[Explanation] "Confucius" with different shapes, unique Bitong drink, lifelike "72 sages of Confucius"... In a workshop named "Harmony in the West of Jinan", there are various All kinds of pottery sculptures with Shandong characteristics, and these exquisite works are from the hand of Jinan pottery art inheritor Wang Lingtao.
When the reporter first met Wang Lingtao on October 15th, he told about his more than 20 years of learning art.
[Explanation] Twenty years ago, Wang Lingtao was the chef of a five-star hotel in Jinan. Since he was very fond of Confucian culture since he was a child, he was able to carve fruits and vegetables into exquisite carvings with Confucian cultural elements. On the dining table, the sculptures of Confucius carved with radishes are very popular among diners.
Since works carved from fruits and vegetables cannot be preserved for a long time, Wang Lingtao suddenly thought that it might be better to replace fruits and vegetables with clay sculptures.
[Concurrent] Wang Lingtao, inheritor of pottery and plastic skills
There are a lot of customers who like my works and want to take away and collect them, but the fruits and vegetables have certain limitations. They were pretty good-looking at the time and could not be stored for a long time. I kept thinking about it. Reference materials, Jinan clay sculptures can be easily carried and can Long-term preservation will not be broken for thousands of years.
[Explanation] With the continuous improvement of pottery and plastic skills, Wang Lingtao quit his high-paying job in the hotel and went to Beijing, Guangzhou, Fujian and other pottery birthplaces to participate in intangible cultural heritage project training, visit folk artists, and concentrate on learning pottery and plastic skills.
After more than 20 years of accumulation, Wang Lingtao's pottery and plastic skills have become perfect.
At this time, Wang Lingtao has been thinking about how to integrate his favorite Confucian culture and pottery skills.
After a long time of thinking and consulting related materials, the "72 sages of Confucius" came into being, inspired by the image of Confucian disciples.
Wang Lingtao told reporters that in order to make the characters more realistic, he traveled all over China to collect clay of different colors for creation.
[Concurrent] Wang Lingtao, inheritor of pottery and plastic skills
The clothes are yellow clay, purple clay, red clay or black clay from Jingdezhen to embellish some important positions of its body.
The hands including it will use yellow mud, which is also connected to the face.
Including its shoes, I will use black clay, and the sole will use white porcelain clay.
[Explanation] Yan Hui who is optimistic and studious, Gong Yechang who knows the language of birds...The pottery figures have rich expressions, and the stereotyped images of ancient characters in people's minds have disappeared.
Since Wang Lingtao's pottery works with Confucian cultural elements came out, in addition to attracting many people to buy his pottery works, it has also attracted many young people to learn pottery skills.
Wang Lingtao said that at this stage, many traditional skills are in a situation where no one is passed on. As a young inheritor, he will use Confucian culture to innovate pottery and plastic skills.
[Concurrent] Wang Lingtao, inheritor of pottery and plastic skills
I just want to better reflect Shandong’s representative Confucian culture using pottery sculpture, so that young people can better understand Confucian culture in the process of research, museums, and exhibition halls. I think this is pottery sculpture. A wider road to go well.
Yang Fei reports from Jinan
Editor in charge: [Liu Xian]