團隊規劃了六項特色主題，在桃園國際機場展出苗栗的在地工藝與故事，
為了呼應這些工藝能夠長久傳承，
我們在每個展櫃中加入與各展櫃有著相同特色之文創產品，
期望透過視覺化的效果，讓更多人看見在苗栗這塊土地的美好和溫度。
策展主題理念選定「工藝風華．再現貓裏」，
讓工藝走入生活，
以大地色彩、山林木藝、手作溫度的工藝精神，希望透過情感的傳遞讓苗栗工藝美學讓更多人看見。
策展人：Vincent
文案：鐵沐
策劃統籌：Amber
文案：鐵沐
策劃統籌：Amber
視覺統籌：Amber
展場/視覺設計：Amber
攝影：Fixer
山海美學
Wood Carving / Wood Fired Ceramic / Textile Art
Miaoli is home to Taiwan’s major population of Hakka people. Since its development during the Qing dynasty, Mioali has nurtured a widely diverse traditional craft industry that blends with the unique local architectural and cultural landscapes. The city was built after the mountainous terrains, and the locals take from nature what is needed for everyday use, which has thus led to its unique mountain-and-sea aesthetics. The said industry was previously changing and heading towards a decline. With promotion from the government and private organizations, the industry is now undergoing gradual revival and has re-emerged right before our eyes. Displayed here are Miaoli-specific cultural landscapes and craft artworks encompassing the five major exhibition highlights: woodcarving, plant dyed weaving, rush weaving, bamboo rattan weaving and wood-fired ceramics. It’s the embedded mountain-and-sea aesthetics and the locals’ life experience that constitute Miaoli’s traditional craft as we know it today.
心手合一 竹藤編織
Bamboo Weaving of Textile Art
As bamboo is highly malleable, it is an important raw material for everyday items. Its applications can be seen in all aspects of our daily life and serve as food containers, e.g. bamboo baskets and rice measurers, and instruments for agriculture production. Displayed here are three artworks by Teacher Chang: Wedding Basket, LinYuan, and YaQi. The conception of Wedding Basket comes from the “Gratitude Basket” traditionally used in Taiwan’s yearly celebrations and weddings. The artwork is inserted with layers and layers of thin bamboo sheets that are consistently spaced amid irregularity. Shaped like a rotten woven basket used by aborigines to be carried on their back, LinYuan (meaning “Rhombus Garden”) is decorated with continuous rhombus-shaped patterns in two intersecting colors to accentuate a solid and presentable texture. YaQi (meaning “Elegantly Stacked”) is a hexagon-shaped object made with bricks and square rocks, which are stacked in a crisscrossing manner to maintain a sense of boundary while constructing an elegant demeanor of keeping strictly to the straight and narrow.
大地色彩 植物染織
Hakka plant
High humidity and intermediate altitude make Miaoli a suitable place for rush growth. Hakka’s plant dye craft is thus able to take root and mature in Miaoli, which is both eco-friendly and healthy as it can replace chemical dyes and reduce the damage on earth. As cultural and creative trends are taking off in recent years, the Hakka plant-based indigo dye craft goes on a renaissance interweaving local ethnic profiles and collective life memories into the fabrics. The development of cultural and creative products allow this age-old traditional craft to carry on thriving with a new lease in life. Displayed here are indigo-dyed fabrics and cultural-and-creative items for everyday applications made at the Zhuo Ye Cottage. It’s also here in the Zhuo Ye Cottage where indigo dye is conducted with such infinite passion that cultural artworks created here for modern folks are extra compelling. Such is the indigo dye’s extended value in its existence.
山林木藝 木雕技藝
Wood Carving
In Miaoli’s Sanyi region, most folks work in the woodcarving industry using wood from nearby mountains, e.g. camphor, cypress and sandalwood. The locals like to have their sculpture determined by the type of wood they are working on, so all woodcarving works are exclusively created according to the characteristics and patterns of the wood involved. This practice has thus been creating excellent artworks for Miaoli’s woodcarving industry over the past century. Sustainable development for the environment has been the key to the continuation of the woodcarving industry. In modern industrial developments, the importance of environmental protection is often overlooked, and yet it has a direct impact on the survival of the woodcarving industry. Displayed here are woodcarving artworks created by Ya-siangbao Workshop to shed light on the importance of humans coexisting harmoniously with the environment. We hope that these precious mountains, forests and animal/plant species in Taiwan’s wildness can be free and live on, so that Miaoli’s woodcarving industry as well as this treasure island called Taiwan can carry on and prosper.
手作溫度 藺草編織
Rush Weaving of Textile Art
The rush weaving in Miaoli’s Yuanli originated during the Qing dynasty when our forefathers took the wild riverside rush in Yuanli, dried them, and then turned them into woven objects for everyday use. During the Japanese Colonial rule, the Japanese in Taiwan were known to view rush-woven objects as high quality and would keep them as household items or give them away as presents. As such, Yuanli became widely famous for the rush weaving. Later on, due to the cessation of diplomatic ties between Taiwan and Japan and the rise of the plastic industry, rush weaving slumped drastically in sales, reducing this craft to a serious decline. Seeing the rush weaving industry being swept away in the tides of our time, the Yuanli locals, in an effort to revive the rush weaving industry, teamed up with various farmers’ associations, community development associations and the government to instill a renewed design aesthetics into the craft and comply with contemporary folks’ heightened focus on environmental protection and the need for life quality. Displayed here are many items of cultural and creative products by Taiwan’s Yuan-Li Handiwork Association. With the core creation ethos “to give hands-on experience, to carry on with the tradition, and to innovate design,” we aim to engrain the rush weaving craft into the modern life and subsequently create renewed development opportunities for the rush weaving industry.
烈火淬煉 柴燒陶
Wood Fired Ceramic
As time moves on, traditional wood-fired ceramics is considered behind the times, as well as both energy and time consuming. However, as wood fire would leave natural fire marks on the wood-fired ceramics, this practice could produce smooth and highly diversified color tones. Cinders from wood burning when they fall on the ceramics would generate a “Natural Cinder Glaze”, also known as a Ying-and-Yang state, on the fire receiving side and the other side of the ceramics. What is beautiful and compelling about wood-fired ceramics lies in the unpredictable combination of fallen cinders and wood fire marks on the ceramics that together turn into a natural grey glaze. After the fallen cinders melt in high temperatures and land on the ceramics to form a natural grey glaze, it may appear unassuming and plain at first, but over time, the end product will look more and more appealing and engaging to the viewer. Such is the enchanting beauty of wood fire artworks. Displayed here are wood-fired tea pots from Hwataoyao (or “HuaTao Kiln”) and Spring Kiln (Cheu Tian Yao). Used to sip Chrysanthemum Tea from Tongluo Township in Miaoli, the wood-fired ceramic teaware elevates the experience of tea drinking and creates a culture-embedded localized life aesthetic.
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