Su Yu: The Pioneer of Hemp Embroidery

Su obtained, ancestry Liuyang Yongan, August 24, 1940 was born in Changsha. He is a senior arts and crafts master, a master of arts and crafts in Hunan Province, a master of embroidery craft in Hunan Province, a member of the China Arts and Crafts Association, and the vice chairman of the Hunan Arts and Crafts Association. Due to medical treatment, died at 10:38 on March 5, 2009, aged 70 years old.

Coarse and thick tree body, ethereal and elastic branches, light spots flashing leaves, all enveloped in the sense of space in nature. A pile of fallen leaves, piled up under the shadows of the trees, a few of them, lifted by the wind, so that you can not help but raise your feet and chase, reach out and pick up. If you don't see it with your own eyes, it's hard to imagine that such a work is embroidered with hemp thread on summer cloth.

Natural landscapes and portraits are subjects that Su Yu specializes in. In this "Pond Path" work, you can no longer see the needle and thread traces of traditional Hunan embroidery. "No rules are not round is the law, no rules are also round is the art", through Su Yu's years of exploration and research, the previous loss of weight in the skills of embroidery, began to return to the art of simple and pure.

Xiang embroidery innovation

Perhaps it is Su Yu halfway through the cause of the innovation of Hunan embroidery so thoroughly.

Su Yu loved painting since childhood, but he used to be a professional basketball coach, after a variety of identity changes, in 1989, he stepped into the world of Hunan embroidery as a beginner. At this time, he has been a little known painter, and its drawings of a number of works hanging in the Hunan Provincial Party Committee auditorium and other places.

After engaging in Hunan embroidery, oil painter Su Yu put a lot of energy on how to combine oil painting with Hunan embroidery. Difficulties ensued.

The color scale of traditional Chinese painting rust is only a few, while the color scale of oil painting embroidery is often countless, how to use needle and thread to express the distinctive characteristics of oil painting? Su Yu bought blank threads and dyed twenty or thirty color gradations himself. He knows how to use the thread to adjust the color, such as yellow and blue thread mixed embroidery becomes green, while the traditional Hunan embroidery can only use the ready-made green thread; he also knows how to use complementary colors to highlight the main body, such as yellow with purple to set off, rather than just one shade for color.

In embroidery works, it is usually the embroidery that dominates the painting, and the needlework precedes the painting, thus opening up the difference between embroidery and painting. It is in this way of thinking that embroidery has developed into nearly 100 kinds of stitches today. In the evaluation of the merits of the embroidery, but also mostly to the difficulty of the stitch as a standard, that is to say, the level of the embroidery woman to determine the level of the work.

As a painter, Su Yu, deep-rooted in his mind is the thinking of painting, in his view, stitching is like pen and ink, can only serve the work, how can the work for the pen and ink service? In the embroidery teacher to learn from the basic line after the way, he naturally took a painting-based embroidery with the way to scheduling needlework to painting, so that the painting command embroidery, so that "embroidery painting" into "painting embroidery".

This difference has not disappeared, after his innovation of Hunan embroidery, in the eyes of the traditional people, has not been called Hunan embroidery.

"Hemp embroidery" was born

In the thinking, process innovation at the same time, Su Yu Xiang embroidery raw materials are also being innovative.

Su's hometown, Liuyang, is famous for its "summer cloth", which is made of ramie and called "Chinese grass" by foreigners. "Can we use summer cloth and hemp thread to combine for embroidery?" Su Yu's whimsical, not because of the "burlap bag embroidery, the bottom is too poor" proverb and stay in the imagination, he ran to Liuyang to buy a bundle of "summer cloth".

In the linen on the draft can only draw the outline, for which he specifically made an upright, can adjust the height of the trellis, front and back are arranged to embroider the female needle.

Su Yu felt that the natural color of hemp is more similar to the physical appearance of black people, he decided to embroider from the former Secretary-General of the United Nations Annan's bust to start trying. In order to show Annan's curly hair, he tried to use the previous only used in the stamen on the "hit the child" stitch, sometimes loose and sometimes tight, and then make special treatment, a curly hair will have a fluffy and realistic feeling. He adjusted the direction of the needlework according to the anatomical structure of the character's facial bones and muscles, and took great pains to deal with the eyes and corners of the mouth. After months of hard work, "Annan" was finally completed.

Annan on the linen, deep and peaceful vision, strong will and compassionate feelings have been fully expressed. After that, he used the same method to embroider deep mountain tigers, Van Gogh's "Sunflowers", that kind of rugged simplicity, back to simplicity, the feeling of the best performance.

Market route

In order to make his artistic innovation all-round accept the test of the market, in 2002, Su Yu decided to found the "Embroidery Garden".

At that time, Hunan embroidery has been reduced to a "sunset" industry. The market for Hunan embroidery is becoming more and more rough because of the price of each other, which makes him worry about the decline of Hunan embroidery due to the old-fashioned way of doing things.

Because of his business experience, Su was more sensitive to the market than other embroidery practitioners. He aimed at portraits of celebrities, and this worked well with his expertise in portrait painting.

An operational model consisting of family human resources has been formed: his son is good at computers and is mainly responsible for the e-commerce sales of Embroidery Garden's products; his daughter is in the U.S., and she is the U.S. agent of Embroidery Garden. At the same time, he also widely use their friends at home and abroad, let them promote their own works, some foreigners will be skeptical to send their own photos, when they see "more realistic than the photo" embroidery works, love. Since then, more and more foreign orders.

In the face of all the temptations of the market, Su always insisted on taking the road of boutique market route. His "embroidery garden" although there are more than 20 skilled embroiderers, but only embroidered about 30 works per year, most of the embroidery in more than 4 months, of which the best series of embroidery generally more than 8 months.

Although each piece is expensive, the market quickly embraced his art. Today, many of his works have become treasures in the collections of celebrities and royalty at home and abroad.

Nonetheless, it may be far more difficult for his innovative Hunan embroidery to win artistic acceptance in the Hunan embroidery world than it is for him to win market acceptance.

In honor of the master

In the exhibition hall of the World Handicrafts Congress in Hangzhou, Su sat quietly in the corner working on his drafts, in sharp contrast to the bustle around him. His quietness is similar to his lonely walk on the road.

It was October 2008, and Su was looking healthy and relaxed. When the reporter took out his camera and prepared to shoot the work of Annan, he came over and said, "I'll give you the electronic version of the photo, this work is framed with glass, and there are reflections when you take the picture. One sentence brought us closer. It was at this exhibition that his work won the gold, silver and bronze awards among thousands of entries.

At that time, he was already seriously ill.

From his son, Su Brigade, we know that Su got up early and came home late every day, often busy until one or two o'clock at night before resting, after May 2008, he realized that he was not feeling well, but still non-stop to participate in four fine arts and crafts exhibitions. In January 2009, at the China Arts and Crafts Exhibition held at the China Art Museum, his works won several important awards again. At that time when the "China Handicraft" revamped the launch of the "Masters" column, we intend to put him on the grand launch, but unexpectedly the phone over, Su has been hospitalized.

Since then, I have been in contact with Su, asking about his father's condition. Su Brigade said that his father liked the "Chinese Handicrafts", and when he got well, he must be on your magazine. At that time, I didn't realize the seriousness of the master's condition, and only looked forward to his early recovery in my heart, "When will you recover, when will we do the interview". Until a short time ago, when I habitually text message to Su travel, he replied: father has died.

In front of my eyes and surfaced Su obtained the master's gracious face. Master has always had a publicity Chinese embroidery global dream, his work in the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan are very popular, he plans to take his embroidery first from these places to step into the world. It is sad to think of his plans.

The master is gone, leaving behind the "embroidery garden" will be family and embroiderers continue to develop. And his innovative spirit, in today's waves of the arts and crafts community is particularly valuable, but also a valuable asset for future generations.

In the upcoming fourth "Cultural Heritage Day", to commemorate the master, but also to bless China's arts and crafts bloom and flourish.

Works

Annan

Size: 56cmx80cm

Material: hemp embroidery

Price: not for sale

Characteristics: Su won the masterpiece, the work won the "Hundred Flowers Cup" China Arts and Crafts Excellence Gold Medal (2005).

Characteristics

The Morning of Pine Forest

Size: 97cmx63cm

Material: silk embroidery

Price: 100,000 yuan

Characteristics: the picture is dynamic, full of the vitality and interest of nature. The work won the "Hundred Flowers Cup" China Arts and Crafts Excellence Award (2005).

"Einstein"

Size: 100cmx96cm

Material: Silk Embroidery

Price: not for sale

Characteristics: Einstein's hair, face, arms and clothes are very suitable for the expression of twine. Utilizing embroidery techniques such as flat stitch, cross stitch, and other embroidery techniques, the garment is embroidered in the traditional embroidery of flowing paths, with flat stitches and cross stitches for the arms and hair; and open-faced substitutes for the face. The work forms a great contrast with the traditional embroidery, bringing a strong visual impact, and won the "Hundred Flowers Cup" China Arts and Crafts Excellence Gold Medal (2008).

Polar Bear

Specification: 100cmx98cm

Material: silk embroidery

Price: 120,000 yuan

Characteristics: The work is embroidered with soft needles, doped needles, cross needles, and white linen threads with a slight thickness on linen. The work is fresh and elegant, showing two white bears lazily enjoying the winter sunshine in the snow. It won the Silver Prize of "Hundred Flowers Cup" China Arts and Crafts Excellence (2008).

In the Forest

Size: 108cmx86cm

Material: Silk Embroidery

Price: 100,000 yuan

Characteristics: The quiet and vibrant atmosphere of the forest expressed in the work seems to welcome people as if they have walked into a very poetic nature, with high decorative effect and collection value.

Sunflower

Size: 75cmx100cm

Material: silk embroidery

Price: 60,000 yuan

Characteristics: The use of Chinese linen thread and linen to make oil painting embroidery, which is the first of its kind in Suyu.

Note: This article was published in the June 2009 issue of China Handicraft magazine in the "Masters" section.