Articles - 30 October 2006

Australians in Fuping

Things in China happen fast. What seem like long term planning projects become a reality in the blink of an eye. One such project is FuLe International Ceramic Art Museums (FLICAM) at Fuping. "Where is Fuping?" most people ask. Well, Fuping is about seventy kilometres from Xian, the home of the terracotta warriors, in the midst of a ceramic-rich area that houses not only the Qin tomb with which we are all so familiar, but also the huge HanYang tomb (which I find even more interesting), and hundreds of other emperor's tombs in a loess (wind transported soil) landscape that is quite unlike anything we experience in Australia. Xian was the imperial capital of the Han, Qin and Tang dynasties, so the area is rich with museums, pottery villages and reproduction ceramic wares.

On the outskirts of Fuping is a large tile factory, but not just any tile factory. It is part of the Fule Pottery Art Village, which is home to FLICAM and also houses a three star hotel and a public access ceramic 'experience' centre set in the midst of a thousand acre orchard. This enterprise is run by Mr Xu Dufeng,Chairman, and Mr Fu Qiang, the General Manager. It is a working factory, making traditional and contemporary tiles for the massive building demand in China, as well as roof finials and other architectural embellishments for temple and traditional building restoration work. They also produce excellent replicas of historic Cizhou ware and figurative sculpture as well as a fascinating hybrid art-form - traditional folk art dough sculptures, but made in clay and wood fired.

This development serves a twofold purpose. In the fast westernising, and, increasingly middle class China, families and young honeymooners are now taking holidays, and demanding an entertaining cultural experience. FuLe Pottery Art Village caters to this demand. Visitors come and look over the pottery, watch workers making tiles in traditional methods - they can even 'have a go' at the pottery wheel using clay wedged up by attendant workers or 'decorate' a glazed Cizhou plate; they can inspect the modern and older tunnel kilns, wander around the orchard grounds which are landscaped and full of ancient stone sculptures and artefacts, have an excellent meal in the hotel restaurant and then slip into a comfortable hotel bed.

But this working pottery village could be even better, thought Dr Hsu Ichi, a close personal friend of Xu Dufeng, and possibly the Chinese equivalent of Janet Mansfield. Passionate about his country's ceramics, and editor of the only English language Chinese ceramics journal (Chinese Potters' Newsletter Quarterly), Ichi attends international ceramic events around the world promoting international exchange and Chinese ceramics.

He has a residency studio in Beijing where international artists can stay, and a finger in most Chinese ceramic pies. He suggested that the village could be developed as an international residency program with a series of museums housing the work made by artists who came to Fuping. The work would be made from the materials used in the factory, and either glazed using the traditional 'tricolour' Tang glazes or the black Cizhou slip glaze used on the carved reproductions. This could lead to what would amount to almost a 'material theme', and provide an aesthetically unifying aspect to what would be widely differing ways of working. The artists would effectively have the run of the factory, and could use moulded sections (press moulded or extruded), slip-cast and press moulded animal or figurative elements, or just work with the clay in their usual mode.

Ichi mentioned this project when I first visited in 2002, and he told me that there were to be all these museums built, and that we (at that stage Janet Mansfield and myself - Ichi has become a regular at her Gulgong events) should try to organise funding for Australian artists to come to Fuping.

The whole plan seemed a bit farfetched in 2002, but in 2004 when I visited again a main eighteen meter high domed exhibition hall, with one of what would be two longitudinal halls based on dragon kiln design, had already gone up, along with living quarters and the Hsu Museum House. The speed was breathtaking and reflected what can happen in China when decisions are made.

Last September, when I returned as part of a group of four Australian ceramic artists, (Fiona Fell, Toni Warburton, Michael Keighery and myself), the second long hall had been completed, the French and Scandinavian Museums had already opened, replete with work made by delegations of artists from those countries (twelve French and about the same number Swedish, Danish and Norwegian over 2005-2006), and work had commenced on the Australasian and North American Museums.

Our group of four acted as the vanguard for what will be a regular, ongoing cultural exchange between Australia and China, and was predicated on a meeting organised by Janet Mansfield and Hsu Ichi in Sydney in January 2006 at the Ceramic Art Gallery and attended by about ten people including representatives of the major craft funding and advocacy bodies. Ichi wanted to have Australia represented by wood fire artists, but it was agreed that that would be too narrow a representation despite Australia's pre-eminence in the field. So our small party settled in and started work along with eventually four French, one Norwegian and three Swedish artists.

It was a bit difficult at first to get organised and to know just what the protocols were, but we were assisted very well by 'Minny' (Wang Min), one of those splendid young women that abound in China- clever, educated and articulate in language - always there to help hapless foreigners. She also drilled us in basic Mandarin with a new phrase given to us after our breakfast and that had to be learnt each day. There is a separate dining room for 'artists' only, so that we could have a retreat, but often we elected to dine in the hotel's main restaurant with the guests, all of us enjoying the bountiful good food. We also did serious testing of Great Wall Cabernet Sauvignon from time to time and shared the precious ground coffee bought at Starbucks in Beijing and a coffee shop on the Great Wall.

Perhaps it's a boy thing, but Michael sprang into action much faster than any of the rest of us, and on the first day had teams of workers labouring away at his command. But this momentum sometimes overtook and when he asked for some roof tile curved slabs, he got around sixty. When cylinders were asked for, around forty turned up - a bit embarrassing. Michael also became the centre of attention as he slip-cast various plush toys, and added small toy-like genitalia. He also had brought a 'brag book' of his work, his boat on Sydney Harbour and his house. This was a great success with the workers as conversation was impossible. To have the book in the studio for passers by to flick through was a great asset. They were also wide eyed at his photos of his drag alter ego, Dr Bernice Leach, and young trainee workers followed him around like adoring fans. Toni set out on an intuitive exploration of things lotus, a continuing source of fascination for her, and Fiona had assistants make her moulded replicas of warriors, which she then used for a series of interventions that reflected her more usual figurative style.

I started to throw, as I always do in new places - doing what I do until I can think. I had always been fascinated with the traditional architectural ridge caps and so decided I would make a vase using that format. But I also wanted to work with the workers in the factory, rather than have them work for me, so I asked if I could work with an older woman who was a senior craft artist making the 'bread dough' works and whom I had met the first time I was in Fuping. Wang Biyun showed me how to make the floral and animal forms, and I translated these into Australian motifs and covered a traditional bottle form that I had made from porcelain. Wang Biyun got right into it, and it was hard to stop her even when I felt there was 'enough'. It seemed that too much is probably never enough… That was great fun as was working with another senior artist known only as Master Han, who did Cizhou carving. We worked on the one vase, and she carved traditional chrysanthemums whilst I did waratahs.

It was hard to determine just how much to ask for help, and when the 'run of the factory' might be abused. After all, the workers still had to work, and were paid piecework, so any request of ours had to be tempered by that knowledge. There was also the issue of lead glazes - OH&S is not highly developed in Fuping, and the luscious Tang tricolours beckoned, but spread their raw unfired lead colours throughout the glazing area. But we somehow got on with it, and although we were only there for less than a month (and ten days for me as I had other obligations in a factory in Zibo in Shandong province), we managed to produce works for firing. Now firing - that was another matter. Quite a lot of negotiation was necessary and several sad disasters occurred during the process. If we desired test firings, the work went away, and came back fired, but we often had no real idea of at what temperature and where that had occurred. The system seems to suit best those kind of works that just go through the regular kiln processes, with no special requests.

But there was rest for the wicked as several excursions were arranged. There were visits to Chenlu, a traditional hilltop pottery town unchanged for centuries, the HanYang tomb and museum, the Yaozhou Ceramic Museum as well as the unmissable Qin entombed warriors. After I left there was also an evening frolic to Xian, which got the 'thumbs up' as a frolic town.

As I had to leave early I haven't yet seen anything of anyone's fired, nor have I had a chance to glaze some of the pieces, so I will be back. (This is a generous condition of the residencies. After the first time as part of an official delegation, the artists can return at any time and work there again. As with all artists, FLICAM covers all costs in Fuping, but getting there is the artist's responsibility.)

The further FLICAM plans are for the North American Museum (underway with Canadian, United States and Central American pavilions), a Western Europe Museum (with British, Belgian and Dutch pavilions), and separate Italian and German Museums at a later stage. There is also a bumper year in 2008 with the Beijing Olympics when FLICAM will host the International Academy of Ceramics meeting.

The Australian Museum is due to open in early June, so the second team of Australians and New Zealanders who go (mid May to mid June) will have to be very productive to fill what is a substantial space, but I know that they will find it a rewarding experience.

Janet Deboos
October 2006

Janet DeBoos is Head of Ceramics at the School of Art, The Australian National Univervity. DeBoos has written two best selling books on glazes, Glazes for Australian Potters and More Glazes for Australian Potters, co-authored Handbook for Australian Potters, and has written numerous articles for Australian and international ceramics journals on ceramic art practice, education and glaze technology.