China

Artists who make clay figurines draw inspiration from characters in classical literature, stage dramas, and folktales, as well as scenes from everyday life. They shape and carve animal and human figures that are exchanged as gifts during festivals. The raw material of this 2,000-year-old tradition is a mixture of clay, fiber, river sand, and water. Today artists incorporate new materials such as plastic, stone, wood, and metal into the clay.

FESTIVAL PARTICIPANTS

The Tianjin Clay Figurine Zhang Workshop is a state-owned company with about thirty artists devoted to the research and production of painted clay figurines. Two of these artists participated in the Festival: Fu Xinyue 富心悦 and Zhao Jianwu 赵建武. Both have extensive experience with the two primary processes of figurine making: first shaping and sculpting clay into a wide range of subjects and then painting the figurines after they have been dried and polished. One of the workshop’s distinguishing characteristics is its production of realistic figurines that represent common people.

(L to R) Fu Xinyue offers a critique on Zhao Jianwu’s clay figurine at the Festival.

Photo by Maggie Pelta-Pauls, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Fu Xinyue works on a sculpture of President Obama at the Festival.

Photo by Bea Ugolini, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Fu Xinyue uses a wooden scoring tool to create fine details in the sculpture.

Photo by Joe Furgal, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Fu Xinyue proudly presents her half-finished work.

Photo by Akea Brown, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Zhao Jianwu carefully scores his clay figurine.

Photo by Kate Mankowski, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Festival visitors watch Zhao Jianwu and examine many of his completed figurines.

Photo by Michelle Arbeit, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Zhao Jianwu forms the base of the figurine by first kneading the clay with his hands.

Photo by Akea Brown, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution