平凡农妇的艺术魅力

一位68岁的老妇人，时而手握大型锯割切刀在粗大的树根上来回切割、取料，时而用粗糙的双手打磨一件件根艺作品。经过她的这双粗糙的巧手摆弄和打磨，原来粗糙和杂乱的树根，顿时成了一件件美轮美奂的艺术品!不久前，这位农家老妇人还站在中国美术最高殿堂――中国美术馆敞亮的展厅里领奖，她的根艺作品《幻》，获得中国第三届根艺美术作品大赛铜奖和“刘开渠根艺奖”。此外，她的根雕作品《神鹿》，还荣获浙江省96’根雕作品大赛金奖，并获“省根雕新星”称号。

老妇人叫欧阳小慧，一头白发，一脸沧桑，你似乎很难把根雕这个需要艺术眼光与体力的行当与这位饱经风霜的农家老妇联系起来。因为根雕一直被认为是男人的世界，多少年来省根雕美术协会和全国根雕美术协会一直没有女会员，可不知从什么时候起，这个由男性独霸的领域里却开始晃动着一个农家老妇人坚毅的身影：她披染着岁月风霜，饱浸着生活汁液，用粗糙的双手，将一件件充满野性、自然、艺术和透着灵气的《长颈鹿》《雄鹰》《幻》《眺望新世纪》摆到你的眼前，她让人不得不对眼前这位头发花白的农家老妇人刮目相看。我去她家的时候，她家里的客厅、房间、阳台全都摆放着她的作品。前来参观的北大教授、中国美院学生和老师等，看着这个农家老妇人同她的获奖作品《幻》，从一个平凡的农妇到“刘开渠根艺奖”获得者，其间所要跨越的天地、生活的积累、磨砺和努力之外，还要有对生命的满腔热情和对艺术执著的感悟与灵气。大家觉得连小学都没有毕业的人能取出《幻》这样的题目，真有点不可思议!是啊，看着那又像云层又像蘑菇又什么都不像的一件根雕艺术品，真的只有《幻》这样的题目才可以表达其所蕴含的全部内涵。

与她的交谈中，我发现她对事物的直觉与敏感都富有艺术气质，她能把很平常的事物用带有夸张但神似的状态来表示，她家客厅里那只《神鹿》就有非常夸张的一面但又不失真实感。

欧阳小慧是浙江建德市千岛湖前坞村人，她早年的经历让她过早地懂得了生活的艰辛，过早地担起了生活的重担。她很小的时候因母亲身体不好，父亲又长年在外地做事，她就担负起一家人的生活重担。她十几岁时就上山砍柴、放牛、耕田、种地，什么样的农活她都要做，什么样的农活都干得好，多苦多累的农活她坚持着干，从不叫苦，在当时的生产合作社里，她一个小女孩却挣着与男人一样多的工分。她与动植物有着天然的亲近，犁田时那些挺难伺弄的牛也听她的话，只要是她犁地，牛便特别卖力。

她上山去砍柴、挖草药，看到树木、树根格外有兴趣，只是那时生活的重负，抑制了她心底萌动的艺术之芽。她对中医也感兴趣，拜师学医后，常常独自上山一样一样地辨认着草药，然后一棵棵挖着回来晾晒、煎煮，有时也带些花草或树根等回来琢磨，没有多久她便可以独自给人看病了。一直到现在村里人谁家有个头疼脑热、小病小伤的，都会来找她看病，她一把草药、几根青藤就能手到病除，一直深受乡亲们的热爱。

淳安山村一直都比较贫困，特别是欧阳小慧成家有了三个孩子后，生计更为困难了。特别是1980年她丈夫外出惨遭车祸，脊柱骨折瘫倒在床，这便像天塌下来一般，但欧阳小慧硬是用自己生命力量迎接着这突如其来的打击与灾难。她擦干眼泪，用坚忍、顽强同命运抗争。漫长的岁月里，她带着丈夫上医院看病，想用自己的任劳任怨换回丈夫的健康，然而她抗争了六年，丈夫还是离她而去。

她强忍泪水，抹去悲伤，坚强地重新扯起生活的风帆，决心把生活乐趣寄托在某件事物中。1991年一个偶然的机会，欧阳小慧看到电视里的根艺展览，她被深深吸引住了。平时不起眼的树根，竟然可以变得这么好看、有趣，这么美好有价值，热爱自然的天性让她觉得这就是她内心一直想要表达与倾诉的有形的依托，或者说就是找到了人生的追求了!从此她把根艺当作人生一般地用心雕刻、打磨，迷恋上根雕这门艺术，走上了一条充满艰辛与乐趣的根雕创作之路。

艺术让人痴迷之处就在于它的苦乐与过程。于是她平时无论走路、劳动还是上山砍柴，都留意各色树种的树根：黄金树、楠树是上等的根雕材料，而平常的紫薇和雀梅，只要有创意，艺术效果也会不错。她看到有价值的树根都要千方百计地挖回来，有时碰到百十斤重的大家伙会想尽办法拖回来，累了，坐在山路上歇一下，渴了，就着山泉喝一口，她要用自己的方式与自然对话，在自然中找到自己内心所想表述的一切。她试着做了一些作品以后，找不到艺术感染力，为此她吃不香，睡不安，这时恰逢杭州举办根雕展览，在儿子的鼓动下，她赶到省城杭州用心参观，用心琢磨，她揣摸着这些作品的色泽、肌理，用直觉感受着艺术带给人的神秘和喜悦，因为胆怯和对艺术的敬畏，她并不敢开口请教，把自己的迷惑和问题都放在心里。经过无数次的琢磨、试雕和失败，她看到自己的作品慢慢地成形了，成熟起来了，欧阳小慧的心里此时别提有多高兴!

1995年下半年在千岛湖龙山岛上举办了一次根雕展，这次展览让她的根雕艺术更往前推进了一步。那次根雕展上，欧阳小慧遇到了浙江根艺美术协会的方国庆，方国庆对这位只有小学文化的农家老妇人搞根雕觉得不可思议，当他去欧阳小慧的家里看到了她的根雕作品后却感叹不已，称赞不已，他马上就推荐她参加浙江省根艺美术协会，同年她又正式成为全国根艺美术协会唯一的女会员。一段时间以后她感觉自己知识的贫乏和不够用，于是她想到了到老年大学去进修学习充实自己，她学绘画、书法、篆刻、装裱，整整五年从不脱课，她如饥似渴地吸收着各种知识，这使她的根艺创作如虎添翼。

艺术的魅力就在于能让人全身心地投入其间，忘记苦乐，因为创作的过程就是一个探求、激发人潜能的过程。艺术是永恒的，追求艺术，有艺术相伴，人生总会更完美。

The Legend of a Root-Carving Woman

By Lu Penghong

It is hard to imagine how Ouyang Xiaohui, a 68-year-old silver-haired woman, could handle such heavy tools and carve wonders out of bulky roots. She is the very famous woman who won a top national prize for her work, a prize coveted by so many professional artists. She is an established artist now. For years, the Zhejiang Root Carving Artists Association and the National Root Carving Artists Association did not have a single woman artist until Ouyang Xiaohui came along.

If you examine her life story, you's notice that nothing seemingly suggests that she had an aptitude for art and that she would become an artist one day. Instead, you see poverty, family responsibility, and tenacity. She is a farmer in a village in Jiande City, Zhejiang, a coastal province in east China. The village where she lives is located in one of the poverty-stricken mountainous areas in the province. From childhood years on, she worked like an adult, taking care of her sick mother and working hard to make money while her father worked away from home. Her husband was crippled in a severe road accident in 1980 and died six years later. She worked in the fields and took care of her three children.

Then in 1991, a television program on root-carving she watched by chance changed her life forever. The trees and their roots had been almost a constant element in her life and can be seen everywhere around her village. How come a root could become so beautiful after you cut it here and there? Greatly fascinated, she was eager to try her hand at the art and she liked what she did with the roots. She began to focus her attention on all kinds of roots around her, wondering what she could do with them. She would dig and haul home the promising roots that could be used later.

The initial experiments on the root-carving, however, were not successful. The failure made her unable to sleep well, and food lost its taste. Then a root carving exhibition held in Hangzhou saved her from anxiety and frustration. Her son asked her to take a look at other artists?works. She traveled to Hangzhou and learned a great deal from the exhibits. After a few years of hard work and explorations, she gradually mastered the art and found her expressions in the roots she sculpted.

The second half of 1995 was a turning point in her new quest.A root carving exhibition was held at the Dragon Hill Island on the Thousand-Isle Lake near her home. At the exhibition, she met Fang Guoqing, an established artist from the Zhejiang Root-Carving Artists Association. Fang thought it was incredible when learning that this woman with only primary education had been enthusiastically creating serious sculptures on roots. He visited her at her home and highly acclaimed her sculpted creations. Pretty soon, Ouyang Xiaohui became a member of the provincial and national root-carving artists associations at Fang's recommendation.

Probably what she did later partly explains how she became versed in arts. To better explore the mysteries and wonders of the root carving art, Ouyang enrolled herself into the local college for senior people. For five years, she attended every class on calligraphy, painting, seal engraving, and paint mounting and studied assiduously.

Her sculpted root artwork entitled Fantasy won her a bronze award at the 3rd National Root Carving Artwork Competition and “Liu Kaiqu Root Art Award? Magic Deer, another of her masterpieces, won her the gold award at the 96 Zhejiang Root Carving Competition.

After learning her life story, her late-blooming art career, and the mystical inspirations of her works, you will probably find it hard to imagine she is just an ordinary 68-year-old farmer if you visit her at her home. But seeing is believing. Her house is virtually an art gallery of her masterpieces. The sitting room, the balcony, and rooms are full of her sculptures. The day I was there, some professors from Beijing University, some teachers and students from the China Academy of Fine Arts were visiting too.

Even after seeing and believing, you cannot help but wonder what else is shining through such an ordinary and extraordinary soul: passion for life and art, imagination, artistic perception, understanding and insight into hidden beauty, and eagerness for self-expression.

(Translated by Tian Jinjiang)