When I was 16 years old, my grandfather Wang Jinsheng introduced me to woodcarving. It has been nationally recognized for Huizhou woodcarving tradition. In 2007, when he was 82 years old, we carved this work, "Along the River During the Qingming Festival," on a 9-meter-long piece of redwood. It took us 3 years. My name is Fang Feng. I am a wood sculptor from Huizhou. Our city is famous for its history of sculpture. The art of wood carving goes back more than 600 years in China. Historically, Huizhou was a trading city. With its people prospering, they could finance the arts. As wealth grew, people demanded more decorative art in their buildings. In the past, people mainly carved structures, such as house beams, windows and doors. You can see wood carvings everywhere. We usually sculpt nature, still life, and depict classic stories and legends.
There are 5 steps to carving a piece of art. First, we paint on wood. The second step is to make a rough carving. There are many types of chisels and tools. Round or flat, or with ornaments and lines. Which one we use depends on what we're digging. We use different techniques based on the thickness of the wood. It looks 3D because the wood is very thick. We chisel and remove bits of wood to make it look lifelike. Third, we try to highlight the details. It is difficult to sculpt facial features because a person has many types of expressions. If you mistook your eyes, nose, or a small part of any feature, it can ruin how real it looks. The fourth step is polishing the statue. The fifth step is to paint the colors on it. My grandfather has many businesses to be proud of. Many people bought works from my grandfather and tried to imitate them. We were practicing sculpting from 8 am to 5 pm and from 6 pm to 9 pm, we taught how to draw.
For the first three years, we were not allowed to sculpt complex patterns. Because he doesn't want us to train on expensive materials. I used to carve the same pattern on the chairs every day. It was very boring and frustrating. I was still very young then, only 17 years old. I was a rebel. Sometimes I get impatient and just really want to go out and have fun. I wasn't able to finish the piece independently until two and a half years later. Now I worry about the succession myself. Not many people are into this. This craft has passed its peak. I had 2 interns before.
But one worked only for a year, the other for half a year, and then both left. Because they did not understand why we need to devote so much time to carving by hand when nowadays machines can do that too. Machine-carved artworks look the same, but hand-carved ones are unique..