2022-07-28 16:11
The Five Exhibiting Artists
China Contemporary Art Network (Lin Wenbin)
Dehua is known as China’s Hometown of Folk Culture and Art, a Chinese City of Historic and Cultural Ceramics, and the World Capital of Ceramics. Dehua white porcelain is one of the classic varieties of Chinese porcelain and a representative of white porcelain worldwide — historically celebrated in Europe as “Blanc de Chine” and “White Gold,” and selected as state banquet porcelain and state gift porcelain for the Xiamen BRICS Summit.
On July 28, 2022, the “New Journey — Joint Exhibition of Renowned Chinese Ceramic Artists” opened grandly at the Fujian Strait Folk Art Museum.
Exhibition view
Exhibition view
This joint exhibition of renowned Chinese ceramic artists was hosted by the Fujian Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the China Shoushan Stone Culture Development Research Center of the China Folk Literature and Art Association, and organized by the Fujian Folk Literature and Art Association and the Fujian Strait Folk Art Museum. It featured porcelain paintings and glaze artworks by provincial master artists Chen Liye and Zheng Bidan, together with renowned ceramic artists Zhou Shuhua, Zeng Yunyan, and Liao Meihong — a carefully selected showcase of dozens of works (sets) by the five artists, highlighting the dignified, serene charm of Dehua white porcelain and its distinctive craftsmanship.
Exhibition view
Exhibition view
Using exhibitions as a medium and a bridge, the event drew on the strength of “porcelain” itself. On site, the artists told the writer that, in order to further burnish Dehua’s reputation as a ceramics capital, the local government encourages and supports master artists and ceramicists in holding solo and joint exhibitions across the country in various formats — helping “Dehua white porcelain” reach a wider audience, strengthening the influence of the Dehua ceramics brand, and promoting regional brands such as “World Capital of Ceramics: Dehua,” “China’s Porcelain Capital: Dehua,” and “Dehua White Porcelain.”
Exhibition view
The exhibition will run through August 10.
A look at the works of the five exhibiting artists:
Chen Liye at work
Chen Liye was born in 1978 in Dehua, Fujian. She graduated in Chinese painting from the School of Fine Arts at Fujian Normal University, studying under teachers including Weng Zhenxin, Lin Rongsheng, and Zhang Mingchao. She currently serves as a lecturer at the Fujian Dehua Vocational and Technical School and holds the titles of Arts and Crafts Artisan, National Senior (Grade 1) Technician, National Ceramics Industry Skilled Craftsperson, Fujian Master of Ceramic Art, Dehua County Master Craftsperson, Representative Inheritor of the Dehua Porcelain Firing Technique (a Dehua County intangible cultural heritage project), and a Level-4 Talent of Quanzhou City.
With more than twenty years in art education and ceramic art creation, she has won thirty-six national, provincial, and municipal gold, silver, and bronze awards, and eight of her works have been permanently collected by institutions including the Fujian Museum of Art and the Fujian-Taiwan Kinship Museum.
“Jiangnan Melody — Flowing Jade, Touched with Red,” by Chen Liye
“Jiangnan Melody — Zhuangzi’s Dawn Dream,” by Chen Liye
Zheng Bidan at work
Zheng Bidan is a National Light Industry Skilled Craftsperson and a Chinese female ceramic artist. She holds the titles of Fujian Master of Ceramic Art, art lecturer at the Fujian Dehua Vocational and Technical School, Fujian Gold-Medal Worker, Fujian Master Craftsperson, Fujian Ceramics Industry Skilled Craftsperson, and Fujian Handicraft Industry Skilled Craftsperson. She is also Dehua County’s first-class Master Craftsperson, a High-Level Talent of Quanzhou City, founder of the Danyu porcelain-painting brand, a director of the Fujian Ceramics Industry Association, a director of the Dehua Artists Association, a member of the Quanzhou Artists Association, and a member of the Fujian Arts and Crafts Society. Her works have repeatedly won national and provincial gold, silver, and bronze awards, and several have been permanently collected by museums at various levels across the country.
“Good Fortune, Lotus upon Lotus,” by Zheng Bidan
“Fragrance at Ease,” by Zheng Bidan
Zhou Shuhua
Zhou Shuhua graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Jimei University and now serves as an art lecturer at the Fujian Dehua Vocational and Technical School. She holds the titles of National Senior (Grade 1) Technician and Fujian Arts and Crafts Artisan, and is a High-Level Talent of Quanzhou City. Several of her works have won national, provincial, and municipal gold, silver, and bronze awards, and her piece “A Century of National Grace” has been permanently collected by the Fujian Museum of Art.
“Chinese Fortune,” by Zhou Shuhua
“Chinese Fortune,” by Zhou Shuhua
“A Quiet Word in Blue,” by Zhou Shuhua
Zeng Yunyan
Zeng Yunyan graduated from the School of Fine Arts at Fujian Normal University and now serves as a lecturer at the Fujian Dehua Vocational and Technical School. She holds the titles of National Senior (Grade 1) Technician and Arts and Crafts Artisan, National Ceramics Industry Skilled Craftsperson, Fujian Master Craftsperson, and Fujian Ceramics Industry Skilled Craftsperson. She has received the Quanzhou May Day Labor Medal and is recognized as a High-Level Talent and Skilled Craftsperson of Quanzhou City. She is a member of the Fujian Arts and Crafts Society, the Fujian Ceramics Industry Association, and the Fujian Handicraft Association, an executive director of the Dehua Artists Association, and vice-president of the Dehua Porcelain Capital Women’s Painting Academy. Her works have repeatedly won major national and provincial professional competition awards.
“National Beauty, Heavenly Fragrance,” by Zeng Yunyan
“Sweet Fantasy,” by Zeng Yunyan
Liao Meihong
Liao Meihong graduated in 1983 from the Household Ceramics program at Northwest Institute of Light Industry with a bachelor’s degree, and has spent forty years teaching and working in technical management and research in the ceramics industry, both in enterprises and schools in Dehua. She currently teaches at the Fujian Dehua Vocational and Technical School.
Building on tradition while innovating in glaze formulation and firing, she has brought research into iron-red gold-ring glaze to a nationally leading level and holds three national invention patents. Every piece she creates is unique and irreproducible, carrying significant cultural, artistic, technical, and collectible value.
“Iron-Red Ice-Flower Glaze Vase,” by Liao Meihong
“Iron-Red Gold-Ring Glaze Vase,” by Liao Meihong
