Guizhou, remote geographical location and steep terrain, let her like a veiled girl, long maintain a little-known mystery, the mountains block the civilization, so that the ancient rich, colorful, unique customs and colorful culture and art can be preserved, patchwork art is one of them.
Since ancient times, Guizhou has been inhabited by 20 to 30 ethnic minorities such as Miao, Yao, Dong, Shui, Buyi, and so on. Due to the large ethnic population, complex branches, coupled with the vast geographical distribution, the craft characteristics of each region, there are several differences, even if it is the same ethnic group, there may be differences between villages and villages, "five miles of different styles, ten miles of different customs", so Guizhou ethnic minorities patchwork, with colorful colors, a variety of patterns, colorful legends and stories. This article will discuss the origin, status quo and craftsmanship of ethnic minority patchwork art in Guizhou.
First, the origin and current situation of ethnic minority patchwork in Guizhou
1. Origin: Self-sufficiency and reuse
The ethnic minorities in Guizhou, which are located in the remote area, have long been in the form of farming economy, and women in the family are also responsible for the production and inheritance of clothing in addition to busy housework and farming. In the early days, clothing and other supplies were mostly made using natural animal and plant raw materials such as cotton, linen, silk, and wool, as well as simple dyeing and weaving tools.
The hardships of the living environment, ethnic minority compatriots grow cotton, spin thread, weave, clothing, because of the restrictions of conditions, it takes a year or even a few years to do their own set of clothes, so they cherish the fabric, and splice the remaining corner cloth with the old bad dress quilt to make it reborn, which is the origin of Guizhou patchwork.
2. Significance: Record history and take nature
Guizhou ethnic minority patchwork is mostly used with embroidery, and patchwork and embroidery are also an important way for ethnic minority compatriots in Guizhou to record history and culture. Today, we can still see their ancient culture from the pattern of the patchwork, the belief in animism (Fig. 1), the worship of totems, the worship of ancestors (Fig. 2), the ancient ideas of harmony between man and nature (Fig. 3), reflecting the ancient farming culture (Fig. 4), highlighting the themes of life, love, freedom, equality, etc.
Figure 1: Endless flow: Water is the source of all things.
Figure 2: Mother Butterfly: The Infinite Worship of the Ancestors of Humanity.
Figure 3: Owl: Legend has it that an owl shields a child from the sun.
Figure 4: Hmong Migration: Records the history of Hmong migration.
Guizhou is a country of mountains, known as 100,000 mountains. Mountains bring great drawbacks to people's travel, it is very difficult for people to go out of the mountain once, so it is difficult for ethnic minority compatriots to have contact with the outside world, because the authors of patchwork works are completely untrained in art, they do not have any art skills, and they do not have any shackles, they take the law of nature, and put mountains, rivers, lakes, skies, oceans, flowers, birds, insects, fish... Extract from one's own work as one wishes. The "flower back" (Guizhou Shuicheng small flower seedling clothing on the cloud shoulder, known locally as the "flower back") is made of red, yellow and black cloth, yellow is the main color, red trim, black hook line. The local "flower backs" worn by men and women, young and old, are all exquisitely carved, with strict patterns, and their inlay combinations are meticulous. This pattern has been passed down from ancient times, and it is said that when the Miao people were forced to move west in ancient times, a wise girl was reluctant to leave her hometown, and quietly embroidered the countryside of her hometown with this pattern on her clothes to commemorate her ancestors, thus passing it on from generation to generation, and its color was imitated from the color of the tiger.
Figure 5: Natural landscape: Colors imitated from tigers.
3. Status Quo: The Art of Living The life of art
Today, in Guizhou's Leishan Xijiang, Taijiang Taigong, Kaili Zhouxi, Majiang Xiasi, Danzhai Nangao and Yangwu, Fuquan City, Mayangping and Wangjiapo along the Luobo River, Sandu, Guiding Dingdong, Duyun, Guiyang Wudang, Huishui Duck Down, Bijie, Shuicheng, Puding and Li, Cong, Rong and other places, people can still see that the art of patchwork is decorating the lives of ethnic minority compatriots, and they are mostly used in -
1. Back fan (Figure 6). Guizhou ethnic minority working women important daily necessities, the production process is complex, because the back fan is flat and easy to create, so the patchwork area is larger than the costumes, the graphics are changeable, the craftsmanship is exquisite, vividly embodies the eternal and selfless maternal love, is the crystallization of the wisdom of the majority of ethnic minority women embodies the eternal selfless maternal love, showing the spirit and culture of a nation.
2. Costumes (Figure 7). Mainly used in skirts and clothes collar, shoulders, sleeves, pants, patterns are geometric, natural shape, commonly used patterns are dragons, phoenixes, flowers, grass.
Figure 6: Back fan
Figure 7: Costumes
3. Shoes and hats. The patchwork is not large, and the patterns are mostly patterns such as flowers and plants, birds and finches; the patterns are small and exquisite, and the general colors are simple and elegant, but they are lively.
4. Children's products. Common ones are hat flowers, saliva bibs, vests and so on. The pattern of the hat flower has dragon, phoenix, peony, butterfly and other patterns. The saliva bib is wrapped around the child's chin to prevent the child's saliva from staining the clothes, and it is shaped in a circle or semi-circular shape according to the situation, with the inner ring being round and the outer ring wavy. The motifs are mostly a combination of melon fruits, flowers and birds, bats and deformed dragon winds.
Second, Guizhou ethnic minority patchwork craft techniques
From the perspective of craftsmanship, it can be divided into - patchwork, decals, pile flowers and flower hollow embroidery.
1. Patchwork.
Technique: Splicing the remaining corner fabrics and reusing them is the patchwork.
Guizhou ethnic minority patchwork is mostly made of simple cross patterns and triangles to make quilts and clothing. The patterns are composed of continuous cells (Figure 8), and both the overall skeleton and the composition of each cell follow the basic principles of symmetry, building a better sense of balance. The use of different levels of color and shape creates a sense of rhythm as a whole, which is like a rich and changing melody.
Figure 8: Copper coin flower
2. Decals (also known as "patch flowers").
Method: When making, the fabric of the pattern is cut in advance and pasted on the bottom cloth, and then the stitching method such as straight needle, lock needle, nail needle or lock edge is used to fix and decorate the edge of the pattern. The surface of the patch fabric can be added with various embroidery patterns, and wool, cotton and other cushions can also be lined, which is widely used in ethnic minority areas in Guizhou.
From the formal point of view, decals have two major characteristics, one is that the composition is beautiful and exaggerated and romantic. Flowers, birds, insects, fish, somewhere between the image and the non-image, are both figurative and abstract. The second is the bold freedom of coloring (Figure 9). The picture below (Figure 10) This gold and silver shimmering appliqué work is a back fan hijab, the overall feeling is very delicate, intriguing, well-used, in the picture: appliquéd silk cloth, cut and shaped by hand-dyed colorful cloth, and then sewn with silver thread; geometric lattice line, embroidered with silver thread and silk thread; a small amount of color blocks are added to the body of the ichthyosaur, and the whole color is made by the method of flat embroidery; the surrounding bird shape is embroidered with curves, which looks very flexible. The whole picture seems to let the child be born to a happy and warm home, there are four ruyi shapes on the four sides for decoration, this work is not large, but the craft shape has reached a perfect degree.
Figure 9: Flowers, birds, fish
Figure 10: Bird (Partial)
3. Stacked flowers
Technique: First cut a small triangle with a colored ayako slurred with soap horn water, then fold the upper two corners inward according to the base, pile up layer by layer to form a pattern, and then fix it with colored thread embroidery.
The shape of the stacked flowers is neat and sketchy, the color is spotted, and the effect is a bit like a mosaic-inlaid mural. Often, a small sleeve is stacked with hundreds of triangular colored ayames, as if building a pyramid (Fig. 11).
Figure 11: Geometric pattern
4. Flower hollow embroidery
Technique: Two layers of cloth are stacked on top of each other, on the upper layer of cloth, hollowed out to become the desired shape and filled with cloth of different colors into it, and then pry the edges, or add some embroidery.
The flowerwork is hollowed out, the workmanship is delicate and attractive, the layers are rich, the pattern is flexible, and there is a sense of bas-relief, just like embroidery. The "dragon" in the picture below (Figure 12) is a sleeve piece of women's clothing, the upper layer is made of big red satin, the lower layer is filled with green satin, the dragon body is filled with black satin, and the shape is added to a layer of paper-cutting to cut into the desired shape, embroidered with white silk thread on a circle of very dense flat embroidery, the whole picture has four levels, showing the dancing "dragon", living in front of our eyes.
Figure 12: Flower-piled hollow embroidery
Conclusion: In today's globalization, modernization, and network impact on everything, although there are still people in Guizhou ethnic minority compatriots who follow the tradition, we can still see their ancient culture and beliefs from the patterns of guizhou ethnic minorities. However, with the gradual disappearance of the older generation of craftsmen, the cultural interaction of the inheritors has gradually turned traditional handicrafts into a kind of life memory and narration in the past. Therefore, in the inheritance and innovation of ethnic minority patchwork in Guizhou, it is necessary to pay attention to the interpretation and development of the national cultural connotation of the patchwork in modern commodity design in the current era; fully excavate the art of ethnic minority patchwork patterns, understand the meaning and beauty factors in it, and carry it forward.