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Libo Zhou is a student at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia.  Her Behance art portfolio shows a delightful series of beaded rubber duck heads.  The lateral thinking and creativity to call it the Peking Opera collection is inspired!  Unlike the iconic Peking duck dish, these are not edible but to be admired for the bead artistry.

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Libo has a wonderful eye for color and patterns.  Her interpretations of the elaborate costumes and makeup of the stage characters is spot on.  Peking Opera or  Beijing Opera is a traditional Chinese performance art dating back to the 18th century.


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This cultural treasure has 4 roles -  Sheng (male), Dan (female), Jing(painted-face) and Chou(clown). Each character has very specific costumes and are color coded such that audiences know from a character's first appearance and mannerism on stage as to their role.  In the early days, the female roles were performed by men.

Only emperors were allowed to wear yellow.  Colors represent rank and temperament. For example, red is for loyal army commanders.  Blue is for dishonest statesmen, white for young generals and ministers and black is usually reserved for someone brave, honest and morally upright.

Long beards signify wealth and power. Therefore Libo's black bearded beaded duck below must be a wise and powerful emperor!! And the duck above with the blue headgear, a most untrustworthy mandarin!

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Another wonderful creation from Libo's projects is the Bath Time bib necklace. She again was inspired by other Chinese artforms -  ceramics and paper-cutting. 

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