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Sculpt Teapot
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Everyone has heard about Chinese products, and everyone knows about the Chinese art of the past. However, what people think they know and reality can be very different. On the products side, life can be treacherous. There are fakes, poor quality, and dishonesty from the start to the finish of your dealings. On the art side, Chinese art has evolved over the last century, and, although the older, more traditional styles of art are still being produced, oil painting, a la the West, has become a major part of Chinese artistic endeavor over the last century, and China has participated in major artistic movements from Impressionism onward.
That is not even the best news. The really good news is that prices of this modern Chinese art, just like the prices of all of the products that the Western World has been buying from China over the last two decades, are relatively inexpensive because of the mispricing of the Chinese Yuan. It is the reason, we figure, that buyers, in London, New York, Hong Kong, and Macau, account for almost half of the monetary value of sales, in the auction markets for Chinese art. In fact, those buyers outside the mainland have another advantage: they know art, and they use it to decorate, to invest in, or just to appreciate. Inside China, the whole idea of home decoration has not yet really caught on. Thus, there is a lack of competition from the mainland in buying art, not only because it is expensive, but also because home decoration, including wall art, sculpture, and even nice rugs for the floors, is not part of the current culture.
My specialty is investing in inefficient market. I worked on Wall Street, managing private money, in arbitrage, in the 1980s and early 1990's. In addition, over the last four decades, I have been involved in art investment, mostly 18th and 19th century American and European antiques and paintings. In the early 1990's, I had a fairly large collection, so I bought an 18th century estate, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and restored it to house the collection. Eventually, we turned the estate into a country inn, Auldridge Mead, which gained international recognition and appeared in major magazines, including Country Living (cover and four pages, inside), Vogue Magazine (cover and inside), Italian Vogue, and Travel & Leisure. It was also included in a book, written in the late 1990's, called "The Best of Everything". Visitors to the inn would comment that it was like being able to stay in a museum because they got to experience fine art and antiques, up close for an extended period of time, not just for an afternoon craning at pieces over the barriers, in an ordinary museum.
I came to China, four years ago, as a foreign expert to teach finance and economics at a joint program between an Australian University and South China Normal University, in Guangzhou, formerly called Canton and presently one of the major areas for producing products for export. I considered starting a business in exports, but after careful analysis, I decided that that particular business is on its way out. The same was true for the local real estate markets and the securities markets.
My first discovery about art, in China, was that they make really good reproductions of famous Western oil paintings, all hand painted, not machine produced paintings or prints. Then, I discovered the wonderful hand-sculpted teapots that are only made in one part of the world: Yixing, China, where there are deposits of the so-called zisha clay that allows for such creative and beautiful teapot art. Of course, that has limited value for home décor, plus that market has become somewhat overheated, at least in terms of the works of certain artists. My first Christmas, here, I discovered that there are certain small bronze-casting studios, mostly located in Xi'an, the former capital of China, that make wonderful reproductions of famous cast bronze Chinese sculptures from the past several thousand year history of bronze sculpture, in China. With subjects, like horses, cranes, rams and owls, they are not particularly Chinese looking, like the wispy ink and brush wall art of the past. Moreover, they come in sizes that could be displayed on a coffee table or larger sizes that can be displayed on their own, and, again, the prices are incredibly cheap, in terms of Western currencies, especially, for the quality of the craftsmanship (of course, not all studios have the same level of quality). I also discovered a small glass art studio that makes, not only wonderful, weighty glass vases, but also artfully-done sculpture. Later, I discovered Chinese embroidery art, which is beyond the embroidery that I owned as part of the collection at my country inn. In this medium, fine silk thread is used to create whole scenes and portraits that are actually suitable for framing, just like paintings. They look like paintings, from a distance, and the light shimmer of the silk threads, in different colors sewn in different directions, give them a three-dimensional feel, up close. This incredibly detailed work can take as much as a year to complete a larger work (5' by 3'), and, as machine-made embroidery displaces this traditional hand-embroidery, it is becoming more and more rare.
In the last year, my wish list was completed when I befriended and partnered with a local dealer in original oil paintings, who has been in the business, here, for several decades.
Then, based on my experience, in art, investment, and investment in art, I began Leona Craig Art to bring all of these wonderful artistic discoveries to a larger audience of Western consumers, collectors, and decorators. We have several locations where our art is located, in Guangzhou, and over the past few months, we have put several hundred of these items in our online gallery, which can be viewed in the Leona Craig portion of our website. Also, we have made available an analysis of the Chinese art market, along with analysis of other economic, investment, and cultural issues, in present-day China, which can be viewed or downloaded on the In County Analysis page of the website. Red Hill Capital completes the website with economic and financial education and analysis.
© 2009 Red Hill Capital Corporation, owner of
Leona Craig Gallery,
Guangzhou, China
Annville, PA, USA
Craig L. Mattoli, CEO
http://www.leonacraig.com
http://blog.incountry-china.com
Grog!
I watched her skillful hands do the seemingly impossible. From a cold, moist lump of clay emerged a beautiful and functional piece of art. The whir of her potter’s wheel lulled me as I watched her clay-covered hands cooperate with the spinning wheel to create the formless lump into an exquisite bowl. From the wheel to the drying rack to the kiln to the art show or sales shelf – the process never ceased to amaze me. But what shocked and surprised me even more was what she did with the inevitable broken or damaged piece.
I have marveled for years at the creative expression within such art. For a few years, I was fortunate to co-own an art studio. The other owner is a potter. She held the vessels she made and worked so hard on with tender grace and care. She would cup her hands around their body with her fingertips as she remembered the time and place of their creation.
Broken or damaged. . . my, how that has applied to my life at times. You know, each of those pottery pieces was designed with a purpose in mind. . .
Purpose for many of us is what gets us up in the morning. Why do you do what you do? Did you answer: to provide for family, to save for the future, or to make financial ends meet today? All these things are valid and important. Yet life changes our bodies, our pocketbooks and sometime our minds; sometimes we begin to question the purpose of life.
Hang on to that thought of purpose and imagine with me... those clay vessels, ...plates, teapots, cups, bowls, mugs, pitchers – each is fashioned for a specific purpose, tenderly handcrafted by artisans on potter’s wheels. Have you watched clay vessels being thrown and sculpted to perfection? Have you marveled after they were glazed and fired to brilliance? I have. I have held their forms and traced their lines. Each vessel had been crafted after the potter's scheme and idea. Each piece fashioned for a specific purpose. Okay, got the picture?
Sometimes, though, when we set up an art display or traveled to a show, damage would occur to the precious pieces. No matter how carefully we wrapped or packed, a handle would break off, a spout or a bowl's rim would crack. At first, I grieved as the damage reduced the vessel’s ability to perform. I became saddened when I felt we had "lost" a vessel. As I learned about this art form, the truth of broken vessels set me free from my despair over damage.
For a potter, old clay is better than new clay. When we purchased new clay, we would season it by letting it soak in water, or beer -- letting it age, so to speak. But the best part of rendering clay for use, was "grog" or fired clay which had been finely ground. Oftentimes when we were ready to use the new clay, my business partner would take the clay vessels that had been broken or damaged and grind them down into minute pieces. She would then mix the old with the new. The old clay would give the new clay needed and required texture to fulfill its purpose. The new needed the old to perform the best it could.
So even with use and wear and tear, nothing was ever truly lost. . .For each vessel to be expected to fulfill its intended purpose, it had to contain both the new clay and the "experienced" clay. That clay that had already been through the firing of the kiln. . . thru the "life cycle " of a vessel.
Thus, the damaged vessel just became part of something new.
It is one of the grandest truths I learned through that venture.
Getting older and having our physical, mental or financial ability change doesn't have to alter our effort, determination or reason to live. The inexperienced need the knowledge and wisdom of the experienced. Age truly has nothing to do with years on the calendar. You may be seasoned in one area of life but yet unproven in another. All people need help. I need your expertise. Perhaps you need mine. Only by sharing yourself can you continue to grow. We may not be able to do everything we used to do, but there are still things we can do and things that need to be done.
Your life's work is not over because you can't do everything you are accustomed to doing.
I challenge you to look at your future with this vantage point: "How can I take what I know and put it to good use? Who needs what I can do? How could I offer my unique gifts and talents to this organization?”
Can't walk? Then talk! Can't invest money? Then invest time! Can't write? Then listen! Can't work? Volunteer! Can't hear? Then write!
There is always a way to make a difference. Be challenged to find your outlet and stop wasting time! You can do it....I know you can!
About the Author
Ginny Dye, Sandi Valentine & Suess Karlsson are a team of writers who all share a passion to empower and motivate everyone who they touch through their writing. Their stories are a gift to the world! Learn how to create the success you dream of, overcome obstacles and challenges, and live a life of grace and love. Please visit us at http://www.firefliesfortheheart.com
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