Two days, for the throwing of the pot to the torch-assisted drying to the trimming and replacement of the bottom with a pattern-pressed design. I loved how the old man statue watched from over the shoulder.
wheel
Wu Cheng-hung (吳正宏), 77, is the 23rd generation of a line of potters that started in Cizao town (磁灶鎮) in 5th century China. His grandfather, Wu Ji (吳及, 1878 to 1949), left Cizao at the end of the Qing dynasty to make a living in Taiwan, bringing the coiling technique and kick wheel technology practiced […]
eggshell
Taipei Times article Taipei Times photo page Wu Yao-cheng (吳要城), 84, holds up a white porcelain bowl to the window in his studio home in Yingge District (鶯歌), New Taipei City. It is painted inside with auspicious symbols and outside in a scene of monkeys. Wu didn’t paint it: his specialty is making […]
ware
Chen Chengqing Taipei Times article Chen Cheng-ching’s (陳澄清) boss asked him whether he could imitate the decorative motif painted on the National Palace Museum’s Ming 100 Deer Vase (百鹿尊). The Chinese like that one, he said. It symbolizes great wealth. Chen worked on the composition, and his co-workers copied it.
張松山
I interview Yingge artist Chang Sung-shan (張松山). He talks of his life, his art, his plans. His brush dances over the lid of the pot he is painting as he talks. I assume he’s just distractedly doodling.
阿萬師
Master Wan Taipei Times article Pottery stores along Yingge Old Street (鶯歌老街) won’t sell teapots made by Tseng Tsai-wan (曾財萬) these days. “They’re too expensive. A single teapot fetches up to NT$70,000 these days,” he tells us.
Chan and Weng 詹與翁
Kick-wheel potter Chan Kuo-hsiang (詹國祥) tells a story of how late president Chiang Ching-kuo was puzzled during a visit to the old pottery town of Yingge. BMWs and Mercedes parked along streets lined with dilapidated buildings; conspicuous wealth amid ramshackle abodes.