Tseng Ming-Nan Craft House Introduction
"All day long without studying, just making these clay figures, are you going to rely on them for a living in the future?" The mother, eager to cook, angrily scolded when she saw the entire stove filled with Tseng Ming-nan's "clay sculptures." Unexpectedly, her words came true; after holding various jobs, Tseng Ming-nan eventually chose pottery as his lifelong career. Wang-an Island in Penghu features beautiful stone weirs and rare green sea turtles. From the peak of Tian-tai Mountain, one can gaze at the azure coastline. At sunset, sitting at Huazhai to watch the sunset, the sun's rays create a wide golden avenue leading to the horizon, mesmerizing travelers to rush toward the fading sun along that golden path. This is how the author perceives the beauty of Wang-an as a traveler. However, for Tseng Ming-nan, who was born in Wang-an, his birthplace seemed like a destiny—women farm, men fish at sea; it appears to be an inherited norm. Children from Wang-an often have to leave home to attend elementary school in Magong. Leaving the nest at such a young age can mean facing loneliness and helplessness for a seven-year-old child. Many kids cannot withstand the homesickness and drop out, and Tseng Ming-nan was no exception. "I took a two-year break from school in the third grade to herd cattle, sometimes following my father to fish or helping my mother farm." At the age of twelve, he accompanied his mother to take a boat to Kaohsiung, where he saw the splendor of the city, witnessing a world beyond Wang-an. "In the past, we used kerosene lamps at night in Penghu, but when I first saw electric lights, I excitedly raised my hand to count the street lights, and I also saw cars, trains, wide roads, and large ships… it felt as if I had landed on the moon—so shocking!" Tseng Ming-nan reminisces about his experience over fifty years ago, still speaking with excitement. After discovering the outside world, Tseng Ming-nan no longer wanted to be a shepherd. He realized that only through studying could he escape his destiny. Having always enjoyed hands-on classes, he initially hoped to enter an art department in college but was unable to do so. He then attended the Army Management School (the predecessor of the National Defense Management College). After his discharge, he coincidentally found that the National Taiwan University of Arts had established a night program, fulfilling his desire to return to the world of art. Over ten years later, he ventured to the UK to obtain a master's degree in art. Tseng Ming-nan is well aware that competing with the ancients is extremely challenging; hence, at the start of his creative journey, he delved deeply into Chinese ceramics. He approached from tradition, basing his work on the Han and Tang dynasties, and sought rare elements within those traditions. He invested a considerable amount of time and money, ultimately innovating a vivid iron-red glaze that established his distinct personal style. "The red porcelain from Dingzhou" is a term coined by the renowned Chinese literary giant Su Dongpo to praise iron-red glazes. Tseng Ming-nan's "Iron Red Jar" features a stunning red that gradually transitions to pale yellow and white, with cursive writing in the white areas, presenting fine web-like cracks and luster akin to wings of a cicada, showcasing a fusion of classical and modern aesthetics. "Traces of Time" employs glazing techniques and kiln firing conditions to create a corroded texture, conveying the passage of time through its mottled surfaces. "Lady" is another piece that expresses cursive lines through pottery. The depicted woman with her head bowed embodies the shy gentleness of Chinese femininity; the flowing lines and the removal of figurative details sculpt a simple yet elegant representation of ancient women's grace. The overall work exudes a serene, meditative quality. The characteristics of pottery from the Han and Tang dynasties include being "thick and solid" and balancing strength with softness. Thus, Tseng Ming-nan's "Sapphire Glaze Vase" also draws from the ancient style, conveying a robust, rustic vibe. The deep blue develops upward into rust red and sapphire blue, with a gradient that reveals crystalline patterns, radiating a brilliance reminiscent of sapphires. Science, technology, and art are the three elements of ceramics. Tseng Ming-nan states: the glaze can be formulaically calculated, but the temperature of the kiln, the duration of firing, and the right balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide, as well as the thickness of the glaze, all need to be well mastered to exhibit the artistry of creation. His piece "Chicken" showcases the chicken's head in iron-red glaze, while the back features a white jade-like celadon, with the abdomen reflecting the natural beauty of stone texture. A single piece displays three distinctive colors and textures, signifying Tseng Ming-nan's remarkable skills in technique, glaze application, and creativity. The Taiwanese pronunciation of "chicken" is "jia." His experience of leaving home at a young age made Tseng Ming-nan appreciate the value of "home." "Family ethics are an intrinsic tradition of China, holding cultural significance," he notes. Additionally, when he was young, Tseng Ming-nan asked his mother for a dog as a pet, to which she replied, "What will the dog eat when we have nothing for ourselves?" So he settled for a chick as a pet. Chickens then became frequent subjects in his works. "Family Portrait" depicts a rooster and hen with three chicks, where Tseng Ming-nan uses hand-sculpting to demonstrate rock-like textures, highlighting the rustic beauty of clay. In the 1990s, Tseng Ming-nan dedicated himself to creating ceramic plates, using copper as a coloring agent to produce vibrant reds, blues, purples, and greens. "Figures," for instance, utilizes sapphire glaze on a ceramic plate, extending the strokes of calligraphy to create ink-wash style works. In the piece, the calligraphic lines outline the facial features of the characters against a background that evokes the atmosphere of ink-washed landscapes, where the combination of purple and white colors on the face enhances the sense of mystery surrounding the woman. Once without a compass to guide him, relying only on experience and the bravery of a fisherman, following his father into the vast sea, this life experience has bolstered Tseng Ming-nan's self-confidence in taking on challenges. Regarding his pottery creations, which he describes as "accidentally inspired by the heavens," Tseng Ming-nan hopes that one day he will leave a mark in the art world. (Text and images from the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute)"
