Our Story
15 min Silent Retreat 天地茶屋

Ines Sun is a Brooklyn-based artist, who paints and creates art installations with tea and calligraphy.  Her installation of 15-minute silent retreat-Heaven/Earth Tea Hut, first featured at the Dumbo Arts Festivals in 2011, has traveled internationally. 

 

Sun grew up in Taiwan and never liked calligraphy as a child. 

Not till later in life, did she realize how useful calligraphy can be.  More than 10 years ago,   She practices calligraphy before painting to purify excessive energy.  It has become regular prep work and part of her creative process.  The breathing with each stroke helps to focus and even the temperament.  

 

In 2020, during the dark period of the Covid lockdown, it inspired her to share the calligraphy practice to calm and focus our mind amid the pandemic. Since then, several pockets of calligraphy communities have formed.

 

Tea and calligraphy have been an integral part of Sun's life. She ran the Wild Lily Tea Room in Chelsea for 10 years and was a long-time practitioner of Chanoyu. In her silent retreat installation, one participant and the artist collectively perform tea rituals and practice calligraphy in silence.  The self-awareness heightened in a transient moment, together, they create and experience art.

 

The calligraphy workshop is derived from the artful experience, which is to offer creative, hands-on body and mind exercises to counterbalance our modern digital lifestyle. 

 

Video-TianDiChaWu Installation at Lanyang Museum, Taiwan 2018