Mulberry paper sculpture "I Love My Home". Photo by Zuo Dandan
Urumqi, February 10 (Gou Jipeng) "Pure handmade mulberry paper itself gives people a long sense of age, and the paper sculpture works such as Xinjiang characteristic houses and portraits made with it are rough and enthusiastic, and can better reflect the characteristics of Xinjiang." Zhang Guojing, a non-hereditary inheritor of urumqi municipal paper sculpture, said.
Recently, when the China News Network reporter met the craftsman in Urumqi, she was making mulberry paper sculptures. Only to see her fill the prepared pulp into the mold, after demolding, and then attach a layer of mulberry paper to the formed work, let it dry and color, a camel-shaped mulberry paper sculpture is completed. "Mulberry paper is very contagious and I love it." Zhang Guojing said that everyone may think that paper is used for painting, writing and other graphic creations, but she wanted to find another way and came up with the idea of using mulberry paper to create paper sculptures.
Zhang Guojing is making mulberry paper sculptures. Photo by Zuo Dandan
"This group of mulberry paper sculptures, called 'I Love My Home', I once took it to the China Arts and Crafts Competition and won the silver medal of the Hundred Flowers Award." Zhang Guojing pointed to a group of mulberry paper sculptures and said. The reporter saw that this is a group of works composed of multiple portraits of people, and the paper sculptures of people dressed in ethnic costumes are more than 30 centimeters high, or Xinjiang delicacies such as steamed buns and watermelons in their hands, or holding ethnic musical instruments to sing and dance, and the facial expressions are vividly shaped. "This color of mulberry paper is especially suitable for expressing the skin color of the characters." She said.
Zhang Guojing has always wanted to introduce Xinjiang's characteristic culture through his own creativity. For more than ten years, she has registered national registered trademarks such as "Bayi Tribe" and "Western Divine Tour", developed, produced and sold handicrafts and tourist souvenirs featuring Xinjiang national culture, and the products produced have been rated as "Xinjiang Gifts" for many consecutive years.
Walking into Zhang Guojing's studio, it is as if you are in a small museum of arts and crafts. On the exhibition shelves, there are pottery works by Xinjiang characters with different looks, pillows and backpacks painted with special foods, dried fruits and other patterns, as well as Adelaide silk school bags.
Zhang Guojing designed and produced Cultural and Creative Products with Xinjiang Characteristics. Photo by Zuo Dandan
"I liked to draw since I was a child, graduated from high school and was admitted to Xinjiang Normal University to study arts and crafts, and then in 1997 I went to the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts for a year to learn pottery, bronze sculpture and other crafts." Zhang Guojing said that after returning, she opened her first pottery bar in Urumqi, making pottery works with Xinjiang characteristics.
Slowly, Zhang Guojing discovered that Xinjiang's rich and colorful culture was promising, and the production techniques and materials used in her works were also eclectic. Kanas scenery, galloping horses, pomegranate flowers, badan wood flowers, etc., have become exquisite works in her hands, full of rich Xinjiang style, but without losing practicality, many products are sold to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taiwan and other places, and even sold abroad to Japan.
"In the future, I will continue to expand and tap Xinjiang's ethnic characteristics and folk culture, design more products, aim at domestic and foreign markets, and show Xinjiang's rich and colorful culture to more people." Zhang Guojing said. (End)