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Tuesday June 12, 2018
Chinese silk in Paris
“EXHIBITION Reconstruction: Techniques and Design of Chinese Silk” opened at the Paris China Cul-tural Center and will run through June 28.
Sponsored by the China Culture Center in Paris and the Zhejiang Provincial Culture Department, and organized by the China National Silk Museum, the exhi-bition is another highlight of the Chinese Culture and Tourism Ministry’s international program for China Week: Inheritance and Innovation — a monthlong event focusing on cultural creative prod-ucts from China.
Using silk as the medium, the new exhibition presents the tech-niques and charm of ancient Chi-nese silk through four subthemes: embroidery, printing, weaving and dyeing.
Creative designs in Bangkok
A NEW exhibition opened at the China Cultural Center in Bangkok last week, showcasing the inheri-tance and innovation of cultural relics from the Palace Museum in China.
“International Exhibition of Cultural Creative Products” from Palace Museum features creative designs infused with traditional Chinese styles, inspired by collec-tions in the Palace Museum.
Exhibition puts youth art under spotlight
MORE than 380 art pieces created by young Chinese artists are show-cased in the National Art Museum in Beijing to refl ect the new devel-opment and artistic characteristics of contemporary art among young people. The exhibition runs through June 24 and will then tour places including Jiangsu, Qinghai, Gansu and Hebei provinces and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
(SD-Agencies)
Art Watch
HAN SONG’S sci-fi novel “Exor-cism” won the 2018 Gravity Award for best novel at the First Asia-Pacifi c Science
Fiction Convention held in early June.The two-day convention, organized
by Future Affairs Administration and Global Innovators Conference, featured 100 sci-fi writers, scholars and fi lmmak-ers from 10 countries, including Canada, the United States, South Korea, Egypt, Russia and India.
Three scientists including Yin Juan,
a specialist in quantum entanglement and quantum communication, from the University of Science and Technology
of China; Guo Jianhua, associate chief designer of the dark matter particle explorer Wukong; and Tian Ye from the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, China Academy of Sci-ences, won the Golden Age Award for research.
Other winners at the convention were Han’s “Overture to the Spring Festival” and Zhou Wen’s “The Silent Syllable” for best short story and Chen Qiufan’s “Reunion of Monster Classmates” for best novella. (SD-Agencies)
Han Song’s sci-fi novel wins award
LI ZIYING dips a cotton swab into a glass of water and carefully swipes it across the surface of a wood carving. Then she takes off the cotton tip, dehydrates it and puts it in a plastic bag.
The plastic bag is documented and archived, and Li, 22, sits down to go through the process once more.
Li is a senior student in Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and works in a studio at the academy dedicated to restor-ing Chaozhou wood carvings.
Chaozhou wood carving is a form of wood carving from South China’s Chaozhou region of Guangdong Prov-ince. Originating from as early as the Tang Dynasty (618-907), it was listed as a national intangible heritage item in 2006.
Due to the high humidity in South China, wood decays easily, causing many Chaozhou wood carvings to degrade. Young art students like Li work as assis-tants to restore the carvings.
Restoring artifacts became a sought-after practice in China with the popularity of a 2016 documentary from China’s State broadcaster CCTV about the life and work
of restorers in the Palace Museum.“When people know we are restoring
ancient artifacts, their fi rst response is always, ‘So cool’!” Li said. “However, this is actually very tiring work.”
The process is long: using ultraviolet scans to inspect the condition of the items, clearing the surface with profes-sional tools, gathering dust and fallen parts, categorizing them, repainting, taping parts and reinforcing carvings.
It can take hours or even days to fi nish one piece and the quality standards are high. Li and her colleagues sometimes work until 10 p.m.
Li used to restore aged oil paintings in
her academy, but the process of restoring ancient wood carving is completely dif-ferent from her previous work.
Dust, fragments, cotton swabs, even shells of dead insects on the wood carv-ings need to be stored and categorized for research. “Each part of the carvings contains information,” Li said. “We cannot miss anything.”
The long working hours and meticu-lous process have not scared away Li and her colleagues, as they have gradu-ally developed a different view of the ancient wood carvings.
“Now when I see the carvings, it’s like a doctor seeing a patient,” Li said. “I feel their pain and just want to fi x them as soon as possible.”
She has been working in the studio for one year and loves her job. Her work is recognized by the professional teachers in the studio.
By the recommendation of her men-tors at the studio, Li will go to an art school in Avignon in France to study art restoration in August. “I hope to make it my career and become a restorer in the future,” Li said. (Xinhua)
Young painter restores ancient wood carving
Li Ziying sweeps the surface of a Chaozhou-style wood furniture in a studio in Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. Photos by Xinhua
Li Ziying (L) and her teacher exam wood carvings stored in a studio.
Han Song
