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Block Island teacher joins Rhode Island artists in China exhibit
By Gloria S. Redlich

Teri McCombe, Block Island School art teacher, in a taxi in China.

Teri McCombe, artist and art teacher at the Block Island School, is still glowing with the broadening experience of exhibiting her work and meeting artists in China this spring.

She and three other Rhode Island artists were chosen to travel to China to participate in the "America: ‘Ocean State’ Painting and Photography Art Exhibition" in two cities in southwest China. From March 9 through 22, McCombe, Cynthia Bloom, Bruce Decker and Salvatore Mancini participated in shows featuring their work in the cities of Guilin and Beihai in the Guanzxi Province.

The trip and exhibit were organized by Herman Mast, who with his wife Linda has had a home on the island since 1973. Mast, a retired professor of Chinese history at the University of Connecticut, has been to China frequently. He became impressed with the work of several artists and during the summers of 1998 and 2000 he arranged for them to exhibit at the Eisenhauer Gallery on the island. To reciprocate, they invited Mast to bring a group of Rhode Island artists to China.

Mast became aware of McCombe through her students’ art displayed in the island bank and library. He said he was impressed by the qualities McCombe brought out in her students’ work. McCombe, who works in opaque watercolors (gouache) and in miniatures, contributed Block Island scenes of lighthouses, Victorian buildings and the ocean to the shows in China.

An outgoing woman, McCombe warmed with delight as she described the trip. She undertook it "to enhance my knowledge of the world," she said She described energetic days in the company of a changing group of artist guides. "Though our days were long, with our traveling companions being fresh and the excitement of the trip, the experience was so energizing."

During the trip she met an artist she called "my artistic alter ego there in China" and though they couldn’t understand each other’s words, she was deeply touched by the way their work communicated.

Visiting artist at home

The American artists wanted to meet Chinese artists, so arrangements were made for them to visit galleries and studios. Studios were often in the artists’ homes so the Rhode Island travelers could see how they lived. Many of the artists were professors and all were pleased to discuss their art. At each stop, McCombe said, the artists offered them books of their art. The hosts and artists "were extremely gracious," McCombe said, "and we found ourselves frequently invited to partake in the tea ceremony, which we learned had originated in China. The biggest surprise to us was that our trip was a big deal there! We were considered the guests of the People’s Republic, staying at elegant government hotels and treated to very lavish banquets. The food was spectacular and we were treated royally." "Occasionally, we would find ourselves paired off with artists with whom we did not share a language. Yet we found our art spoke for us. We all agreed that the theme of this exchange was that art is truly universal." McCombe found travel to Beihai to be extremely interesting. Between vast agricultural areas where people worked the fields from sunup to sunset, they found brick factories, which are responsible for "the new face of China," she said. The cities, she said, are very modern, adding, "A great deal of the building industry depends on the use of bricks and concrete. The laborers work on bamboo scaffolding. There is a large reforestation program underway because of a serious situation of soil erosion, evident in prevalent dust storms that sweep through parts of China." It appears to McCombe the Chinese are trying to preserve what is beautiful from ancient China while providing comfort for today’s people. While the buildings — for housing and businesses — may be constructed with a view to what is utilitarian rather than aesthetic, "still they create beautiful parks with a sensitivity to the feeling of rocks and waterfalls," she observed. Throughout her journey, McCombe kept a journal for her thoughts and observations as well as sketches of scenes that caught her imagination and eye. Decker displays photographs Another exhibitor in the Ocean State show was Bruce Decker, photographer, sculptor, furniture-maker, and boat-builder. He has worked on the island for more than 15 years doing fine cabinetry and staircases for island contractors. His black and white photographs reflect his interest in "sacred spaces" such as ancient stone circles in England. He also brought a mask crafted from environmental relics that reflects, some feel, the animistic belief that "we are living among ancient Chinese souls here," a concept rooted in the notion of a land bridge between Asia and North America. The third member of the team was Salvatore Mancini, a photographer Mast regards as remarkable. Mancini’s art has won many awards and grants, and he has taken pictures around the world. Mancini thought the nicest aspect of the trip was meeting the local people, whom he characterized as "happy and joyous." He believes that the new market economy has filtered down and is giving people somewhat more mobility and wealth. The group agreed that the Chinese people in general were very friendly, liked Americans and asked lots of questions. This was a sentiment echoed by Decker, who said after their exhibit in Beihai, the Americans asked their hosts about the show that preceded their own. When the visitors learned that the art was still at the gallery, they asked to see some of it, and within a very short time, their Chinese colleagues had remounted the previous show. "A conversation between artists" Decker said, "It was generous act of reciprocity and good will, and they were surprised at our interest and delighted with our positive response. So it was that we didn’t feel it was just Americans showing their work, but a true exchange. In fact, while we each have an ego, the show was not about just my work or any one artist’s. It was a conversation between artists." The fourth artist was Cynthia Bloom of Block Island and Connecticut. Her work resonated with Chinese artists who, as Mast points out, have been greatly influenced by 20th century surrealists. Summing up his feelings about the trip, Mast said, "It was great fun to see China with this enthusiastic group of hometown artists, to watch them learn about China and to observe how it influenced and touched them." He said it was important for the artists to visit Guelin, an important center of Chinese art during the 17th and 18th centuries, where a new group of Chinese artists are reviving it as a major art center.