Art therapist hopes to unite people with Regina tea ceremony performance
Art therapist Lin Liu says drinking tea together is a universal way for people to build friendships.
"In Chinese culture, [the tea ceremony is] not only for friends, but daily life. In Western culture, it's the same," she said.
Now Liu has turned the experience into a piece of performance art that she hopes will bring people together and celebrate multiculturalism. She will be hosting public tea ceremony performances at the University of Regina's Fifth Parallel Gallery Aug.14 and 15.
The Taiwan-born artist says while Canada celebrates all cultures, people often aren't truly connecting with each other. As a first generation immigrant, she found it hard to connect with other Canadians.
"When all the diverse cultures sit together, sometimes they don't know the language, but even the act of friendliness or a cup of tea can bring a deeper connection," she said.
Liu has lived in Canada for 27 years. She studied fine arts at the University of Regina and is now working on a diploma through the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute.
After coming up with the idea for the tea ceremony performance, Liu was talking with Spanish ceramics artist Pablo Ruiz Garcia. He wanted to be part of it.
"I immediately told her that I thought it was a great idea. We agreed that I would take care of the pottery and she would take care of the rest," said Garcia through an email interview.
He used two stones from the Gorgos River in his hometown. He made a plaster cast of each of them and made reproductions in porcelain. He moulded the handles and the cups by hand. For the decoration he used three shades of different dyes and a clear varnish.
"With this tea set I wanted to merge on the one hand, a very endearing place of my town as it is, the river Gorgos, and on the other the tea ceremony," he said.
"For this I have collected these two stones in the river, which symbolize the people that time like water is polishing along the river of life, giving them different characters and shapes over the years and water."
As Liu does her art therapy she finds that many of her clients are lacking connections. She thought holding this tea ceremony would bring together people of diverse backgrounds and provide a space safe enough to build new connections.
"I want people to come to the tea ceremony to talk about their life experience here in Canada.
