Foreigners set up shop in capital of ceramics
Print Edition
AMERICAN artist Ryan Labar carefully wipes his ceramic sculptures as he greets visitors at his studio in east China’s Jiangxi Province.
Labar is among the first group of foreign artists to start a workshop in Taoxichuan, a ceramic-themed avenue that opened last week in Jingdezhen, China’s ceramics capital.
“I put my workshop here because I saw the scope of the project,” said Labar, who arrived in the city a year ago and has since worked at Taoxichuan International Studio, a government-funded program.
The program sponsors foreign artists to work in the studio for three to four months, but Labar chose to stay.
Partnering with Chinese businessman Wang Jusi, Labar established Lab Artz, a workshop where he plans to house more artists and offer ceramics classes.
“More and more artists are coming to be part of the avenue and help build it up,” said Wang, who also wrote the business plan for Lab Artz.
Taoxichuan offers preferential rates for young artists and foreign artists, said Liu Zili, general manager of Jingdezhen Ceramic Culture Tourism Group, a state-owned enterprise and developer of the avenue.
In the evening, not far from Labar’s studio, people swarm around the booths that line both sides of the avenue to buy ceramics. The booths are rented to college students and young artists for free, Liu said.
Over 3,000 people have signed up for the booths. “It is a place for young artists to build their dreams,” Liu said.
Taoxichuan was once the site of 10 thriving ceramic plants in Jingdezhen, a city with a 1,700-year history of making porcelain.
The plants, built 60 years ago, were once important porcelain export bases, but they suffered from a drastic drop in profits in the 1990s and employees were laid off as the plants became deserted. However, in 2014 the local government decided to renovate them to revitalize the area.
Over 450 million yuan (US$66.4 million) has been invested in the avenue, turning it into an art community bustling with workshops, cultural centers, galleries, restaurants and hotels.
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