A love of mahjong sparked a special art project for several area women.
Each Wednesday, Ann Beth Strelec opens her Columbia County home to several friends for three hours of mahjong, a game rooted in Chinese culture and is hugely popular in the Augusta area right now.
READ MORE: Mahjong gains popularity in Augusta area
But the craze is not just playing a game with tiles that are similar in shape and texture as dominoes, according to aficionados.””
“It’s the camaraderie of it and being able to sit down and have community together,” said Emily Driggers, who plays at Strelec’s home and organized a China painting project connected to the game. “I think that’s the whole point of this mahjong. It’s not the game itself. It’s not the actual playing. (It’s) the friendships that are being made. And I believe that’s the way China painting is too.”
Along with the community of friends, Strelec and others enjoy the aesthetics of the game. Strelec is in the process of turning her formal dining room into a mahjong salon. Her inner hostess revels in the colorful tiles of which she has multiple sets as well as the ornate game mats. And Strelec’s gatherings are not complete without refreshments and cocktails using beautiful dishware
In mahjong, there are three different suits – bams, craks and dots. The No. 1 tile in the bam suit has an ornate bird on it. It’s referred to as the bird bam and a similar bird has graced a variety of discontinued China patterns that intrigued Driggers, who asked her mother about the possibility of creating dishware with a similar bird design.
“Mom just said ‘oh well, all you have to do is learn. That’s very easy to paint. It’s a Chelsea bird,’” said Driggers, whose mother Suzanne Painter is an acclaimed porcelain artist, president of the International Porcelain Artists and Teachers, Inc. and has operated a porcelain arts school for many years. “Yeah, right, it’s easy. Well, it’s easy for her because she’s been doing it for 50 years.”
Painter opened up her south Richmond County studio for a three-day event last week.
Not only did they have the opportunity to paint the bird on a piece of porcelain ware such as a plate or vase, but they also learned a little bit about the history of pottery and porcelain specifically. Kaolin is a white, alumina-silicate clay used in making porcelain, medicine and other items and rich deposits of it are found in Georgia.
Sandersville, Georgia in Washington County proclaims itself as the kaolin capital of the world. Kaolin can be found along Georgia’s fall line which stretches from Augusta to Columbus.
After learning about the origins of porcelin, they chose a porcelain vessel and traced the design onto the piece using graphite paper before painting it.
Asya Baldwin, who is originally from Russia but now lives in Kansas City, Kansas, conducted the workshop, telling the group that the Chelsea bird is currently a popular motif in Europe.
She assisted them with learning brush strokes and finding the right brushes for the desired result along with giving suggestions on colors.
Even though she doesn’t consider herself the artistic sort, Catharine Lemmon seemed to have no trouble painting her design. She picked a platter and chose a design with two birds and two butterflies.
“She had lots of things to choose from. I liked that one. It looked easier,” she said.
While Driggers grew up around her mother’s art form, she was never interested in trying it until the recent workshop. Although it wasn’t as easy as her mother claimed, Driggers said she’d definitely do it again because the key to getting better at anything is practice.
“Just like we didn’t learn mahjong overnight, and every time we go, we get a little bit better. You have to play to get better,” she said.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named best local writer by readers of Augusta Magazine in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here
