"It's been the second year of doing zodiac painting, I received more than 400 orders last year, this year I doubled it, and I just handed over more than 200 paintings yesterday." On January 13, in the wheatgrass painting exhibition hall in Poli Town, Qingdao's West Coast New Area, this reporter met Xu Jiazi, 54 years old. Not long ago, the "Boli Wheat Grass Painting Handicraft Technique" with him as the inheritor successfully applied for the fifth batch of intangible cultural heritage representative projects in Shandong Province.
"This year, we made a little innovation, embedding the zodiac tiger wheatgrass painting in the wall calendar and distributing the picture frame. In this way, you can use one thing for two things, and when the wall calendar is used up, it can be installed in the picture frame to make ornaments or pendants. Xu Jiazi's words were tinged with a little pride.
Wheatgrass painting, also known as wheat straw painting, is a kind of Chinese folk clip-and-paste painting. Wheat has always been regarded as a sacred thing by the mainland, and the legend of "wheat grass tree Bao Guangwu" adds a little mystery. "The history of wheatgrass painting has a long history, the ancestors have passed it on by word of mouth, and the history of our Xu family's wheatgrass painting can be traced back to the Xu Kingdom in the Spring and Autumn Period, made by folk artists at that time; and the recorded history can be traced back to the Qing Dynasty, my great-grandfather used wheat straw to paint and make small toys to sell, counting, I am the fourth generation." Xu Jiazi told reporters.
"Take the choice of wheat straw, the need for special varieties, the local wheat straw in Boli is soft, fine, not very suitable, I have transferred twenty or thirty acres of land in Liaocheng, Heze and other places, special supply." Xu Jiazi said, "Moreover, a wheat straw painting from wheat straw processing to final painting, to go through twenty-seven or eight processes, just to make wheat straw drawing board, there are twelve processes such as smoking, steaming, bleaching, cutting, scraping, pushing, dyeing and so on." ”
The hardest thing is "hot". Wheatgrass paintings are based on the golden yellow color of wheat, light and shadow, text inscriptions, etc. are ironed by soldering irons, supplemented by partially dyed strips of wheat stalks. Xu Jiazi told reporters: "My father's tools at that time were simple, and he could only put the soldering iron in the pot stove and briquette stove to heat it, and then master the fire coloring according to his own experience." If you want to have a darker color, the temperature should be higher, but it should not be too high, and it is easy to burn paste. Compared with wood and gourds, wheat straw is thinner, and it is more difficult to paint. Now with a soldering iron that can display the temperature, it is easier to operate, but it still requires the long-term accumulation of craftsmen. ”
Xu Jiazi took nearly two years to "get out of the school", "In 2010, the customer customized a batch of "Ancient Langyatai" group sculptures, there are more than 680 paintings, when he saw my finished product, my father said to me for the first time 'almost'. ”
While deeply cultivating his painting ability, Xu Jiazi has not forgotten his father's heart and mind that "inheritance needs a market". "In retrospect, my father was really wise, and he asserted by watching the news that as the party's policies got better and better, the cultural industry and cultural consumption would definitely get better and better." "In those years, I was running all over the country, he recalled. The first batch of choices were first- and second-tier cities, where consumption power was strong, market acceptance was high, and the first bucket of gold was eventually dug in Beijing, and more than 60 paintings sold for 78,000 yuan. ”
In 2015, Xu Jiazi established Qingdao Qinhan Cultural Industry Development Co., Ltd., which opened the road to marketization and a golden opportunity quietly came. In 2018, the Qingdao Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was held, and Pori MaiCao Painting was invited to participate in the "Qilu Wind and Charm Exhibition" of the summit. With the increase of popularity, Xu Jiazi no longer has to run around, and he is at ease to create. "After the summit, all levels have also increased their support, and the Poli Town Government provided me with the current pavilion for free in 2019, with a total area of more than 3,000 square meters." Orders are getting better and better, from 2008 can not sell a single painting, to now more than 10,000 paintings a year, I can come up with the best state, the best craftsmanship to ponder some fine products. Xu Jiazi told reporters.
The death of his father in 2020 also made Xu Jiazi seriously consider the inheritance of this craft. What pleased Xu Jiazi the most was that his younger son, who had just entered the sixth grade, gradually showed his interest in wheatgrass painting. "Since I was a child, I have cultivated my younger son's interest in painting, and during the winter and summer vacations, he will also come to the exhibition hall and do some wheatgrass paintings by himself." Xu Jiazi said.
Hand made man said
Strive to promote wheatgrass painting to the national intangible cultural heritage
Xu Jiazi, the inheritor of the handicraft of Berri wheat grass painting: My father has accepted more than 60 apprentices, but most of them have not persevered. To do wheatgrass painting, you must be able to withstand loneliness and keep loneliness.
I work with the town to conduct skills training several times a year, in addition to solving the problem of labor employment, but also to select reserve talents for training. At the same time, we will also go to primary and secondary schools to cultivate interests and curriculum training, and recently, we are also discussing the possibility of setting up special courses with vocational schools.
After the handicraft of wheatgrass painting has become a provincial intangible cultural heritage, I will also strive to promote it to the national intangible cultural heritage, and if this generation cannot complete it, then the next generation will do it.