The Art of Gongbi: Live Chinese Painting Demonstration

Join exhibiting artist Cheuk Yan Tung for a live gongbi 工筆 painting demonstration, offering a rare opportunity to witness one of China's most refined and enduring artistic traditions in practice. Characterized by meticulous brushwork, delicate lines, and remarkable precision, gongbi has been cultivated for centuries as a highly disciplined form of painting.

In The Meticulous Mystics, Cheuk Yan Tung reimagines this historic tradition as a living language for the present. While grounded in classical technique, her paintings engage with contemporary social and political realities, balancing extraordinary beauty with thoughtful cultural critique. Rather than treating tradition as something fixed in the past, her work demonstrates how heritage continues to evolve through artists who reinterpret it in response to the world around them.

During this live demonstration, visitors will observe the artist's working process firsthand while learning about the materials, techniques, and philosophy behind gongbi painting. Following the demonstration, audiences are invited to engage in conversation with Cheuk Yan Tung about her artistic practice, the challenges and possibilities of working within a traditional medium today, and how she bridges historical craftsmanship with contemporary expression.

The exhibition will also feature a student artwork created through Cheuk Yan Tung's residency with Artists in Public Schools at Nicholas Senn High School. During the multi-week residency, Artists in Public Schools connected Tung with students to explore the centuries-old tradition of Gongbi painting, fostering creative exchange between a practicing artist and the next generation of creatives. The inclusion of the student artwork celebrates the lasting impact of the timeless artform and creative collaboration beyond the classroom.

​About the Artist

Cheuk Yan Tung is a Hong Kong-born interdisciplinary artist, currently based in Chicago. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Bachelor of Art in Fine Arts from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

In terms of recognition, Tung was awarded the New Artist Development Grant by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council in 2024, as well as the Luminarts Visual Arts Award and James Nelson Raymond Scholarship in 2023. Her artwork has been showcased in various venues in Hong Kong and the United States, including Touch Gallery in Hong Kong  and the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, as well as Union League Club Chicago, Garrett Museum of Art, CSI Project Space, SAIC Gallery, Ruschman Gallery, and the John David Mooney Foundation in the US.

About the Partnership

Artists in Public Schools, a nonprofit organization founded in 2017 that pairs Chicago artists, designers, and creatives with Chicago Public School, is thrilled to announce its first collaboration with the Heritage Museum of Asian Art on The Meticulous Mystics: Wonders of Chinese Gongbi Painting. The exhibition, on view July 16 to August 16, 2026, will highlight the work of Artists in Public Schools Residency Artist, Cheuk Yan Tung whose otherworldly work explores contemporary social and political realities through the ancient art of Chinese Gongbi painting. 

Ms. Tung brought the meticulous brushwork and disciplined technique of Gongbi painting into Nicholas Senn High School, during her Artists in Public Schools residency during the 2025/26 school year. Ms. Tung worked with a visual arts class for  a multi-week residency in which students were encouraged to observe the natural world—studying local plants, birds, and animals—and express their findings using traditional Gongbi materials and methods, such as mineral pigments, fine brushes, and layered ink lines on rice paper or silk. In conjunction with the residency experience, students attended a free field trip to the Heritage Museum of Asian Art. Ms. Tung provided a tour of the museum with a focus on Asian ink paintings; Gongbi works were provided from the HMAA’s archives for students to get an up close view.  Of the residency experience, Senn Visual Arts classroom teacher Ms. Angelica Mendoza shared: “The residency and collaboration ignited a curiosity in the students about the Gongbi technique. They were also very curious about Cherry and excited to see her professional work. They haven't had exposure to a practicing professional artist before, so they were very keen on engaging with her and trying to learn the techniques she demonstrated.”

The residency culminated with students painting their own silk fans with a local flora or fauna of their choice. One residency artwork, by Senn student Nicole P., will be exhibited at the Heritage Museum of Asian Art within Ms. Tung’s solo exhibition, showing the power and impact of student and artist collaborations in Chicago Public Schools.  

Since 2017, Artists in Public Schools has reached 97 schools across 67 neighborhoods, partnering with 95+ professional artists to make meaningful art experiences accessible to Chicago youth.