In the afternoon of May 27th, we invited Professor Shi Cun, a doctoral supervisor of Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts, to give a lecture on the theme of "Taking up the mission, cultivating the roots and casting the soul" for all teachers and students of the School of Art. The lecture was conducted in an online meeting and was also broadcast live in the 1302 Smart Classroom of the School of Art. The lecture was hosted by Associate Professor Jiang Yongshuai, a master's degree instructor in fine arts, and more than 30 art instructors and graduate students from the School of Art attended the lecture.

Professor Shimura is a teaching supervisor of Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts and a supervisor of doctoral students. He is also a member of the 7th Discipline Review Group of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, a member of the Chinese Artists Association, a member of the Chinese Sculpture Society, a consultant of the Chinese Sculpture Professional Committee, a member of the Art Committee of the National Urban Sculpture Construction Steering Committee, and a director of the Chinese Urban Sculptors Association. His sculptures have participated in various critical academic exhibitions at home and abroad, including the Second National Youth Art Exhibition, the Sixth, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth National Art Exhibitions. His sculptures "Soul of the Great Wall", "Quiet Snowfield," and "Catching the Market" were collected by the National Art Museum of China. By the Yan River" was collected by the National Museum of China. Soul of the Great Wall" was collected by the Central Party History Museum of the Communist Party of China. His works have been selected as important documents such as "The Complete World Sculpture", "The Complete Chinese Art", "The Complete Modern Chinese Art", "Sculpture Influencing the Development of Chinese Art in the 20th Century" and "A Century of Chinese Sculpture". His published works include "The Basics of Human Sculpture" and "Ishimura Sculpture Collection".

Professor Ishimura's lecture was based on his many years of art practice, reflecting on the past and thinking about the present and future of thematic creation. Taking artworks created by famous artists at home and abroad as the main content, he analyzed them from various angles, such as the method of art creation, the sense of composition and form, and the expression of detail portrayal in artworks. First of all, he proposed that realism should be used to refine and summarize concrete life and to use the subject matter and materials flexibly to express the theme deeply. Furthermore, he emphasizes the use of symbolic thinking to interpret the ideological connotation of the work and to grasp the overall tone of the work. Secondly, he pointed out that in the thematic creation of sculpture, the composition is the first thing to be considered to meet the multi-angle appreciation and rhythm change and have the flavor of life, metaphor, and symbolic meaning. Finally, in order to implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech on the work of literature and art, Prof. Shimura expressed his earnest expectation to all the teachers and students: to actively devote themselves to the creation of major subjects and themes with full enthusiasm; to express the hard revolutionary cause of the Chinese people led by the Party and the great spirit of forging ahead with excellent works, and to dedicate to the centenary of the Communist Party of China.

After the lecture, students and teachers also had an academic dialogue and in-depth exchange with Prof. Ishimura, who answered questions from students and teachers and provided valuable suggestions on thematic creation.