Planner: Chen Qiaosheng Coordinator: Deng Qiong Executive: Zhu Shaojie Wu Xiaopan
Text/Yangcheng Evening News reporter Zhou Xinyi Photo/Provided by the interviewee
In the shared hall on the third floor of the Greater Bay Area Art Center on the bank of Baietan, an embroidery work with the theme of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge "Dragon Teng Greater Bay Area" is being exhibited in the "Guangdong Arts and Crafts Exhibition to Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China". In the picture, the world's longest sea-crossing bridge is like a giant dragon, hovering over the vast blue and vast Lingding Ocean, which is spectacular and moving.
In fact, there are two chapters in the series: one is a work depicting the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, and the other is a "sister story" of the same name with the theme of the Shenzhong Corridor, a super project that opened to traffic a few months ago. The two pieces of embroidery are from Zhou Xueqing, a master of arts and crafts in Guangdong Province, a representative inheritor of Guangdong embroidery, and a professor of Zhongshan Vocational and Technical College, and his team.
On June 30 this year, the world's first cross-sea cluster project integrating "bridges, islands, tunnels and underwater interconnection" was officially opened to traffic, attracting worldwide attention. We walked into Zhou Xueqing's studio and listened to her tell the story of her embroidery of the deep passage with needle and thread, and appreciate the vivid expression of embroidery art on the hard core power of "great power and heavy weapon" in the new era.
Kapok wadding is also used as an embroidery material
Zhou Xueqing's studio is located in Zhongshan Vocational and Technical College, and when you step into it, all kinds of exquisite embroidery are displayed on both sides. "As an embroiderer, I want to record the times in my own way and show respect for the builders."
When it comes to the origin of the creation of the work, Zhou Xueqing is still excited. Before the completion of the project, she had set foot on the Shenzhong Passage under construction, and was deeply shocked by this magnificent project and the ingenuity of the workers.
By chance, Zhou Xueqing saw the Shenzhong Passage taken by Huang Chunhua, director of the Party History Research Office of the Zhongshan Municipal Party Committee, and instantly felt that this photo was both realistic and romantic, so he took this photo as a sketch and began the creation of "Dragon Teng Greater Bay Area".
In order to make the embroidery more prominent regional characteristics, Zhou Xueqing made innovations in the content of the picture. She replaces the unfinished architectural elements in the foreground with the majestic Wugui Mountain in Zhongshan. As a result, surrounded by misty clouds, the verdant Wugui Mountain in the near distance and the endless distant mountains of Shenzhen in the distance complement each other, which not only makes the picture more harmonious and smooth, but also fully reflects the interweaving of the natural beauty of Lingnan and the beauty of architectural technology.
Another innovation in the embroidery is the clouds floating on the bridge deck, Zhou Xueqing told reporters, and the raw materials of these clouds are actually tidbits of kapok grown in Lingnan!
"In fact, the creation of this work is like a difficult mathematical problem, and how each structure should be embroidered and expressed will be thought about over and over again in my mind. At that time, we were in the stage of embroidering clouds, and we couldn't find a way to make clouds more three-dimensional and meaningful. Finally, on a sunny day after the rain, I happened to see kapok fladding fluttering in the air, and it instantly struck me with a flash of inspiration - isn't this tidbit just right to be used as a material for clouds! ”
So she picked up the kapok wool on the side of the road, returned to the studio and went through a series of steps such as cleaning, drying, and sterilization, and finally spread it on top of the embroidery, fusing the tidbits with silk threads to realistically reproduce the texture of natural clouds.
This is Zhou Xueqing's first attempt to use kapok wadding as an embroidery material. These "clouds" woven by tidbits stretch freely around the deep passage, adding a touch of agility and vitality to the whole embroidery.
Drawing from nature and recording the times
Zhou Xueqing was originally born in a family of Suzhou embroiderers and has been engaged in embroidery for more than 40 years. In 1995, after she followed her husband to Zhongshan, she began to get in touch with the stitching method of Cantonese embroidery, and was committed to integrating Suzhou embroidery and Cantonese embroidery skills into innovation.
Life and nature have always been the source of inspiration for Zhou Xueqing's creation, and in her opinion, the art of embroidery is also a life, temperature and spiritual existence.
"China has a history of embroidery for more than 2,000 years, and there are craftsmen in every era who have left their mark on that era through embroidery. At present, our motherland is prosperous and strong, the people are full of cultural self-confidence, and the modernization is in a period of prosperity and development, so I feel the responsibility and obligation to record this era through this kind of embroidery. Zhou Xueqing said.
It is true that there are many carriers to record the times, and for embroiderers, photography, painting and other works are often used as "mothers" for secondary creation. So how does the uniqueness of embroidery manifest?
Zhou Xueqing believes that the preciousness of embroidery can be highlighted from the materials and techniques. "Embroidery has its own special language. We use the silk spit out by the silkworm baby, even after many processes to remove bacteria and degum, but in fact its genes have not changed, so the embroidery material is alive and spiritual. In addition, the embroidery is completed by hand, whether it is the change of the stitch method or the different thickness of the thread, the artistic effect expressed is different, and the aesthetics and concepts of the embroiderer are highlighted behind it.
On the day of the interview, Zhou Xueqing's Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge had not yet been embroidered, and we saw two embroiderers in a work area, buried between the flying needles. "The two milestone bridge constructions of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge are like double dragons taking off across the Lingding Ocean, and I wish the future motherland will also be like these two soaring dragons, and will continue to develop and progress." Zhou Xueqing sighed.
Editor: Wu Fangzhou
Source: Golden Sheep Network