當密西西比河遇上衢江

徐麗

3個月前，作為衢州市與雷德溫市友好城市之間的藝術交流使者，阿特攜夫人凱瑟琳來到衢州，進行為期一個月的藝術交流。當位于密西西比河上游的雷德溫市與碧水衢江畔的古城衢州在藝術的領域親切牽手，會碰撞出哪些動人的火花呢？帶著這個疑問，筆者來到衢州職業技術學院精心為阿特先生準備的工作室，走訪了這位感性而真誠的藝術家。

“繪畫是沒有國界的”

初見阿特，他就向記者感慨自己這幾天和徐建文、葉云龍、潘宇等衢州藝術家們待在一塊“玩瘋了”：“在這里，我變成了一個70歲的老男孩。”

事實上，70歲的阿特盡管頭發全白，仍不失優雅。

面對筆者和周圍的一群藝術家時，天性率真的阿特像個小男孩似的把手乖乖放在膝蓋上，回答問題的時候表情專注從容，一開口說的卻是學院小吃街上的芋艿、粽子。

時間拉回到2013年10月4日，那是阿特先生來衢州的第一天。當他來到衢州市青年畫家潘宇的畫室時，立刻就被那種恣意揮灑的山水潑墨吸引住了：畫中有青衫磊落的書生，有把酒臨風的和尚，有菩提樹下款款而來的美人輕啟朱唇，把小曲兒輕輕唱……那是完全游離于他日常感知之外的一個神奇世界：“中國畫是一個美麗的陷阱，掉進去，很難再爬出來。”阿特如此形容自己第一次見到潘宇畫作時的奇妙感覺。

阿特早年從明尼蘇達大學獲得藝術學和新聞學雙學士學位，獨特的學習經歷滋養了他發現美的獨特眼光和源源不斷的創作靈感。在觀看婺劇表演后，阿特當晚便創作了一幅栩栩如生的戲曲人物畫像，盡管畫中人物是原汁原味的婺劇角色，但有趣的是，當人們仔細端詳這張畫作時，發現畫中人物的臉變成了阿特妻子凱瑟琳的樣子。“藝術家總是難免偶爾調皮。 ”已經和阿特成為好朋友的潘宇笑言。

阿特笑著告訴筆者，在這一個月里，他參觀了許多衢州藝術家的工作室，深深地為他們的筆墨所折服：“繪畫是沒有國界的，線條和色彩永遠不會欺騙眼睛。 ”

“鄉村是一座城市最真實的橫截面”

“與人相比，事物的老化則要緩慢得多。一部古老的小說或者一頂絲綢小傘上面最多只會積些灰塵，而拿過這部小說或者撐過這頂傘的那只手卻早就腐朽了。事情總是這樣的，難道不是嗎？ ”在阿特的理解里，城市總在不斷地變化

FRIENDSHIP友好往來

在觀看婺劇表演后，阿特當晚便創作了一幅栩栩如生的戲曲人物畫像。

Art Kenyon created this oil painting at the same night after he watched a Wuju Opera play in Quzhou.

著，只有“鄉村才是一座城市最真實的橫截面，那里保留著人們最完整的童年”。

與本地藝術家一道，阿特用將近半個月的時間走訪了衢州許多藏在深山間的村落。他喜歡行走，一些遙遠的村莊只能步行到達 —在龍游沐塵鄉民的泥土屋里，他跟著村民一起熱熱鬧鬧地打年糕、做麻糍；在夜幕下的鄉村宴席上，他從人們酒令頻頻、觥籌交錯間，感受著中國鄉村的獨特風情。

而在東坪寫生的那個午后，恰逢一場秋雨的不期而落，山間草木被雨打濕，滿目蒼碧中透出衰黃，小徑上遠遠走來一位披著蓑衣的老人，此情此景，儼然是一幅流動的水墨畫。阿特興奮得幾乎要跳起來了：“這簡直是夢里都不會出現的場景！ ”顧不上綿密的細雨沾濕了發梢，他支起畫架便全神貫注地畫了起來：“需要專注的東西就不能被分攤，比如你和女朋友約會，就不要再把工作帶出來了。”

來衢州寫生的這一個月，成了阿特創作的高產期，從《深山古村》到《竹林》，從《宮殿的思考》到《微笑的小豬》……這位來自密西西比河畔的畫家用手中的畫筆生動地詮釋了他眼中的衢州。

在阿特看來，藝術家必須具有天生的好奇心，將個人感覺融入創作之中，表現那些都市情韻和田園風景。此次展覽中有近一半的作品，都是阿特將眼光投向衢州的風物：“我站在江的這邊，看到這里還保留著幾千年前的古城墻，而對岸卻飛速地建起了一座嶄新的城市。我未曾見過新舊事物以如此這般的速度相互撞擊、改變、交匯、融合，不同于雷德溫的靜緩，衢州乃至整個中國，都處在飛速的發展當中。于是，在衢州度過了短短幾天之后，我就意識到必須把它們畫下來。”阿特說。

“期待澆灌出更鮮艷的友誼之花”

10月27日，也是阿特畫展的最后一天，一切都在有條不紊地進行著，然而阿特的心情卻變得有些沉重，因為第二天，他就要離開衢州了。“這里太美了，有畫不完的美景、聽不完的故事，我已經愛上了衢州。 ”通過翻譯，阿特不止一次地向筆者表達自己對這座城市的喜愛。

就在前一天，阿特代表美國雷德溫市姐妹城市委員會參加了衢州二中60周年的校慶活動。幽靜的校園環境，濃厚的學習氛圍，悠久的歷史積淀，都令這位來自大洋彼岸的藝術家贊嘆不已。而在其后的“姐妹學校交流活動”中，紅五環廣場上90多名中外學生共同繪制60米長卷的場景，也令阿特久久難忘：“我很欣慰自己能看到這樣的一幕，藝術已經完美地與這個學校、這座城市的氣息相融合。 ”

“不論在阿特的作品還是他的眼中，世界永遠都是美好的，他的作品用色極純凈，仿佛有著一股靜水流淌的魅力，牢牢地吸引著人們的目光，這些都源于他內心的靜穆與純真。 ”衢州市美協主席徐建文這樣評價。

從阿特滿滿的行程里，徐建文擷取了這樣一個片段與筆者分享：“在走過很長一段山路后，我們來到一個古舊的村莊，看到一只小豬沖著我們齜牙咧嘴。阿特看到的卻是這只豬在微笑，這讓他高興。”正是這段經歷，催生了那幅《微笑的小豬》。如今，這幅畫連同阿特另外9幅描繪密西西比河沿岸風光的畫作一起留在了衢州。這些洋溢著東方水墨韻味的油畫作品，儼然成為一部融匯東西方文明的山水人文長卷，成為衢州與雷德溫市友誼的永久見證。

不僅是這10幅畫，事實上，兩個城市之間友誼的見證還可追溯到70多年前的那場將衢州與世界命運緊緊相連的“杜立特行動”。阿特告訴記者，在雷德溫市，幾乎人人都知道“衢州”，70多年前被衢州人民營救的美國飛行員的后代們至今仍感謝衢州。“盡管相隔萬里，但兩個城市在文化和情感上是息息相通的。 ”阿特表示，“我做的是把前輩的工作重拾起來，期待在衢州這座友好之城里，澆灌出更鮮艷的友誼之花。”□

American Artist Sketches in Quzhou

By Xu Li

Since Quzhou， Zhejiang， China and Red Wing， Minnesota， the U.S. became sister cities in 1994， the two cities have conducted successful exchange programs of education and culture. An exchange artist program started in 2003. Every two years， an artist from one of the sister cities visits the other sister city and creates artworks. Since 2003， Quzhou has sent over 5 artists and photogra-phers to Red Wing and four artists from Red Wing have visited Quzhou.

In October 2013， Art Kenyon and his wife Catherine arrived in Quzhou for a month-long exchange program. What would sparkle when Red Wing， a city on the upstream part of the Mississippi River， connected with

Quzhou on the Qujiang River？ I

went to visit the American artist at the studio set up especially for him by Quzhou Polytechnic College.

Shortly after we met， the artist marveled

how the first few days in Xuzhou had turned

him into a 70-year-young boy. In the first few days， he made friends with local artists and was regally entertained.

With his new friends watching， Art Kenyon sat like a boy， placing his hands on the knees and listening to my questions at-tentively. He said he was deeply impressed with the local snack food he had tried at an outdoor foot court on the campus.

Art Kenyon visited the studio of Pan Yu，

阿特正在創作中。

Art Kenyon at his studio in Quzhou

a young artist of Quzhou， shortly after his arrival on October 4. He was immediately swept off feet by the traditional Chinese landscape painting style. The painting brought him into a world beyond his every-day experience. He described his first im-pression to me： “Chinese art is like a beauti-ful trap. Once you fall in， you cant extract

yourself.” A graduate with double degrees

from Minnesota University， Art has a special

talent to find beauty. After watching a Wuju

Opera play， he created a portrait painting of a

figure in the costume. At the first glance， the

portrait portrays a woman from the regional play of Zhejiang， but a closer look reveals that the woman， though dressed in the theater costume， looks like his wife Catherine.

Art visited many local artists at their studi-os and found their arts wonderful. For nearly half a month he traveled across Quzhou with local artists and sketched busily. He traveled to some distant villages in mountains. He made cakes with villagers and drank wine.

Art Kenyon was highly productive during

his stay in Quzhou. He finished quite a few

paintings. The paintings reflect Quzhou in his eyes.

According to Art Kenyon， an artist must be born with a curiosity and must translate his personal feelings into the rural and urban landscapes. Traveling around Quzhou gave the American an insight into the changes Quzhou has been undergoing. Standing on

美國雷德溫市畫家阿特與衢州職業技術學院學生在一起。

Art Kenyon from Red Wing， Minnesota， US， displays a poster with Chinese friends at Quzhou Polytechnic College.

FRIENDSHIP友好往來

衢州市外僑辦、衢州市文廣局等單位領導出席阿特藝術作品展開幕式。

Leaders of Quzhou authorities of culture， foreign affairs and overseas Chinese affairs attend the opening ceremony of Art Kenyon Art Exhibition.

the bank of Qujiang River， he saw the ancient city wall and on the other bank a brand new

city growing. “I have never seen the new

and the old come together like this， changing each other and getting mixed. Unlike the qui-etude of Red Wing， Quzhou as well as China is changing. Thats why I got to understand

that I must paint the changes.”

Art Kenyon held an exhibition in Quzhou displaying the paintings he had painted in Quzhou. He left ten oil paintings as gifts to Quzhou. Nine are landscapes of the Missis-sippi River he had brought over from Red Wing. The one is about a small pig he creat-ed in Quzhou. He painted quite a few paint-ings about Quzhou， which he brought back to Red Wing to show his fellow Americans what he did in Quzhou.

Xu Jianwen， a local artist， told me how Art created this painting. After a long trek in mountains， they reached a small village nestled in a valley. They found they were wel-comed by a young big showing its teeth. Art happily thought the piglet was smiling. The unusual welcoming grin inspired the Ameri-can and he created this painting.

Xu， the chair of Quzhou Artists Associa-tion， commented that in the eyes and paint-ings of Art Kenyon the world is beautiful. He prefers pure tints for his paintings and his paintings grab viewers attention. The charms of his paintings are from the serenity and innocence of his heart.

On behalf of the city of Red Wing， Art Kenyon attended a ceremony at Quzhou No.2 Middle School in celebration the 60th anniversary of the school. He was deeply im-pressed with the campus and students there. He was also thrilled by the event in which 90 Chinese and international students jointly created a 60-meter-long painting at the Red Five Rings Square.