Folk art fame
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Paintings from Mianzhu. [Global Times] |
After attracting thousands of people each day since opening June 16 in Beijing, the First Chinese Farmers' Art Festival will close its doors, marking a successful celebration of Chinese folk arts and crafts.
Today many painters are still devoted to creating folk paintings after their daily farm work and a handful of newly-graduated students from fine art schools and colleges are also learning to create the art form, Hu explained.
"They bring formal painting techniques and skills, which is quite helpful in innovating folk painting," he said. "Everything needs to be developed with the times, so does our folk painting."
Mianzhu folk painting is also enjoying continuing fame for the wide range of subjects it adopts, helping to inject new life to the old art form. It is also becoming welcomed by more and more collectors. Alongside traditional Chinese subjects, such as the Door God and scenes from traditional plays, elements of modern-day countryside life are also being reflected, according to Hu.
"Many of our paintings are being purchased by buyers from overseas," he said, adding that people tend to carefully collect several pieces, rather than randomly buy one to hang on the wall. "It is now more an art form than just a house adornment," he said.
Folk paintings from other places across China, including Hu county of Shaanxi Province, Wei county of Shandong Province and Jinshan village of suburban Shanghai, are also on show.
The art of weaving is also attracting large crowds with various handicrafts, such as handbags, hats and accessories, all made from grass or corns stalks on display. Many of the craftspeople are presenting live demonstrations.
"It's so great making pretty objects with these common stalks," commented Zhang Yiqing, a 32-year-old attendee, watching a country woman from Jilin Province weave a small handbag with several corn stalks.
"Imaging wearing handbags and purses and other articles made of stalks," Zhang continued, "That is so cool and it's exactly the green lifestyle we are all calling for today, isn't it?"
Usually weaving a small purse takes less than 30 minutes with larger sizes taking about an hour, explained Ji, the weaver. She said that after finishing a hard day's work in the fields, many women in her village weave in their courtyard while chatting with each other or watching TV.
Stalks, of various kinds of grasses and farm crops can be used as materials, Ji explained, adding that at first they used the woven articles for convenience, but in recent years have started to sell them as demand is increasing.
