Southeast Net reporter Lin Xianchang
This year, the 44th World Heritage Conference will be held in Fuzhou. In recent days, Zhao Xian and his team are stepping up the design and production of colored glass cultural and creative products containing elements of Fuzhou's traditional culture, striving to appear at the World Heritage Conference as an important gift.
The hand-painted glass craft has a history of more than one hundred years in Fuzhou, which is an important physical example of the exchanges between China and the West in the Qing Dynasty. Ten years ago, Zhao Xian, a native of Fuzhou, regained this skill, integrated traditional cultural elements into glass paintings, and continued to innovate. In 2019, this skill was included in the sixth batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage representative projects.
Painted glass cultural creation produced by Zhao Xian and his team. Photograph provided by respondents
Return to old skills
There is an online "painted glass museum" hidden in the ancient house at No. 37, Pagoda Lane, Sanfang, Qixiang, Fuzhou. Push the door and enter. The painted glass with thick Chinese style makes people dizzy. The painted glass wall of the famous Song Dynasty painting "A Thousand Miles Map of Rivers and Mountains", which is 16 meters long and 4 meters high, has replaced the earth walls on the left and right sides of the lobby of the ancient residence, which is magnificent.
Zhao Xian introduced that his ancestors once operated this craft. In 2010, he returned to his hometown Fuzhou from Canada and picked up this old skill again. At first, he learned from his uncle, took his apprentices and recruited workers. At the beginning of the development, it was not smooth. In the past 10 years, Zhao Xian has sold four houses in Fuzhou city, and used the money from the sale of houses to build factories, train workers, innovate skills, and find a market for promotion
The birth of a glass painting has to go through 10 processes. First, use the needle cylinder to squeeze the paint to draw the outline, then use the brush to fill the paint, and then use the blade to push the paint away... The process of pushing the paint is very important, and we must pay attention to the level of the picture and the transition of colors to express the artistic conception. Firing can only be carried out after a series of complex steps.
"Paint is the key to creating glass paintings." At first, Zhao Xian had to overcome the problem of acclimatization of paint. Due to the humid climate in Fuzhou, the adhesion of pigments is low, and they cannot be absorbed when painted on the glass, and the color fades. How to solve the problem of adsorption? Zhao Xian and his team spent more than a year to overcome this problem, which was solved after many experiments. At present, his team has developed more than 400 kinds of pigments suitable for glass painting.
Zhao Xian said that learning art requires painstaking efforts, such as painting painted glass and drawing lines. Sometimes it takes several hours to sit for a while. Many young people can't bear these hardships, so it takes a lot of time for the team to find suitable workers and painters.
The Painting of Rivers and Mountains over a Thousand Miles painted glass wall. Photographed by Lin Xianchang
Keep pushing through the old to bring forth the new
Absorbing nutrients from the long-standing Chinese culture is the driving force for Zhao Xian and his team to constantly innovate and develop. "Painted glass is relatively flat, and the color is relatively simple. We have been innovating, drawing inspiration from the silk cutting process of cloisonne, and through research, it has been transformed into a vertical line process that can be realized on the glass to create a three-dimensional effect. In addition, we have also concentrated on the research of mother of pearl craft in traditional furniture, and applied it to the production of painted glass." Zhao Xian said.
In 2012, Zhao Xian took his products to the China Import and Export Commodities Fair. At that time, a customer proposed that Chinese traditional cultural elements could be applied to painted glass, and related cultural and creative products could also be made. Since then, Zhao Xian and his team have sought to cooperate with major museums. After seeing their products, many museums have authorized their collections of cultural relics to be designed into painted glass products. Many products have become popular once they are sold, becoming the museum's online celebrity cultural creation.
Over the years, Zhao Xian and his team have cooperated with more than a dozen museums, including the National Museum, the Capital Museum, Prince Kung's Palace Museum, and the Taipei Palace Museum, to create colored glass products that are representative of regional culture.
Zhao Xian said that although painted glass is an imported product, it has a history of 100 years in Fuzhou. After years of continuous inheritance and development, it has been recognized by more and more people. At present, the painted glass products produced by its company Fujian Jieruitang Group are among the best in terms of scale and output in China. In recent years, many Chinese style stained glass products have also gone overseas as a national ritual, and have been loved and recognized by people at home and abroad.
The painter of Zhao Xian's team is making glass paintings. Photograph provided by respondents
Talk about Fujian Capital Culture
In the past ten years, Zhao Xian and his team have developed a series of colored glass cultural and creative boutiques of Taiwan Jimmy comics; Cooperate with Disney to launch painted glass ornaments of Disney cartoon character series; Signed a contract with the team of Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki to make colored glass gifts for his cartoons
In addition, the team also launched creative works of cultural materials of the capital of Fujian, bringing Fuzhou elements such as "three mountains and two towers", Fujian Opera, three lanes and seven alleys, and jasmine flowers onto painted glass.
In recent years, Zhao Xian and his team have been constantly thinking and exploring how to better integrate Fuzhou's traditional culture into painted glass and tell a good story about Fuzhou. At present, they are trying to cooperate with local municipal departments to use painted glass in some subway transportation, municipal facilities and other places, and integrate Fuzhou architectural elements into them, so that local citizens can appreciate the charm of painted glass. At the same time, they also tried to attract young people's attention through new media means such as live broadcast.
Three hundred years ago, a Dutch man drew a map of Fuzhou on the Yantai Mountain in Cangshan, Fuzhou, depicting the style and features of Fuzhou in the Ming and Qing dynasties, including the city walls, three mountains and two towers, the main roads of the city, and the port. On the map, there are both Dutch sailboats and local dragon boats in Fuzhou. At present, the map is collected by the Amsterdam Museum in the Netherlands. When Zhao Xian saw it, he had the idea of presenting the ancient map on the crystal glass with the painting technique. Now, he has turned this idea into reality.
Zhao Xian said that the historical changes of the capital of Fujian can be seen from the map. The development of painted glass in Fuzhou is also ups and downs. I hope the audience can feel the vicissitudes and thickness of the development history of painted glass and the culture behind it through the works.
