邱玉林:让现代艺术彩陶“红杏出墙”

走进“玉林陶艺”，犹如走进了一个百花盛开的大花园，如置身于绚丽多彩的霓虹世界，给人以美轮美奂的震撼。这里纷呈的色彩、多变的造型、润泽的光芒，让人目不暇接。这些质地古朴、形态多变、色彩飞扬、装饰华美的彩陶，大都出自工艺美术大师邱玉林之手。

另一种“土地”

1975年夏，正在村办砖瓦厂干活的邱玉林接到通知：他被推荐成了江苏省宜兴陶瓷工业学校的“工农兵学员”，这可是几个村子里仅有的一个名额！邱玉林兴奋得在身旁的空中水管上做了个单杠上翻动作，不慎动作没做好，嘴巴撞在铁管上磕掉了半颗门牙，此时不光疼得厉害，连说话也漏风了！但他心里仍美滋滋的，因为，他觉得命运之神已为他开启了一扇大门，只要跨进去，不仅跳出了“农门”，而且，一种全新的生活在等着他。

入学摸底考试时，每人发到一张白纸，要求临摹挂在黑板上的一幅人物画。邱玉林并不会画画，但他还是认真地依葫芦画瓢地画了起来。事后知道，不少人交的是白卷，进了别的专业。和他一样没交白卷的，则分到了陶瓷装饰班。从此以后他这拿惯了锄头的手居然拿起了画笔、刻刀，在另一种“土地”上耕耘起来。尽管是从“零”开始，但由于他的聪颖和勤奋，几年修炼下来，已为同学瞩目和深受老师钟爱。

1977年，邱玉林从江苏省轻工业学校陶瓷装饰专业毕业被分到了宜兴彩陶厂，这是个生产砂锅、泡菜坛等日用陶的企业，面对着那粗糙的坛坛罐罐，一心想着大展身手的邱玉林简直泄气了：这些东西有什么做头呀？他傻呆呆地看着看着，忽然发现这里面蕴藏着搞艺术的极大空间：不是提倡“工艺品要日用化，日用品要艺术化”么？对，就从日用品要艺术化做起！他和技术人员一起，通过改进原料配方，使材质具备细白、抗压、抗拉、吸水率低、结晶度高的特点，并施以各种不同的釉彩，通过雕镂、刻画、涂刷、印刷等装饰手法，饰以赏心悦目的图案。他牛刀初试，以这些日用陶作为载体，在上面恣意挥洒艺术才华。通过造型、装饰的美化，这些原本粗陋的坛坛罐罐一下子变得面目一新，原本只能放在层角的泡菜坛，居然能够放在堂前长台上作为一种陈设供人欣赏了！邱玉林对于这样的成就非常高兴。

别样的“风景”

上个世纪80年代初，中央工艺美术学院著名教授郑可带着一批研究生来宜兴彩陶厂搞创作实习。这位留法归来的教授现代派的创作理念、工业设计的美学思想给彩陶工艺品的发展注入了新的血液。郑可教授教导邱玉林：现代艺术彩陶的形成离不开传统的底蕴，也离不开国外艺术的牵引，它是在传统基础上结合现代需求理念，结合当代审美情趣及烧制条件创新的独特器形。陶泥、陶釉是艺术传神达意的载体，要通过艺术的想象、艺术的手法给人以各种美的感受。要学会多路思考：将一个物体延伸改变，每个人的理解与表现手法不同，于是就有了千姿百态。怀着对彩陶艺术的美好憧憬，邱玉林努力消化郑教授的创新理念，在彩陶的造型上大胆创新，突破了传统瓶体圆雕形的创作手法，把几何形、流线形、抽象形、异体形成作为主攻方向，标新立异，让造型动起来、活起来。他的代表作《扇舞瓶》就给视觉带来一种全新的形态刺激，你可把它看成一把打开的折扇，也可以把它看成一个双手拉开裙裾翩翩起舞的舞娘，更可以把它看作姑娘们手中舞扇组成的各种图案，忽分忽聚，满台生辉；又如《望月瓶》是个双翼瓶，瓶形随底座与椭圆形口向左右伸展，显得雄浑而有气魄，它在有羽状饰，似翱翔云天之鹰。瓶器圆中套圆，大圆、凹圆、凸圆，并在顶部挖一圆透亮如日，侧伴新月如钩。这似乎是宇宙的缩写，令人浮想联翩……

他在代表作《希望》瓶体上，用色泥渐变的装饰手法，根据泥的色彩，由亮处、暗处、中间色，层层递增，形成沐浴在曙光之中的远山近峦，在此背景上用刻刀画出一棵抽象的树和几只扑翅飞腾的小鸟。这是大自然的缩写，是融入作者情怀的具有全新思维的独特创造，整个画面既有国画的意境，又有剪纸的韵味，一派朝气蓬勃，充满了生机和活力。细细品味，但见金色的晨曦之中，群山醒来了，青枝绿叶在舒展，小鸟在歌唱，生命的液汁在枝叶间涌动，新的希望在向世间万物招手，大自然的生灵又开始了新的一天的憧憬……给人美好的遐思和无穷的意韵。

就这样，通过不懈的求索，邱玉林和他的同事们在彩陶这块古老的艺苑中拓出了一片别样的风景。

出墙的“红杏”

30多年来，邱玉林沉浸在彩陶艺术天地里，上下求索，乐此不疲。他特别注重吸纳外来陶艺作品的艺术创作法则与思想，上世纪80年代他仿制了一批日本现代陶艺作品，从中悟出了很多陶器艺术创作手法，并将日本陶艺的造型装饰与中国的传统创作理念融合应用到一起，此外，他还在很多外国陶艺书刊中寻到了创作灵感和可借签的素材，在跟外国陶艺界朋友的艺术交流中领会到外来文化的特色，并将它们融入自己的作品之中，创作出属于自己的东西。东西方文化的碰撞与交流开阔了他的视野，拓宽了他们的创新思路。陶瓷语言和中西文化激发了他的思考与顿悟，触发了他的艺术灵感，使他的作品不仅是一种绚丽多彩的艺术形象，给人以美的享受，而且是一支乐曲，一篇诗章，一种生命，凝聚着历史、文化、哲理，给人以生活的启迪。1990年邱玉林的作品《曙光》获第四届全国陶瓷艺术展砰二等奖；2000年，他的《古韵釉陶》荣获第二届中国工艺美术大师精品展金奖；2001年作品《沉默系列》，荣获第三届中国工艺美术大师精品博览会金奖。2006年邱玉林像票友玩票那样玩了一把紫砂，将现代陶艺理念与传统的紫砂文化巧妙地糅合到一起，创作了《紫玉瓶》。这件作品通过手拉坯简练的造型，将轮廓线的张力扩展到了视觉的极限，强烈的秩序感将现代构成设计的形式演译得完美无缺，使人游离在若有若无若隐若现的非饱和视觉感受中，这件作品终于在第八届全国陶瓷艺术评比中荣获金奖。

30多年的风风雨雨铸造出邱玉林这样一手好陶艺，他的作品如今已远销海外，经销他作品的不仅有华侨，还有美国客商、俄罗斯客商，中国的现代艺术彩陶“红杏出墙”了！有个美国客商对邱玉林说：“你的作品有浓厚的东方古文化的底蕴，又有许多代西方文化的时尚元素，在美国很受欢迎。”这位美国朋友还出了一本彩色画册，把邱玉林的艺术彩陶介绍给西方世界，把中国的彩陶文化通过各种渠道传播给各国朋友，有个俄罗斯客商要花重金购买他的展品，邱玉林为难地说：“这件展品是非卖品，不能给你。”客商说：“为什么？做了就要让人买。艺术没有国界，你的作品俄国人也喜欢，我将它买回去能让更多的了解中国现代彩陶艺术。”面对着鹊起的声誉，邱玉林并不满足。他说：美没有顶峰，没有止境。追求美的过程是艰辛的，但这是一种体验成功的过程，永远是一个新的憧憬。这种憧憬能促使你不断追求，促成一个个成功的接力，一次次超越的接力。

Artist Makes Art Pottery

By Zhao Qinfen, Xu Zhoubo

Qiu Yulin has established himself as a master of modern art pottery. But his art career started from zero in the summer of 1975 when he was a worker at the village kiln. One day, he was informed he had been accepted by a polytechnic college in Yixing, an important city of pottery and porcelain in China. He was the only one chosen for the opportunity in his village and a few neighboring villages. Learning the news, he was so excited that he did a gym stunt on a piece of water pipe which served as the horizontal bar. But the poor gymnast bumped his mouth on the pipe and half of a tooth was knocked out. In the last few years of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), some young people were recommended to colleges for receiving higher education not because they were academically qualified but because they were farmers, factory workers or soldiers.

Qiu was one of the lucky young people. The first academic thing he did on the first day in the college classroom was an aptitude test. He was given a piece of paper and was asked to copy a figure on the blackboard. Though he had never drawn anything seriously all his life, he just copied the figure. Later he learned that many of his classmates were unable to draw anything and handed the blank paper in. For the figure he successfully copied, he was assigned to study porcelain decoration. Qiu was nothing if he was not intelligent and diligent. Through two years, he worked hard to learn and his creations won good reviews from classmates and teachers.

In 1977, Qiu Yulin was assigned to a pottery factory. The sight of the ugly urns for making pickled vegetables discouraged the ambitious young artisan. But his enthusiasm bounced back fast. He looked at all these rough urns and jars and ideas came to him. All these crude things were just a virgin land for him to beautify. So he improved formula and applied decorative methods to these household jars.

In the early 1980s, Zheng Ke, a professor with the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts came with a team of students to the factory where Qiu worked. It was another opportunity Qiu grabbed. The professor had studied in France and had many modern ideas. Under the guidance of the professor, Qiu focused on the shapes of jars and urns and began to experiment. He made jars, urns, vases in different shapes. Through such tireless exploration and pursuit, Qiu has made great breakthroughs in making pottery and made many successful art pottery pieces.

For more than three decades, Qiu has explored the pottery art. He has absorbed foreign ideas and developed his own style. In the 1980s, he imitated Japanese modern pottery and learned to combine the Chinese and Japanese elements. As the result of the study, he began to create his innovative pieces. In 1990, his Dawn won a second prize at a national arts and crafts exhibition. In 2000 and 2001, his creations won two golden prizes at two national exhibitions. In 2006, he made a purple-clay teakettle, which won the golden prize at a national competition.

Now Qiu Yulin enjoys an international reputation for his art potteries. His artworks combine oriental elements with modern western art.Many of his masterpieces have been purchased by overseas collectors.

(Translated by David)