When a handful of soil and a drop of water meet, it becomes a lump of mud, and when a lump of mud meets a pair of dexterous hands, it becomes a work of art.
Clay sculpture is an ancient folk traditional art. Started in the pre-Qin and Western Zhou dynasties, it has been circulated among the people for 3,000 years, and is one of the most ethnic handicrafts in the mainland, and was selected into the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage in 2006.
Hezhou clay sculpture is a kind of Linxia brick carving, Hezhou wood carving, ancient building painting together with the traditional folk handicraft skills in Linxia Prefecture and the surrounding areas, which is characterized by pure hand-kneading and shaping, mainly including kneading and plastic two types of skills. After the kneading and molding are completed, it is necessary to apply color.
Hezhou Yangge Song and Dance Dragon
Hezhou clay sculpture art has been inherited with the pace of history. According to historical records, during the Western Qin Dynasty, top carvers from all over the country came here to chisel stone carvings, pinch clay and paint, and created the Bingling Temple Grottoes, which were later called the world cultural heritage. There are people with ingenuity to learn the arts, and different styles of artists and carvers across the country to exchange and learn, clay sculpture skills can be passed on from generation to generation among the people. In the passage of time, Hezhou clay sculpture integrates and innovates a variety of skills and cultures, and gradually forms its unique art form.
Hezhou clay sculpture is made of local sticky and delicate red clay as raw material, through beating, falling, kneading and other processes to make clay sculpture raw materials; Because of its history, folk customs, culture, aesthetics and other profound humanistic connotations, it is loved by the people of all ethnic groups, and with the unremitting efforts of generations of folk clay sculpture artists, continuous progress has been made.
In 2011, Chang Tianping became the first batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage clay sculpture skills inheritors in Linxia Prefecture.
Chang Tianping uses carving, molding, kneading and other skills to shape, showing the simple farming culture, colorful pastoral life, brilliant folk customs, local houses and life scenes of Hezhou to the fullest. He said: "Three-point plastic, seven-point color, plastic is the shape, color is the god, mud is the rhyme, color is the soul." ”
In Chang Tianping's clay sculpture studio, there are vivid little clay figures. "These little clay figurines look simple and cute, but the process of making them is very complicated, and the clay selection alone is very exquisite. Chang Tianping likes his clay sculptures more and more, and he also loves clay sculpture art more and more.
Peony in River State
The clay sculpture "Hezhou Rolling Felt" created by him shows the scene of washing felt, and the image of the two felt makers is vividly present; "Hezhou Flowers" shows the custom of "man" flowers in Linxia, and selects the moment when a pair of young men and women hold hands and sing in duet, showing the scene of "man" flowers vividly; "Farming Culture" series shows sowing, hoeing, pulling wheat, carrying, stacking wheat stacks, milling fields, dusting grains, sieving grain, passing windmills, warehouse storage, building haystacks, ploughing, raking, Yangge, etc., authentically reproduce the production and life scenes of the local countryside. From these works, we can not only understand the various scenes of rural life and farming, but also experience the contentment, joy and positive mental state of people when they make Yangge after the harvest; we can not only appreciate the characters with different forms, full of personality and hard work, but also see the old objects such as clothing and production and living tools that have faded out of people's sight, just like a picture scroll of agricultural folk culture.
The "Dongxiang Artichoke" series, "Hezhou Ancient Building" series, "Hezhou Carpenter" series and "Hezhou Carved Gourd", "Security Knifesmith", "Hometown of the Painted Pottery King", "Bingling Holy Traces", etc., are mainly realistic and lifelike. In the shaping of artistic image, not only the pursuit of resemblance, but also the pursuit of resemblance, so the work has both form and spirit, rich connotation, strong sense of space, full of image, full of interest.
"Rich and noble pottery king" reflects the rich and colorful pottery culture of the Neolithic Age, skillfully combines the simple and elegant beauty of painted pottery, Hezhou peony culture, and innocent and splendid childlike innocence.
One of the rice wine brewing series
The series of "Centennial Rice Wine, Wushanchi" shows the production process of the intangible cultural heritage Wushanchi Rice Wine brewing technology, including 21 processes such as rice milling, pestle rice, soaking rice, washing rice, cooking rice, mixing koji, pressing, wine production, and bartending, and showing the whole process of ancient brewing with 7 groups of labor scenes, 53 characters and squeezing compartments, wine seas, mortars, mills, windmills, mules and horses, etc.
His meticulousness and patience have been evident since childhood, and his craftsmanship is inseparable from the words and deeds of his parents.
When I was a child, I would usually focus on watching my mother embroider insoles stitch by stitch, and I also experienced seriousness and rigor from my father, who was a carpenter. "As soon as I got home from school, I helped my father with the carpentry. In order to exercise my patience, my father asked me to sharpen wooden nails, which I was very happy and did seriously. My father's dedication and meticulousness in his work have always influenced me. ”
Flowers will
With the love of traditional crafts, he devoted himself to learning painting skills, in 1983 by the local folk artist - Qi Yongwu, the fifth generation of clay sculpture in Jishishan County, Linxia Prefecture, as a teacher, specializing in folk handicraft painting, clay sculpture, etc., and later through many studies, apprenticeship, extensive learning of various sculpture skills, bold innovation, integration, and gradually formed their own artistic creation characteristics. Ordinary clay sculptures are stored for too long, the surface will crack and fall off the soil, in order to make the clay sculpture works have a longer vitality, Chang Tianping has been using the fire firing process. In 2022, he went to Jingdezhen to participate in a workshop to learn the enamel firing process, and through continuous research and experimentation, he solved the problem of long-term preservation of clay sculptures.
From the apprenticeship, so far more than 30 spring and autumn, Chang Tianping's life and clay sculpture have been with him for a long time. His clay sculpture work "Chinese Craftsman" was shortlisted for the 13th "Chinese Folk Literature and Art Mountain Flower Award - Excellent Folk Arts and Crafts Works", "Yangge Series" won the 15th China Folk Literature and Art Mountain Flower Award, won the Outstanding Folk Arts and Crafts Works Finalist Boutique Award, "Ramming Song", "Farming Series", "Northwest People", "Chinese Gongjing" and other awards for many times.
Over the years, in the process of creation, Chang Tianping has also paid attention to the cultivation of inheritors. In 2017, the "Chang Tianping Provincial Skill Master Studio" was established, and Chang Tianping, as the leader, cultivated a group of outstanding students. He took his students to various places to participate in municipal, provincial and national art exhibitions, as well as intangible cultural heritage into the campus and traditional culture into the classroom, etc., and was committed to the inheritance of clay sculpture skills and the promotion of excellent traditional culture. (Text/Li Ping, Bao Lei, Yan Haiping, Picture/All are Chang Tianping's clay sculpture works)
(Source: Gansu Daily)