Basking in the warm sunshine of early winter and walking through the birch path, four international students entered the LuXun Academy of Fine Arts to jointly explore the reproduction of the jade pig-shaped dragon of the Hongshan Culture through traditional Chinese batik technique. This time, they gave the jade pig-shaped dragon a new “skin color” – Chinese Blue.
The four international students, hailing from South Korea, the Republic of Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Pakistan, learned the entire process of creating a batik jade pig-shaped dragon from Wang Xiaodan, a teacher at the Institute of Textile & Fashion Design. Traditional batik involves the use of plant-based dye derived from isatis root for artistic creation. After drawing, waxing, dyeing, drying, and dewaxing, a batik work is finally produced. The unique indigo blue of the isatis root is known as “Chinese Blue”. Batik is a traditional Chinese printing and dyeing technique and is also a national-level intangible cultural heritage.
According to Wang Xiaodan, more diverse pigments are currently used in batik to produce pure blue hues, including isatis root, mineral dyes and acrylic paints. On white cloth, the international students first outlined the shape of the jade pig-shaped dragon and then picked up brushes to apply the pigments. Curtis, an international student from Liaoning Communication University, who has a foundation in painting, quickly mastered the technique of depicting the jade pig-shaped dragon with a brush, using varying shades of blue to create a sense of relief on the surface of the artifact.
The international students, who were experiencing batik for the first time, were full of enthusiasm as they meticulously depicted the image of the jade pig-dragon with captivating blue pigments. After applying melted white wax to the cotton cloth with the jade pig-shaped dragon drawings, they submerged the cloth into the dye bath. After the cloth drying, the students manually created cracks in the dyed fabric, resulting in artistic textures on the surface of the batik jade pig-shaped dragon. After dewaxing, blue batik jade pig-dragon artworks were finally completed.
“The jade pig-shaped dragon looks even more beautiful and lovely after being dyed blue and turned into a batik decorative painting,” said Gimjinyi excitedly, a South Korean international student. “Before coming to Liaoning, we had heard of the Hongshan Culture and were very interested in it. My classmates and I recreated the jade pig-shaped dragon using batik technique, which is a new way to learn about the Hongshan Culture beyond textbooks. It’s quite interesting.”
