Tseng Ming-nan Craft House Introduction
"All day long, you don’t study, just playing with those clay figurines. Are you going to rely on that to make a living in the future?" The mother, hurriedly preparing a meal, angrily scolded when she saw the entire stove filled with Tseng Ming-nan's "mud sculptures." Unexpectedly, her words became true; after holding various jobs, Tseng Ming-nan ultimately chose pottery as his lifelong career. Wang-an Island in Penghu features beautiful stone weirs and rare green sea turtles. From Tian-tai Mountain, one can look out over the azure coastline. When the sun sets, sitting in Huazhai to watch the sunset, the sunlight casts a broad golden pathway all the way to the horizon, making one dazzled and eager to follow that golden path toward the setting sun. This is how I felt as a traveler visiting Wang-an. However, for Tseng Ming-nan, born in Wang-an, it seemed that his birthplace was a fate: women cultivated the fields, and men went out to sea to fish, as if such roles were inherited by nature. Children in Wang-an must mostly leave their hometown to study in Magong when they enter elementary school. Leaving the nest at such a young age carries a profound loneliness and helplessness for a seven-year-old child, which leads many children to drop out due to homesickness, and Tseng Ming-nan was no exception. "I dropped out in the third grade and worked as a cowherd for two years, sometimes fishing with my father or helping my mother with farming." At the age of twelve, Tseng Ming-nan traveled to Kaohsiung with his mother by boat, where he witnessed the prosperity of the city and glimpsed the world beyond Wang-an. "In Penghu, we used to have oil lamps at night. The first time I saw electric lights, I excitedly raised my hand to count the streetlights, and I also saw cars, trains, wide roads, and large ships... It felt like I had landed on the moon; it was very shocking!" Tseng Ming-nan recalls the feelings from over fifty years ago, still filled with excitement. Having learned about the outside world, Tseng Ming-nan no longer wanted to be a cowherd. He realized that only by studying could he have a chance to escape his fate. From a young age, he enjoyed labor classes, and for his college entrance examination, he initially wished to enroll in the Fine Arts Department. However, when that did not happen, he switched to the Army Management School (the predecessor of the National Defense Management College). After military service, he had the opportunity to enroll in the evening program at the National Taiwan College of Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts), finally realizing his wish and returning to the world of art. More than a decade later, he went to England and earned a Master’s degree in Art. Tseng Ming-nan knows that competing with ancient masters is exceedingly difficult, so at the start of his creation, he delved deeply into Chinese ceramics, starting from traditions, based on the Han and Tang dynasties, and sought rare elements within tradition. After spending considerable time and money, he finally innovated a vibrant red iron glaze, creating a distinctive personal style. "Dinzhou flower porcelain carving red jade" is how the great Chinese literary figure Su Dongpo praised the iron red glaze. Tseng Ming-nan's "Iron Red Jar" uses a brilliant red that gradually blends into pale yellow and white, with cursive writing in the white areas, showcasing delicate net-like cracks and gloss resembling cicada wings, thus merging classical and modern styles. "Trace of Time" employs glazing techniques and firing conditions to create a texture that conveys the traces of time with a mottled appearance. "Lady" is another work expressing cursive lines in pottery. The figure of the modest young woman embodies a shy and gentle aspect of Chinese femininity. The flowing lines, devoid of figurative embellishments, simplify and shape the elegance of ancient women. The entire work embodies a serene, tranquil zen atmosphere. The characteristics of pottery from the Han and Tang dynasties are "thick and powerful," "fusing strength and softness." Thus, Tseng Ming-nan's "Sapphire Glazed Vase" also retains ancient flavors in its form, presenting a robust and rustic vibe; the stable blue gradually transitions into rusty red and deep blue, with layered colors revealing crystalline patterns, exuding brilliance reminiscent of sapphires. Science, technology, and art are the three elements of ceramics. Tseng Ming-nan states: the glaze can be calculated with formulas, but the temperature of the kiln, the duration of firing, the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide, and the thickness of the glaze all need proper control to showcase the artistry of the creation. His work "Chicken" uses iron red glaze to depict the chicken's head, while the back employs white jade-like celadon, and the belly showcases natural beauty with a stone-like texture. A single piece simultaneously exhibits three different tones and textures, highlighting Tseng Ming-nan's remarkable skills in technique, glaze use, and creativity. The Taiwanese pronunciation of "chicken" is "jia," which during his youth away from home in pursuit of education, made Tseng Ming-nan appreciate the value of "home." "Familial ethics are an inherent tradition in China, encapsulating cultural connotations." Furthermore, when he requested his mother to raise a dog as a pet, she responded, "If we have nothing to eat, what will the dog eat?" Thus, he settled for a chick as a pet. Chickens subsequently became a recurring motif in his works, such as "Family Portrait," which depicts a rooster and hen with three chicks, presented through hand-sculpting to reflect the texture of rocks, highlighting the beauty of natural earthiness. In the 1990s, Tseng Ming-nan focused on ceramic plate creations, using copper as a coloring agent to produce rich colors like red, blue, purple, and green under reduction firing. For instance, "Figures" is painted on a ceramic plate with sapphire glaze, extending the ink wash style through calligraphic brushstrokes. In the work, the calligraphic lines outline the figures' facial features, with a background styled like splashed ink landscapes. The contrasting purple and white colors on the face enhance the mysterious aura of the women depicted. Having once navigated the seas guided by experience and the courage of a fisherman, Tseng Ming-nan seeks to challenge himself. Regarding his pottery works, which he considers "exceptionally natural creations," he hopes that one day he will leave his name in the annals of art history." (Text and images from the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute)
