Faculty, students from School of Art and Design travel to Beijing
From left to right: John Seefeldt, Tom Ashcraft, and WCU MFA student YuWen Renjie visit the Great Wall of China.
By Julia Duvall
Last year, Tom Ashcraft, director of Western Carolina University’s School of Art and Design, got a phone call from the WCU Global Office about a student from Beijing, China, wanting to be an exchange student in the Master of Fine Arts program.
Ashcraft was unsure if the student would follow through, but YuWen Renjie, who was working on her bachelor’s degree at Beijing University of Technology, was serious about coming to WCU.
WCU and BJUT have an exchange agreement in place that allows students from both institutions to study abroad.
“We’ve had phone calls before about international students wanting to come study art at WCU as part of an exchange program, but typically for one reason or another, it just doesn’t work out,” Ashcraft said. “This time however, it did work out and YuWen joined us for a semester-long exchange in the MFA program during the fall of 2023.”
Renjie enjoyed her time at WCU so much that she decided she wanted to come back for the fall 2024 semester and earn her MFA.
“I really enjoyed being on WCU’s campus and learning about an American university,” Renjie said. “I also really love the weather and the environment in North Carolina. Everyone has been so friendly, especially the MFA team, so I knew I wanted to come back as a full-time MFA student at WCU.”
Ashcraft spoke to his equivalent at BJUT, to make sure there were no issues with Renjie enrolling at WCU to complete her MFA.
There were none. In fact, Renjie helped organize a WCU trip to Beijing in collaboration with Zhong Sheng, professor and director of the Department of Arts and Crafts in the College of Art and Design at BJUT.
Renjie along with Ashcraft, John Seefeldt, associate professor of design at WCU and MFA graduate student Daniel Schwendinger, traveled to Beijing from June 4-16, spending 10 of those days on the ground in China.
The team experienced a robust cultural exchange that included presenting multiple lectures, delivering engaged and active creative practice workshops as well as an exhibition that included WCU graduate students and leading Beijing artists.
“YuWen put together this amazing itinerary for us,” Ashcraft said. “We were given unprecedented access, seldom afforded to visitors, to Beijing’s cultural landscape where we met with practicing contemporary artists and designers in their studios. We also toured museums and important historical sites. This was such an amazing and intense research trip.”
Renjie was excited to be able to show Beijing to her professors and classmate.
“This trip was a great way to share my culture with my WCU colleagues and let them experience it for themselves,” Renjie said. “Chinese students are very interested in American university life and vice versa, so this has allowed us to create a new connection.”
Ashcraft, who has been involved with cultural diplomacy for nearly three decades, is excited about the future collaboration opportunities between WCU and BJUT.
“The Beijing trip was a truly extraordinary experience that included deep research, international fellowship and cultural diplomacy,” Ashcraft said. “We hope that our travel will help create a bridge between our two institutions.”
