Sanyi Woodcarving Capital
Michella Jade Weng, Presenter:
Hi, I��m Michella and this is my friend...
Gunter Whittome, German expat:
Gunter, hi. We��ve arrived today in Sanyi, Miaoli in
central Taiwan which is Taiwan��s capital of the woodcarving
art.
Shen
Pei-ze, Woodcarver:
In the hills of Sanyi there used to be many camphor
trees which were cut down for timber. One day when
a local resident named ��Wu Jin-bao�� was about to
use the land for farming, he dug up some of the
tree roots and realized that exposure to the elements
and termites made them really pretty.
Because
tree roots have a unique aesthetic, the local woodcarvers
decided to incorporate those features into each
sculpture.
Shen
Pei-ze, Woodcarver:
It still maintains its natural look even after sculpting
work has been done to it. This is the style of Sanyi��s
woodcarving.
And from
this tree root, Shen Pei-ze is creating a scene
with a flower and leaf of a lotus in it.
Michella
Jade Weng, Presenter:
Do you smell something?
Gunter
Whittome, German expat:
Yeah I can smell something. Do you know what it
reminds me of? When I was small, my mom used a kind
of oil - I think it was camphor oil.
This is the award-winning Sanyi Wood Sculpture Museum.
It tells the story of the local woodcarving industry
- how it started out producing first for the Japanese
market then the American and European markets, then
later evolved to making more artistic sculptures.
On display are traditional and modern pieces as
well.
Gunter
Whittome, German expat:
You find woodcarving in other countries too, but
I haven��t seen a city which revolves all around
the art of woodcarving and I haven��t seen such a
large and specialized museum which concentrates
on woodcarving. I was here the last time four years
ago, what I��ve learned today is there are also places
here where you can actually get active yourself.
There are some DIY places where you can paint sculptures
or try to develop your own creativity a bit and
maybe there weren��t such many places around last
time, or I simply didn��t know of them, but now I��ve
seen some nice places like this.
