Chinese Folk Artists on Tour in USA and Canada

Today I bumped into a really interesting news, especially for those living in Washington or Toronto.

According to an article on the Global Times from late June to mid-July, a group of 108 Chinese folk artists will tour North America as part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC in the US and the China Now Festival at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Canada.

Eight performing art programs and 16 folk handcraft art forms will be on display at the two art festivals.

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival “China: Tradition and the Art of Living” will feature 120 participants among artists, dancers, craftspeople and cooks, who will share and celebrate the customs and traditions from every part of China.

Festival visitors can watch craftspeople make paper-cut designs, New Year’s prints, clay figurines, kites and sachets that are used during annual celebrations and see artists who specialize in embroidery, patchwork, batiks and porcelain.

For more information visit http://www.festival.si.edu/2014/China/

Similarly, at the China Now Festival in Toronto visiting crafts artists from various parts of China will demonstrate crafts ranging from paper-cutting to sachet- and kite-making to textiles and calligraphy.

For more information you can visit the festival`s site http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/summer/chinanow/

It`s a great chance to see so many folk artists at the same time, especially considering they come from every part of China, and even for us living here it can be hard to reach the most remote places!

If you live nearby I`d definitely recommend you to visit the festivals, and maybe after that share your opinions, pictures, etc. with me!