Meinong Kiln and Public Ceramic Relief Murals／美濃窯 陶壁公共藝術的推手
Meinong Kiln and Public Ceramic Relief Murals
◎English translation: Tan Shu-chun
◎Photos courtesy of Meinong Kiln, Pao Chung-hui
Meinong is a scenic town, known for its unique arts and culture. In 2012, it was selected by Tourism Bureau, M.O.T.C. as one of Taiwan's top ten best tourism townships in Taiwan. Meinong is also well-known for its ceramics and home to the famous Meinong Kiln. Dr. Chu Pan-hsiung opened the kiln in 1987 and has developed his own particular style of ceramic art known as Public Relief Ceramic Murals. Over the years, Dr. Chu Pan-hsiung and his Meinong kiln have produced some brilliant public ceramic murals throughout Taiwan.
Dr. Chu began developing the Meinong Kiln when he first returned to his hometown of Meinong. However, he felt the local residents were not particularly interested in art or literature. He hoped by developing the ceramic industry in the region, it would further cultivate the literature and art in Meinong. At that time, the only crafts the locals created were traditional Hakka blue-dye shirts and paper umbrellas. First, Dr. Chu and his friends established Chung Li Ho Memorial Museum and then they went on to develop Meinong Kiln.
Dr. Chu completed his very first gigantic ceramic mural in 1986. At sixty-eight years old, he continues to challenge himself and is always coming up with more contemporary, mature art and design concepts. He believes Taiwan's ceramic murals are the best in the world and brings character to its cities. He dreams one day his ceramic murals will be exhibited on Kaohsiung's landmarks. He has also spent more than two and a half decades being devoted to promoting the awareness of the art form.
The reason he particularly enjoys creating gigantic ceramic relief murals is because the materials are flexible, expand easily, capable of creating magnificent visual effects and are easily combined with architecture. Such a highly sophisticated art form demonstrates artists' intelligence, persistence and courageousness.
Dr. Chu's public ceramic relief mural, Heavenly Creations is on exhibition at Kaohsiung's Red line MRT Ciaotou Station. Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation selected him to use his ceramic art to depict local stories and culture. In order to offer the best quality results, he spent two years, visiting places around southern Taiwan and gathering information. He noticed the railway and Kaohsiung Sugar Refinery were pillars of Taiwan's industrial development. The sugar brought prosperity to its urban areas and the railway made a major contribution to Taiwan's modernization.
Dr. Chu's creation "Heavenly Creations" is inspired by Taiwan's industrial development. It is a mural of the Earth, which is seen at both the top and bottom of piece and cities which represent civilization, surrounded behind cloud layers. It is 9 meters in width and 12 meters in height. It is made up of 1,311 ceramics pieces, 70 tons of clay and took one year to construct. It is Dr. Chu's tribute to his homeland and visitors are truly awed by its magnificence.
Dr. Chu's famous works have also made Meinong more famous. His work is admired by those who see it. However, he would like to dedicate any fame or prestige his art has brought to his hometown of Meinung.
美濃窯 陶壁公共藝術的推手
◎文／侯雅婷
◎照片提供／美濃窯、鮑忠暉
今日的美濃很芬芳，風光獲選「十大觀光小鎮」，除了秀麗景致，美濃因為有了「美濃窯」─陶壁公共藝術的推手，綻放的陶壁藝術成就更是備受推崇。
美濃窯由朱邦雄博士一手創立於1987 年，他談起，回鄉創立美濃窯時，勤奮務實的美濃人並不特別嚮往文學或藝術，當地僅有藍衫和紙傘等工藝，所以他和友人促成「鍾理和文學紀念館」的成立，導入文學，接著並成立「美濃窯」，讓文化藝術在當地蓄積能量。
朱邦雄長年致力推廣陶壁公共藝術，這些年來，陶壁公共藝術幾乎已和朱邦雄、美濃窯畫上等號。也許再沒有什麼比得上腳底踏著泥土更感動人，來到高雄一定不能錯過朱邦雄的陶壁公共藝術作品。您不妨乘著捷運紅線至橋頭火車站，欣賞朱邦雄寬9公尺、高12公尺的巨形陶壁公共藝術「天工開物」。耗時1年製作，使用超過70公噸的陶土，整體塑造再分塊製作，計有1,311塊陶瓷零組件，作品向台灣這片土地致敬。佇足於這件作品前，讓旅人不禁為眼前陶壁藝術展現磅礡的氣勢和無窮大的生命力讚嘆不已。
朱邦雄表示，作品最初創作是為了將這片土地的故事轉換成陶壁藝術，耗時2年，遊走南台灣搜集資料。他觀察高雄糖廠的興建帶動台灣基礎工業發展，因此開發鐵路，促進城鄉繁榮，台灣邁入現代化新紀元，開啟時代的大鉅變，於是以「天工開物」為這幅巨型陶壁藝術命名。陶壁設計以上、下兩端為土地，撥開雲層，中間部份象徵文明的城市。曾有日籍遊客讚道，橋頭站陶壁公共藝術是亞洲最漂亮的陶壁藝術作品之一。
被問到為什麼醉心於創作巨型陶壁藝術？朱邦雄強調，陶瓷材質具備無窮大的特質，而且能與建築結合，產生無窮大的視覺張力；巨型陶壁藝術在技術上是絕對的高難度，它關乎到藝術家智力、毅力和膽識，考驗著藝術家的心量夠不夠大。
朱邦雄自1986年完成第一件巨型陶壁作品，迄今仍不斷自我挑戰，隨著經驗累積，作品也越見成熟，製作模式和藝術發想層次也更臻成熟完美。這位現年68歲的藝術家肯定地表示，台灣陶壁公共藝術傲視群倫，強調城市建構應秉著良心，他希望有機會在高雄地標建築物的每一面，均打造陶壁公共藝術，這才叫漂亮！
這些年，美濃早已被陶壁公共藝術襯得閃閃發亮。他謙遜地說，朱邦雄陶壁公共藝術今日若受肯定，他願將這份榮耀的桂冠獻給故鄉美濃。