FangWeiming's Preface

I have been engaged in the field of pottery art for thirty-eight years. I started my work in the plant as an apprentice first learning thumb decal decorating and later manual inlay. I also learned a whole set of crafts by heart including making glaze, clay materials, molding and kilning. The mastery of crafts and skillfully working with my thumbs has made good conditions for my works of pottery art.

During more than fifty years, from the craft of copying when I was an apprentice to creating when I had grown up and to creating at ease now, I have made nearly one thousand big or small potteries and formed my own modern folk style in pottery making.

To make a summary of my pottery career, I can find out the change of pottery shapes which developed from square and round of traditional shapes to various shapes, and to combination of carving and inlay, and molding by combining inlay and thin rough works. The most special decal is the free crafts developing from fine work to self-form style. The shape and appearance made, and abstract and overstatement expressed from the crafts presents the charm and flavor of clay under the thumb decal for their trimness. The creating method which inherits the tradition and combines with style of life simplicity, stresses the thumb skills and thoughts and displays the interest and picturesque scene with natural emphasis.

We live to learn. Because of hard condition in my youth time, I have never slacked off and have kept learning culture, reading many books, being close to the nature and doing more sketching. Meanwhile, I have kept teaching intern students from art department Qinghua university, Centre Art Institute and China Art Institute and have acquired a lot of knowledge and new ideas from them.

In my simple life, intensively studying clay is my interest and the enjoyment in it is what I care for and pursue for my lifetime. I also feel fortunate for I have so many sincere friends and learn with them. We enjoy the pottery art and are making more and more progress.