Chin-Yi Yen was born in 1959 and he left his hometown to become a master in furniture sculpting when he was nineteen years old. When he was 22 years old, he started his journey of creating lacquer thread artworks. He continued to create lacquer thread artworks afterwards and even now. Mr Yen, the master of lacquer thread sculpture, received the Taipei Master of Traditional Arts Award in 2003 and was even announced as the “Taipei Preserver of Traditional Arts and Culture” in the same year. Within forty years, Mr Yen had gone through the flourishing times of lacquer thread sculpture and the declining times of it. Now, he dedicates all of his time and effort to the preservation of lacquer thread sculpture. In 1947, Chinese immigrants began to bring the religion of Buddhism into
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Taiwan, which built on the development of Buddhist statues with lacquer thread. In the following decades, more and more people believed in Buddhism and the skills for creating lacquer thread became more and more sophisticated. At the time, Mr. Yen had a monthly income of around ten thousand NTD because he mastered the skills of creating lacquer thread. But around ten years ago, things changed. China began to produce more and more Buddhist artwork and sold them at a lower price. In addition, due to the fact that the average salary for a Taiwanese worker was higher than the average salary for a Chinese worker, the market for lacquer thread began to shift towards mainland China, causing the Taiwanese art of lacquer thread to slowly disappear.
The mass production and manufacturing of lacquer thread carving in mainland China was a great challenge that master Chin-Yi Yen had to face. With fewer customer orders as years proceed, Chin-Yi Yen was forced to quit lacquer thread sculpting as a job and turn to selling meat dumplings instead. After some time, Chin-Yi Yen decided to re-approach lacquer thread sculpture and return to his original job and passion. He believes that through the enhancements of quality and materials, lacquer thread sculpting still stands a chance in market values, which is why customers would still want to buy their own lacquer thread sculpture.
While asserting the importance of traditional lacquer thread sculpture techniques, master Chin-Yi Yen is also eager to take on new approaches and ideas to innovate lacquer thread sculptures. The design patterns of traditional lacquer thread sculptures are usually related to figures such as dragons, phoenixes, or other designs associated with a fortune in the Chinese culture; master Chin-Yi
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Yen, however, chose to embrace innovative concepts by introducing contemporary designs such as flowers and birds into lacquer thread sculptures. Furthermore, although traditional lacquer thread sculpture originated as ornaments for Buddhist statues, master Chin-Yi Yen has implemented it on different objects such as urns, porcelains, plates, wooden and stone objects, and paintings. The alterations brought about by master Chin-Yi Yen have made lacquer thread sculpture popular among a wider audience. Lacquer thread sculpture is usually associated with Buddhist temples and statues, yet, by combining this traditional art with present-day trends and introducing a more modern and vivid fashion to lacquer thread sculpture, master Chin-Yi Yen has prolonged the culture of lacquer thread sculpture.
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Master Chin-Yi Yen has had his fair share of troubles during his early years as a lacquer thread sculpture artist. Back then, master Chin-Yi Yen’s mentor was unwilling to share his formula for producing lacquer thread, hence master Chin-Yi Yen had to find the best way to make lacquer thread through trials and errors. In addition to formulating his own methods, master Chen-Yi Chen faced another obstacle. He had trouble composing sculpture
pattern designs that are delicate, beautiful, and meaningful at the same time; but he knows that a good pattern design is key for creating a successful sculpture. After years of experience, master Chin-Yi Yen mastered the ways to produce lacquer thread; but to him, composing a successful pattern design is still a formidable task requiring long deliberation.
The Yen family worked as miners when Mr Yen was a kid, living a tough life. Seeing his family working so hard for a living as miners, Mr Yen left home at the age of nineteen to pursue lacquer thread sculpture as a skill for living to avoid the miner career. He struggled to find a mentor since most lacquer thread sculptor only teach sculpting skills to their children. However, Mr Yen only worked harder, continuing to
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seek learning opportunities with a positive attitude. Heaven helps those who help themselves, after multiple setbacks he finally encountered a vacant spot for an apprentice, officially starting his journey in the field. It was only after the demand for lacquer thread decorated buddha statues had risen when Mr Yen was exposed to this area of lacquer thread sculptures. Sculptors can utilize a variety of methods to
decorate Buddhist sculptures, such as applying gold leafs, painting, and carving etc. Each Buddhist statue was worth at least one thousand dollars, much more profitable compared to other types of sculptures, so Mr Yen decided to specialize in decorating Buddhist statues with lacquer threads.
Other than the interviews the group recorded, both of the lacquer thread sculpture masters had several interviews and photoshoots in the past. Through a thorough selection process, the group listed out a few news and videos that strongly demonstrates the process of the two masters’ lacquer thread sculpture creation.
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New Taipei City 231, Taiwan
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