Good Gypsum Carvings Spring from Fine Craftsmanship

Text by Chen Yong

Photos by Zou Bin

In a line of small bungalows on the South Road of Yingcheng Gymnasium,an old man in his seventies is carefully carving a block of gypsum with a carving knife. The old man seems unaware of the pouring rain outside. His name is Wu Bailin. He has been dealing in gypsum carvings for more than 40 years. From an apprentice to a representative inheritor of the art as a provincial intangible cultural heritage, he is now a big name in Yingcheng gypsum carving.

The workshop is filled with white gypsum materials, full of both subtlety and masculinity.However, this gypsum-carving master can magically transform these raw gypsum stones into galloping horses and naughty monkeys. In the showroom, the carved gypsum works are as bright and smooth as jade, with lifelike shapes and patterns.

Yingcheng, known as the “town of gypsum and salt sea,” is rich in gypsum mineral resources.Ingenious craftsmen carve raw gypsum into varied handicrafts.This art has been passed down for more than 200 years in this small county. Nowadays, there are 14 gypsum carving processing plants of different sizes in Yingcheng,with more than 80 carving artists, among whom Wu Bailin is one of the most outstanding representatives.

“While selecting the raw material, we need to find the pure pieces in alabaster and those of standard structure and tighter in fibrous gypsum,” said Wu Bailin. According to him, it could take a few days or half a year to carve a gypsum sculpture, from the selection and cutting of the raw stones, to repeated manual carving, grinding, smoothing, and shaping.

Wu learned the art of gypsum carving from his father. More than a lover of arts and crafts,his father writes and paints,under whose influence Wu has developed a keen interest in gypsum carving.

When the gypsum powder is blown away, an exquisite gypsum carving comes into being吹去石膏粉，一件精美的膏雕作品已現雛形

應城市體育館南路的一排小平房內，一位七旬老人手拿雕刻刀，對著一塊石膏小心雕琢，屋外大雨滂沱，老人似乎渾然不覺。他叫伍柏林，與石膏打了40多年交道，從學徒到省級非物質文化遺產膏雕代表性傳承人，伍柏林被譽為“應城膏雕活名片”。

車間內堆滿白色的石膏材料，粗獷中透著細膩，經過這位膏雕大師之手，這些石膏原石變身一匹匹奮蹄的駿馬、一只只機靈的頑猴。陳列室內，雕好的石膏工藝品，瑩潤如玉，栩栩如生。

應城素有“膏都鹽海”的美譽，有著豐富的石膏礦產資源，心靈手巧的匠人們將細膩的石膏雕琢成工藝品，這門手藝在這個小縣城已經傳承200多年。如今，應城有大小膏雕加工廠14家，膏雕藝人80余人，伍柏林就是其中杰出的代表人物。

“雪花膏里面有雜質的要排除，纖維膏就是結構標準、緊致些，用這種膏做工藝品。”伍柏林說，一件膏雕作品，從挑選原石到切割，再到無數次手工的雕刻、打磨、撫平，方成形，少則幾天時間，多則花費半年。

Wu talking with his son about their online store 與兒子商討網店經營

Over the past four decades,Wu has designed and made more than 400 gypsum carvings, which have won many awards both at home and abroad. He innovated the “single-body” carving method into a “double-layer” one by applying a resin process, which makes the gypsum carving works more expressive, dynamic, and impressive.“Now I’m less engaged in the carving myself. I’m too old for the job,” said Wu, who desired to pass on this art. However, many young people are frightened by the working environment clouded with white dust. Besides, the studio is cold in winter and hot in summer.

In 2009, Wu Bailin asked his son, Wu Yingchao, who was working in Beijing to return home. He hoped that his son, a man born in the 1980s with an e-commerce degree, could bring a new look to this old art form.

The young man registered an online store, posted the pictures of their products, and in no time attracted several foreign trade companies which ordered custom-made gypsum pillows,candle-holders, and Roman-style columns from them. The gypsum carving art long-held by the Wu family is now going abroad.

In order to attract more followers to the art of gypsum carving, Wu Bailin has developed a set of “easy methods” for gypsum carving, which are easy to understand and adopt.The trainees can grasp certain carving skills after a short period of training. Up to now, the old master has trained more than 400 gypsum craftsmen.

Wu cleansing the works in the show cabinet 擦拭展柜內的作品

Gypsum carvings start from sawing raw gypsum stones 膏雕從鋸胚開始

伍柏林的膏雕技術，是跟他父親學的。父親喜歡搞工藝美術，能寫會畫，耳濡目染之下，他也對膏雕產生了濃厚的興趣。

幾十年來，伍柏林設計制作出工藝膏雕產品400余種，產品在第四屆世婦會、全國花博會、省工業精品展等展會上獲得多個獎項，他還用樹脂法改“單體”雕刻法為“雙層”雕刻法，解決了原先膏雕作品表現力不強的問題，使作品更具立體感。

“現在自己動手少了，年紀大了，雕不動了。”伍柏林說，他想將這門藝術繼續傳承下去。可漫天白灰、冬冷夏熱的工作環境讓不少年輕人望而卻步。

2009年，伍柏林喊回了在北京的兒子伍應超，希望這位電商專業畢業的80后兒子，能給自己的老手藝帶來新氣象。小伍注冊了網店，將自家產品圖片掛上去，一下子引來幾家外貿公司，找他們定做出口的石膏枕、燭臺、羅馬柱，讓老伍守護的膏雕技藝走出了國門。

為了讓更多人投入膏雕藝術，伍柏林摸索出一套膏雕“速成法”，淺顯易懂，易記易操作，學員經短期學習培訓，便可掌握一定的操作技能。幾年來，老人家已累計培養膏雕人才400余人。