Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #694822 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-21
• Released on: 2007-08-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 176 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this memoir, seasoned educator Kohl (36 Children) comes to terms with entering his twilight years. Kohl devoted his career to alternative education and to social justice, and in his mid 60s he created and directed a teacher-education program at the University of San Francisco that merged these two passions. In its fourth year, the program folded due to lack of funding, leaving Kohl despondent. On a walk through a predominantly Chinese commercial area near the university, he happened upon a fine arts school and on a whim signed up for beginners' level Chinese ink painting. On the first day of class, he discovered that he was by far the oldest pupil—his fellow students were five, six, and seven years old. He decided to stay, and over the next several years, painting took on a meditative quality for him. Kohl tells of studying alongside the children, reflecting on his life. The supportive environment and hands on, noncompetitive learning process renew his sense of wonderment, patience, love of learning and freedom of expression. The narrative is interspersed with samples of his painting as well as Chinese poetry and literary excerpts explaining the symbolism behind traditional Chinese painting imagery. Kohl writes with a bit of a tin ear, but his earnestness and plainly told account are fitting for a story of rediscovering the peace and unfettered joy of childhood. (Aug.)
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From Booklist
In spite of all his accomplishments as an eminent educator and the author of many influential books about education, teaching, and social justice, Kohl found himself bereft as he approached 70 and faced the demise of the teacher-education program he founded at the University of San Francisco. Rather than succumb to despair, however, the teacher turned himself back into a student and enrolled in a storefront art school devoted to traditional Chinese painting. Kohl had painted on his own for years, but now he apprenticed himself to a tradition he knew little about, working beside children as young as 5 years old. Writing with candor, respect, gratitude, and bemusement, Kohl shares the invaluable lessons gleaned from his immersion in a venerable tradition that awakened a fresh sense of life's wholeness, humankind's resiliency, and the beauty found in contrast and contradiction. For Kohl, "learning has always been a form of healing as well as an incentive to growth." His generous, meditative, and lyrical memoir will inspire readers to "jump into something new." Seaman, Donna

Review

Customer Reviews

keep learning
This is a quiet little book, it's not about raging, "...against the dying of the light," nor does he take the tone that "aging is not for sissies." He accepts that life has a beginning and an end and that he is closer to the end. He cherishes the irony in being in a class with small children who will be guides for him as he learns to paint in the Chinese style. Along with learning how to paint he opens his eyes to a way of teaching that had been inimical to him in his life as an educator. He finds joy in learning and his book is a joy to read.

Painting and Recovery
This wonderful book details the author's struggle with loss, both the closure of a program he had created and his own mortality. He wanders into the Joseph Fine Art School, hoping to learn how to paint. It turns out to be a school of Chinese painting, and Herb Kohl finds himself in the beginner's class with 6 year olds as his fellow students. He details his struggles to paint a monkey, accept his role as student rather than teacher, and learn about the culture behind the paintings he is doing. Comfort comes from these activities, loss recedes with time, and joy blossoms. This lovely story is essential reading for anyone who is having or has had loss or fears mortality.

Multilevel book about oriental painting, poetry and biography
Painting Chinese: A Lifelong Teacher Gains the Wisdom of YouthI loved reading the poems Kohl interspersed with the narrative of his experiences and feelings as a beginning student of oriental painting. Well and simply written.