Episode 25: Brushstrokes of Culture A Global Exploration of Art

Enjoy the twenty-fifth episode of Culture To Grow, which allows you to travel the world from the comfort of your home, your car, or if you are still half asleep in your bed.

In this episode, we will go on a colorful journey across the world to explore Art, I believe art is a language of emotions, culture, and creativity that knows no bounds. We're joined by guests from Italy, China, Mongolia, and Belarus, each offering a unique perspective on what art looks like in their country.

First stop, Italy!

Chapters

• 1:01 Italy
• 2:18 China
• 3:41 Mongolia
• 4:57 Belarus

Transcript

[00:00:00] Hello everyone. This is Austin Bellino, the host of the educational podcast culture to grow where you get to travel the world and learn about different cultures from the comfort of your home, maybe your car, or if you're half asleep, you're bad.

Hello everyone! This is your host, Austin Bellino, and I am thrilled to have you join me on this new adventure. In this episode, we will go on a colorful journey across the world to explore Art, I believe art is a language of emotions, culture, and creativity that knows no bounds. In this episode, we're joined by guests from Italy, China, Mongolia, and Belarus, each offering a unique perspective on what art looks like in their country.

[00:01:00] Let's get started. First stop, Italy! 

Hi, I'm Carmen, and I'm Italian, and for me, it's quite obvious to be surrounded by art. Yes, it's not an exaggeration to say that in Italy, every small village has its artistic treasure. In fact, for example, we call Borga a very charming Italian small village from the Renaissance or Medieval Age.

It is unique and built around a castle or a palace that belonged or still belongs to a noble family. It is generally surrounded by walls. In Italy, there are 260 borghi spread from the north to the south. The borga is a symbol of Italian culture, with artistic and architectural heritage, tradition, and enogastronomic treasures.

[00:02:00] If villages offer this wonderful artistic return to the past, many Italian cities are living museums with art sprinkled everywhere. Not only Rome, the eternal city, Florence, the cradle of art. In fact, it was in Florence where Europe's first museums took shape. So, it could take a lifetime to see all the art and culture in Italy.

Hi, I'm Jackie from China. Today, I want to introduce a popular art form in China. That is, Chinese calligraphy. Or in Chinese, Shu Fa. To practice calligraphy, We don't need many materials, only a paper, a brush, and some ink. That's enough. In Chinese history, calligraphy is considered the highest form of art.

We Chinese have a saying, "Your writing is yourself", which means your writing shows what a person you are. If a person's handwriting was good, he would be regarded as a nobleman. 

[00:03:00] If his handwriting was bad, he would have no chance to be an official in ancient China. 

There were many famous calligraphers in Chinese history. The most famous one was Wang Xizhi, who lived during the 4th century in China. He worked very hard. It was said that he used a huge bucket. to contain the ink to write, and he was very creative. His writing had a sense of movement, like a running river or a flying dragon. Chinese calligraphy has a history of more than 2, 000 years. We consider it as an essence of Chinese culture. 

My name's Anudari, and I live in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Well, Mongolian art is just very vibrant and joyful overall. 

[00:04:00] It's very hard to pick a specific type of art. I'm mainly focusing on Mongolian traditional art because it's very beautiful to me. It's very sentimental to me.

And Mongolian abstract art is very beautiful. There are a lot of vibrant colors and it just looks happy. Like the painting almost seems like it's like smiling at you and it's very warm feeling. 

For the paintings, Mongolian art is just beautiful landscapes and portraits of kings and queens in different styles and drawings of various gods. Because we do have a lot of gods in our religion and the other type of arts we have those designs on our traditional clothes. We gift art a lot to each other. So there's, I bet there's a painting of a landscape in every single Mongolian family. 

[00:05:00] Hi, I'm Kira. I'm from Belarus. You know, art in Belarus is something not very popular, but, Costumes are sometimes very, significant in our country, but people forget our history and everything connected with Belarus in general.

That's why I can say that we have our art, like arts, costumes, but people are not into our history, that's why it doesn't, develop. I can't say that our art lost, but, there are no modern, artists. In our, in Belarus, and if you will go to museum, you will find only ancient, costumes, ancient books and, arts.

And that brings us to the end of our journey through the world of art. Our guests from Italy, China, Mongolia, and Belarus have generously shared their insights, shedding light on the unique traditions and culture that infuse their respective art scenes. Take care, everyone! And buh bye.