Huang Xiaoling: Inherit the millennium kiln fire with the spirit of craftsmanship

Born in a ceramic family, thin and pasteled, painting spring colors on ceramics. In Hunan National People's Congress deputy, Hunan Zhuzhou Liling Liling City Liquan Kiln Art Ceramics Co., Ltd. chief designer (art director) Huang Xiaoling——

Inherit the thousand-year-old kiln fire with the spirit of craftsmanship

On March 7, Huang Xiaoling (third from the left) introduced her work "Happy Eyebrows" to some representatives.

Photo by Tang Jun, a reporter of Hunan Daily

Hunan Daily all-media reporter Shi Quanjiang Liang Keting

In Beijing in March, everything recovers and green dyes the branches.

In the lobby of the Hunan delegation to the Fifth Session of the Thirteenth National People's Congress, a large double-sided porcelain plate painting was placed, one side called "Happy Eyebrows" and the other side called "Golden Jade Full Hall", the atmospheric composition and exquisite design attracted the attention of many deputies.

The author of the porcelain plate painting is Huang Xiaoling, a deputy to the National People's Congress in Hunan and the chief designer (artistic director) of Liquan Kiln Art Ceramics Co., Ltd. in Liling City, Zhuzhou. "I am particularly pleased that the underglaze five-colored porcelain can enter the delegation's residence for placement, and as a deputy to the National People's Congress, one of my duties is to vigorously promote the culture of underglaze five-colored porcelain."

The germination of a seed

Huang Xiaoling is an authentic Liling person, influenced by her father, and has been obsessed with porcelain art since childhood.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Huang Xiaoling's father despoticized porcelain blank tires in liling qunli porcelain factory. Whenever she encounters a porcelain painter sketching a smooth and beautiful line on the bottle tire, the young Huang Xiaoling will hold her breath and watch, and paint on the damaged porcelain tire by her own preferences, looking forward to having a pair of hands with wonderful brushes and flowers.

Under the guidance of her father, Huang Xiaoling has a great love for porcelain art.

The porcelain is smooth, feminine and elegant, very similar to the pure, gentle and restrained temperament of oriental women.

Huang Xiaoling was obsessed with such artistic qualities. She studied under Deng Wenke, Chen Yanglong and other famous artists, and immersed herself in the art of underglaze multicolored porcelain.

During her work at Shanghai Hanguang Porcelain, Huang Xiaoling re-recognized the value of underglaze multicolored porcelain. She was deeply shocked to see the underglaze multicolored porcelain created by the masters cause a sensation. Hometown Liling underglaze multicolored porcelain has a long history, how to create a masterpiece, to the wider world?

In 2000, Huang Xiaoling established Liquan Kiln Art Ceramics Co., Ltd., on the basis of bringing together a group of famous craftsmen and artists, inheriting the traditional underglaze multicolored porcelain art techniques, not only bold innovation, injecting fashion elements, but also known for its elegance and unique beauty.

Since then, Huang Xiaoling's masterpieces have been repeated. In 2003, she won her first grand prize in her life for her painstaking work "Yu Meiren": the silver medal of the "Zhongtao Cup" of the Chinese Ceramic Art Exhibition. In 2004, the work "Peony Vase" won the national trophy, which is considered to have reached the realm of "painting to the point where the look is floating, and there is no real image with its soul".

Huang Xiaoling, who said that she was "born for porcelain", ushered in the "golden age" in the first 10 years of the new century: "Peony", "Wisteria Flower", "Hydrangea Flower", "Bamboo Newspaper Peace", "Spring Color in the Garden" and other more than 20 works have participated in various exhibitions at home and abroad and won many awards.

Since then, she has risen rapidly as the leader of the new generation of multicolored porcelain under the glaze of Liling.

In February 2019, a large-scale porcelain plate group painting of four seasons flowers composed of peony, lotus, hydrangea and camellia created by Huang Xiaoling was awarded the No. 93 Permanent Collection Certificate issued by the Great Hall of the People and displayed on the third floor of the Great Hall of the People.

A true heart of perseverance

"Holding a pen for a long time, the left and right shoulders are different in height, and the craftsmen have fallen into occupational diseases of one kind or another." Facing reporters, Huang Xiaoling said.

But even so, she still maintained nearly 5 hours of creative time every day, at 5 a.m., when the city was still asleep, Huang Xiaoling had already arrived in the creation studio until 9 o'clock in the morning, so for many years as a day, avoiding the distractions of trivialities, quietly indulging in creation.

Plain blank outline, thin application light dyeing, flowers and birds landscape, beautiful portrait... With a brush for more than 30 years, with a pair of skillful hands and the ultimate pursuit of art, Huang Xiaoling's works have penetrated a unique temperament.

"I'm a big fan of the 'thin pastel' style." 'Bo Shi' refers to the aesthetic technique, and 'pastel' refers to the aesthetic effect, and the two are both independent and interdependent. Huang Xiaoling told reporters that "thin Shi" is a technique in water-sharing decoration, there are depths in thinness, there are layers in thinness, and "Shi" is through careful "construction" without leaving pen marks and water stains.

"In our industry, the spirit of craftsmanship is to paint in the studio in a down-to-earth manner, to paint for a lifetime, just to write a word well, to paint a painting well, 'one year can not learn, ten years can not be separated', do not want anything else, the spirit of craftsmanship is in the bones." Huang Xiaoling said.

In her memory, the older generation of craftsmen demanded perfection from the painter. "A leaf, a petal, painted dozens of times, Master took a look, if not, erase and repaint, very severe, porcelain out of the kiln, Master took a look, found that the hook is good, happy as if he won the award."

In 2014, Huang Xiaoling's mentor was critically ill and hospitalized, and when he died, his family told him "let's go home", the old man lay on the bed without reaction, and the family said "Let's go back to the studio to see it", and the old man immediately nodded.

"My master's spiritual support is the spirit of craftsmanship, and this spirit has been passed down from generation to generation, inspiring us to insist on making ceramics from generation to generation." Huang Xiaoling said.

The responsibility of a representative

Today, as the first NPC deputy in the liling ceramics industry, Huang Xiaoling deeply feels that the burden on her shoulders is heavier and the responsibility is greater.

After in-depth grass-roots research, she put forward more than 30 suggestions such as "Suggestions on Inheriting Ceramic Culture and Developing ceramic industry" and "Suggestions on Establishing a "Chinese Ceramics Museum" as soon as possible", and actively advocated for the transformation and upgrading of Liling ceramic industry and the development of Huxiang culture.

In recent years, Liling has built a subdivided industrial chain around the ceramic new materials, daily porcelain, electric porcelain, art porcelain and other industries, including more than 4,000 varieties of daily porcelain, industrial porcelain, art porcelain, etc., and cultivated upstream and downstream industries such as clay supply research and development, equipment manufacturing, packaging design and so on. Huang Xiaoling introduced: "At present, Liling ceramic products sell well in more than 150 countries and regions around the world, with electric porcelain accounting for about 30% of the world market and daily porcelain accounting for about 14% of the world market. ”

"Although the development trend is good, Liling ceramics still faces a high proportion of traditional ceramic industries, and the pattern of small and medium-sized enterprises has not been formed; The prices of logistics, energy and accessories related to the production and operation of enterprises continue to rise, and the industrial supply chain is fragile; The influence of industrial brands is not high, and the bottleneck of development is not high. Huang Xiaoling said.

"Liling has a long history of ceramic production, and in China it is the main ceramic production area comparable to Jingdezhen." How to better stimulate the charm and vitality of one of the three ancient porcelain capitals in China? At the two sessions of the National People's Congress this year, Huang Xiaoling brought suggestions such as "supporting Liling to create a national ceramic culture inheritance and innovation pilot zone" and "supporting Liling to create a national-level small and medium-sized enterprise characteristic industry (ceramics) cluster", hoping that the relevant ministries and commissions of the state will give preference in terms of funds, projects, policies, etc., and increase the cultivation of ceramic industry talents to provide solid intellectual support for inheriting innovative ceramic culture.

"In the future, I will continue to focus on the inheritance and development of liling ceramics industry, and hope that with the joint efforts of everyone, I will strengthen cultural self-confidence and industrial self-confidence." Huang Xiaoling said.

(Hunan Daily, Beijing, March 7)