／Woodcarving artist／

Woodcarving artist of Smangus is Masay Sulung.

Woodcarvings of Smangus are almost made by Elder Marsai. He said that the Atayal people are good at hunting, but artistic talent is weak. Therefore, the carving skill was started late. He had a lot of ideas and imaginations in his mind, but he did not know how to present them. After he saw the woodcarvings of Paiwan and Atayal tribes, he decided to carve them.

There is a course of woodcarving in tribal school which is taught by him and Elder Yo Zau. Before, A customer spent more than ten thousand dollars to buy a wood carving made by a student of Yo Zau. They gave the money to students and taught them each job can be successful. As a result, it led the children to learn the course of woodcarving more seriously.

When the tribe has money, he wishes to purchase the pottery equipment so that tribal creativity can start from shaping pottery. After learning shaping pottery, doing other sculptures is much easier. He said “If we have the pottery equipment, tourists can play with clay and take the self-made pottery of Smangus back to their homes, it is so meaningful!”

Elder Marsai told us that he hoped to carve 100 tattooed woodcarvings of the Atayal tribe, including men and women, large and small in the future. He said: "Can you see how spectacular it is? so wonderful!"

After enjoying Elder Marsai’s woodcarvings, we deeply feel that he is a really natural artist. He had no master and was only through keen observation to transform the idea of mind into imagination, and then used local resources. According to the shape and characteristic of the wood, he finished the woodcarving full with Smangus style and his love of the tribe. We look forward to that he could finish the tattooed woodcarving as soon as possible. Then the famous point of Smangus will not only be the red cypress, but also the tattooed Atayal woodcarvings.