiritual? How does one go about reaching a level that goes even beyond oneself? that is , a zen approach of no ego? Some of these questions were posed to these highly accomplished Fashion Designers, in the hope that they, as western artists, would give a different understanding to the readers in the Orient. )

the idea of going back to writing in order to accompany my Art work on Chinese Calligraphy, color and poetry was inevitable: as both poetry and Calligraphy are literary as source. As I began to find inspiration on Duchamp, I was also led to believe that one could see no limits in one's making of Art. Why are we so uptight in defining Art? Could Art then not be anything that one defines?  

In my case, it was even the search for the more banale, or for anything that outwardly non art in order to make it Art, by adorning such entities with a Quality., a Quality that belongs to a higher realm, that of spiritual. Perhaps, that is how Zen comes in.

1995  Artist in residence from May to June in Queen's Hall Art Gallery,                 

 as Visual Artist

Northumberland, U K

invited to reside a month to be an artist in residence there, where I gave several Chinese Calligraphy workshops while holding a one person exhibition titled The Silk Road, where some of the works done on silk were exhibited. The exhibition was a consequence of the ten year retrospective one held in Florence in 1993, where a few main pieces of works of the retrospective show were brought to Northumberland, together with a few recent works done between 1993 and 1995.

occasional work on fashion in the early 90's

acted as an advisor for a friend from Hong Kong who was interested in purchasing fashion products made in Italy., helped her in discovering some potential new designers, or simply purchased signatured products.

acted as an assistant for my brother in Hong Kong, who came to Italy to invest on good and high quality Made in Italy products. 

1991  created first handmade linocut artbook Il Grande e Il Piccolo in limited edition ( fifty-five) for Mavida,

Reggio Emilia.                                                                                                    

as Illustrator printmaker

Collaborated with the same publisher to produce linocut prints in subsequent years which includes The Oxherding series, an illustration in the edition of 99 for commemorating the handover of Hong Kong in 1977., a print on Florence inspired by the poet Dino Campana in an edition of 25 for the series INCISORI IN VIAGGIO in 1994., a print of the wild boar titled  Double Happiness, in an edition of 60  in 1993., and a print of the Rat titled Good Fortune for the Chinese New Year of the Rat, in an edition of ten.

1990  as art director for a travelling tour for young artists in Luxor, Egypt.           

as Artistic Tour Director for a Project offered by Best Tours. Tour Operator , Italy

where I had the role of selecting fifteen young Italian, aged below 25 to go on a painting trip with me , and each artist was given a bonus of three hundred thousand Liras for the purchasing of art material. The trip and all living expenses were paid. My job there, apart from being the artist who mainly inspired and encouraged the younger artists, was to make certain they would complete three pieces of Art works there, during the ten-day trip. An exhibition titled Painters from Italy, was held at Hotel Jollie-Ville at the end of the stay.

1992-1996., 1983-1987  Fortman Studios, Florence                                           

as Professor of Visual Art

Professor of Painting and Drawing for several American Art Programs

based in Italy

(Syracuse University, Smith College, Sarah Lawrence, Richmond College, A.I.F.S. etc.,)

acted as an assitant in both painting and drawing class in the first semester, with the exchange of studio space. Compensated with some income in the second semester, and in the several years to come, began to follow students in both beginning and advanced levels as the main professor. I was also suggested to follow some individual students for a program in studio art at Middlebury College, with compensation for approximately ten lectures in 1983-84. If I remember correctly, another individual program of the same College based in Florence was conducted by me sometime later, following a student who proposed to work in her studio for a semester. On some occasions,  lessons were held at the Uffizii, where the student had the chance to proceed on her project on copying or be inspired by the authentic masterpiece proposed.

1988  Instructor in Art, Summer Camp for children age 9-13, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

first attempt to teach art for non University students, where I had the opportunity to learn and work with children in the art camp in Canada. A theatrical Fashion Show was held after the lectures on How to create a dress with the theme on Bows, or bowties.( for the boys who did not wish to make dresses ) It was my first attempt to teach the relationship between art and fashion: the children were given only one rule to go by: use the motif - the bows and place them in a non centalised composition.

1988-1989  Instructor  in Drawing,  Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada

during my first year of becoming a Canadian, I taught some evening classes at the Art gallery of Ontario. I took my notebook in drawing with me, the one where I had carefully noted all the exercises I had experienced in my years as a student at the Unviersity of Alberta, and at the Edinburgh College of art. To further contribute to the Canadian atmosphere where I believed that perhaps some European exercises in drawing might heighten the background, I therefore introduced also some drawing exerecises I had learned during my stay in Italy, either as a professor at Fortman Studios or as a student ( such as the few years of anatomy courses I had taken at the Academy of Florence- in the sense that a much more careful oberservational skill was emphasised )

1983-1984  Professor of Drawing and Painting. Middlebury College in Florence

1983-1986  Teacher of Chinese language and Chinese calligraphy, Lexis, Florence 

as Instructor in Chinese

1984-1986 Intensive summer course on color and space, line and space,              

as Instructor in Painting and Drawing , Fortman Studios, Florence

a note book on all the drawing exercises learned as a student, together with a new insight- how an artist meditates while doing such exercises is introduced- in an attempt to ask questions so the student would perhaps be led to notice notions he or she might not have noticed had she not been reminded. It is an absolutly non ego effort of teaching- the teacher tells all that she knows, or all that she has discovered in the process of learning as a student with struggle. It is the recognisation that such struggles could be overcome with such notions of assistance, without which sometimes , and somehow some students could have been too frustrated, and be led to believe that he or she cannot draw.

It is my personal belief that one can learn how to draw, and to draw well. Perhaps artists are inborn, yet certain skills can be taught. Talents could be nutured. I had been a good student, though with very weak background training in the beginning. Therefore, I had at one point determined that I would one day overcome all these difficulties- by learning all that I needed to learn , about the art of painting and drawing, no matter how much it would cost me, I mean spiritual wise. (in the sense of a personal kind of spiritual struggle, one which would accompany the growth not only of what one is aimed at working on, but also the strength that is necessary for one to suceed in accomplishing the proposed task ) It was for this reason I came to Europe, and enrolled myself at the Edinburgh College of Art, to be trained in western Art culturally, and to visit all the important art museums in Europe, to see those masterpieces fisrt hand . And it was why I re-enrolled myself as a first year student in painting program at the Art Academy of Florence even after I had recieved the prestigious postgraduate Diploma in Painting and Drawing granted by the Edinburgh College of art.   Up to this day I still treasure the meeting with the then Head of School of Painting, Sir Robin Philipson who generously gave me a chance to be an exchange student in the year 1980-81, and be invited back to Edinburgh ( 1982-83 ) to complete my Postgraduate year there after I recieved my BFA in Canada .

1986 Introductory painting course at Lexis, Florence

A couse on painting in the summer with the theme color and space was taught to two Scandinvian students, in a language school setting

1984 occasional works as shopkeeper for a commercial center,                           

 as Chinese, English speaking shopkeeper

 Calenzano, Florence

In order to pay the transportation of my big scale artworks from Scotland to  Florence, I worked some days to cover such unexpected expenses. It was the first time I acted as a shopkeeper in an ambience where only made in Italy products were sold, and where only oriental tourists were brought in as customers. In a way, this had given me a glimpse of the then realities- how the Italians found their way of exporting their good quality products. For myself, I was also interested in seeing the other aspect of Italian creativity, the Products one -i.e. Design while I was going to painting class, both as a student ( at the Academy in Florence ) and as a teacher ( at the American Art studios ).

1983 occasional waitressing job in a Chinese restaurant, Scotland while studying Postgraduate program in Painting  and Drawing at Edinburgh College of Art

The few weekends waitressing jobs allowed me to put together the airfare necessary for my trip to Florence, where I had intended to make it my second hometown. Such experience was important as I had thought, had I not been able to support my stay as an art student in Florence eventaully, perhaps having an experience in waitressing could somehow allow me to use it as a secondary means in sustaining myself as an artist - that is, if teaching job in Art was not possible .( considering that I did not know how to speak Italian, and in Florence at that time, not that many people spoke English )

It was my understanding, as a young student,  that the best means for an artist to sustain himself or herself is to teach what he or she knows about Art., and if that is not possible, do a job which is less important yet crucial for his or her spiritual growth as an artist such as  Art-waitressing ( this idea came from the French culture of Art Cafe' yet developed by a different concept: that the Art of waitressing simply means the Waitress thinks not about just waitressing, but has become an Artist who dialgoues with the artsits-customers in order to question, to contemplate, to exchange ideas about what creativity means, from local to global - such was even my secret wish, at one point, to run a cafe' where art and artists meet in order to move forward a contemporary dialogue, guided by those who are serving - that is- the waiters, or the Artist Waiter who are there to replace the art critics who are too self-glorifying ) in order the artist could concentrate entirely on the making of his art, even while working as a waiter.  The income, therefore, is seen as a means of assisting the artist in the purchase of art material. The Art Cafe' as a space, therefore, is part of the venue where the Artist- Waiter as well as those frequent the space could be transformed in a gallery setting where discussions on Art are to be held, without art critics or those who are too corrupted in using artists as someone who make money for them. A requestioning on the role of Gallery Dealers and on the role of Art Critic was what I had in mind when I was a young student.

Before embarking myself on the journey of becoming an artist, I had wanted to be a film director. At the time, it still had not occured to me that you could be also an artist/film director. Anyway, it was for this reason I had gone to Canada, to enroll myself in the then avantgarde programme: Audio Visual Technical Programme. It was like a programme totally technical orientated, in the use of audio and visual. Let's say it is like Steve Jobs and Apple in the very beginning of their conception- an efficent audio visual communication device - in this case, the putting together of a presentation that is intuitive, aesthetically pleasing , either in the way it expresses itself or in the way it conveys the message.

Student Training works in Canada as part of the reqirement of Audio Visual Technician Program includes:

1977 April-May Audio Visual Technician at the Audio Visual Centre,

         University of Alberta                                                                                 

 as Audio Visual Technician

main duties including producing transparencies for the professors at the University, some darkroom graphic works for educational purposes

1977 September- December    Grant McEwan College, Edmonton                   

as Lab Assistant in Photography  for first year Darkroom practices -Photography First Level students after obtaining an outstanding grade in Photography

1978 January- April                Legal resource Centre, University of Alberta        

 as Audio Visual Technician

produced a small slide production for elementary school students in Edmonton,  titled :Law and your daily life. A Legal Resource Centre Production

Volunteer works in Canada:

1978 January- April Chinese Television, Cable TV,  Edmonton                        

 as Audio Visual Technician

produced a couple Chinese speaking shows for the Chinese community in Edmonton, one titled  Silver Screen, another on an interview/ perfomance of a religious leader from Malaysia

assisted as narrator for the documentary super8 film on Travelling in China by my brother , aired on Chinese TV channel ( It was quite a new kind of adventure then as not many Chinese in Canada were able to travel back in China )

1978 -1980             Chinese Drama Club, University of Alberta                             

 as  Drama Director, Audio Visual Technician

interested in theatre in high school and had learned some acting practices from Ng Wui, the renowned film and T.V Director from Hong Kong, and therefore continued to participate in related theatrical works  for the Chinese Drama Club during my first year at the University of Alberta as a Fine Arts student

 AWARDS

1982  Andrew Grant Travelling Scholarship, Edinburgh College of Art

( spent one month in Florence, enrolled in an art course at Lorenzo de Medici  where they arranged me to stay at an Italian home in Via Ghirlandaio - one of the most reasonable rates for an art student. My notebook kept during that stay was handed to the Edinburgh College of Art as part of the requirement for the travelling scholarship )

1985-1989  scholarship granted by the Accademia di Belle Arti , Florence

such scholarship meant if a student continued to obtain a high grade in the course of the year, he or she would be exempted from the fees of that year. I obtained full grade 30/30, in the course of four years from 1985-1989.  The first year I enrolled (1983), I did not take any exam as it was my then intention of not completing the program since I had just completed the postgraduate studies in Scotland. I changed my mind when my Italian reached a better level, and decided to challenge myself in going to another four-year art training , in a language I had not learned, in an ambience, however, very stimulating since I was in Florence, and I was among Italian young art students.

Exhibitions

Numerous one person and group Art Exhibitions, performance held in Britain, Italy, and Canada

( see exhibition list )

Audio Visual Productions

several experimental super 8 format film and video productions  produced from 1976-78

one super 8 film production on the search of a Higher consciousness, and a future spiritual awakening for the world was produced in Edinburgh College of Art, in 1980-1981 , as a second year student in Film making 

a couple of videos produced in 1990s, while staying in the countryside in Florence

interested once again in video and film after doing self portarits as a dress in 2012. A short sequence on what is in a dress is therefore created.

More ideas on using film, videos, drawings and paintings are hoped to be developed in the near future. ( together with this website, www.bernadettekamfulee and Bernadette.simpl.com are also sites that register and illustrate various Short sequence I created since 2012 )

Almost a responsbilty- towards myself and towards those who had supported me all these years in the research of a way of being an artist- to put together all that I had learned all these years, be it drawing or painting, be it film making, be it fashion making, be it writing, be it living life spiritully, as a zen artist or as a true human being, or as a faithful Chrsitian? Or simply be myself, a mixture of all the qualitites I had come to acquire in the East and in the West.

Does not what a human being really aspire to be: just be yourself so others could be freely themselves?

Is Art not about freedom? Freedom for the others so you could learn to be free.

Happy mid Autumn Frstival