Since its founding two decades ago in the town of Sanyi in northern Taiwan’s Miaoli County, the Sanyi Wood Sculpture Museum has breathed new life into the area’s long-established woodcarving industry. In addition to arranging regular exhibitions of diverse works from at home and abroad, the institution hosts major international competitions and organizes training programs for gifted students of the art form. Through these efforts, the facility is helping transform Sanyi Township into an internationally recognized hub of artistic innovation in the field. “I wouldn’t be here now without the museum,” says Chiang Jo-hsin (江若新), a 33-year-old sculptor who moved from his hometown of Tainan in southern Taiwan to Sanyi about three years ago.
Like many young sculptors working in the area, Chiang has received inspiration as well as instruction from the museum. In 2007, the artist, then enrolled in a postgraduate wood sculpture program at Dayeh University in central Taiwan’s Changhua County, took part in the institution’s annual monthlong summer training camp for gifted students of the craft. “Prior to that, I thought the only way for woodcarvers in Taiwan to make a living was by churning out traditional works such as representations of deities,” Chiang explains at his studio in Sanyi while working on a sculpture of crabs and reefs commissioned by a client in New Taipei City, northern Taiwan. “But when I took part in the training camp, I realized for the first time that it might be possible to forge a career as an artist.” Chiang now earns a good living creating unique pieces.
The museum features cement walls that resemble wood panels, won a Taiwan Architecture Award in 2003. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)
Founded in 1995, the Sanyi Wood Sculpture Museum was part of a major project initiated and funded by the Council for Cultural Affairs, which was reorganized as the Ministry of Culture (MOC) in 2012, to boost local cultural and creative industries throughout the country. The institution, which is operated by Miaoli County Government’s International Culture and Tourism Bureau, was set up at a time when the woodcarving sector in Sanyi was in decline due to growing competition in the domestic market from mainland Chinese imports. “The museum has worked to revitalize the local industry by encouraging craftspeople to pursue artistic endeavors,” explains Cheng Chih-ciang (鄭志強), who has served as curator of the institution since 2013.
Woodcarver Lin Jin-chang (林進昌), 48, has been based in the town for more than two decades. Born in Taipei, he apprenticed in the capital and later worked producing traditional sculptures of Buddhist and Taoist deities. When mass-produced pieces from mainland China began entering the local market, Lin decided to change course and in late 1993 moved to Sanyi, which was already becoming a hub for woodcarvers interested in exploring artistic opportunities. Within three years of relocating to the town, Lin was making his living entirely from producing unique creations. According to the veteran craftsman, the museum’s efforts have been crucial in developing a positive environment for artists. “It’s helped establish Sanyi’s reputation as a place where artisans can broaden their horizons,” says the sculptor.
Lin Jin-chang, left, offers guidance to a college student during a training session organized by the museum in 2013. (Photo courtesy of Sanyi Wood Sculpture Museum)
The museum is primarily known for staging large-scale exhibitions of works by local and international artists. Its ability to perform this function received a significant boost in the early 2000s when the facility was expanded and renovated. Completed in 2003, the new building has been praised for its innovative design, which includes features such as cement walls that resemble wood panels. The structure won a Taiwan Architecture Award, a prize granted by Taiwan Architect Magazine annually since 1979, in the year that it reopened.
One of the highlights of the museum is its guide to the town’s woodcarving industry. Along with Daxi in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan City and Lugang in Changhua County, Sanyi has long been renowned as a major center of excellence in the sector. However, unlike Daxi and Lugang, which can trace their origins in the field back to the first half of the 19th century, Sanyi began to establish a reputation in the industry in the early 20th century during the Japanese colonial period (1895–1945). At that time, Japanese businesses cut down countless camphor trees in the region and locals discovered that the exposed roots were ideal for creating wooden items such as furniture and handicrafts. “The opening of Taiwan’s first freeway in 1978, which linked Sanyi to the island’s major cities, further solidified the town’s status as a hub of the industry,” Cheng adds.
As the only museum of its kind in Taiwan, the institution houses a diverse collection of wooden artifacts from around the island, including traditional sculptures of deities as well as altars and other ornamental features of temples and traditional buildings. In addition, the facility hosts solo shows by established sculptors as well as an annual exhibition of works by members of the Sanyi Woodcarving Association. Established in 1999, the organization aims to revive the traditional art of wood sculpture in Sanyi and around the country, and currently has a nationwide membership of 126.
The facility hosts an exhibit of traditional temple woodcarvings. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)
The museum also organizes and hosts the country’s most prestigious contest in the art form—the Taiwan International Wood Sculpture Competition. The institution launched the event when it opened in 1995 as a contest for Taiwanese artists before expanding the competition in 2008 to include entries from overseas. Last year, the event was merged with the nation’s other major woodcarving contest, the Yulon Woodcarving Innovation Awards, which were founded in 1997 by Sanyi-based Yulon Motor Co., Taiwan’s largest automaker, and were also staged in the township.
The new combined event, which utilizes the name of the museum’s competition, divides entries into three categories—experimental, general, and traditional. The winning artist in each classification receives NT$500,000 (US$16,130) in prize money, an amount which Cheng says is the largest of any woodcarving competition in the world.
Yulon provides the money for the experimental and traditional honors, while the general prize is funded by the museum. There are also five runner-up prizes financed by the museum, which exhibits all of the award-winning works. The institution gains ownership of the pieces that win the prizes it funds, enabling it to continuously build the size of its collection. Last year, 102 contestants, including 40 overseas artists from 14 countries and territories such as mainland China, Japan and the United States, entered a total of 111 artworks in the competition.
Environmental Sampling No. 3—Natural Forces by Lin Kuo-wei of Taiwan claimed the general award at the 2014 Taiwan International Wood Sculpture Competition. (Photo courtesy of Sanyi Wood Sculpture Museum)
The museum’s other major annual initiative is its monthlong training camp for students with basic carving skills at tertiary institutions. First held in 2006, the program seeks to improve the technical skills of talented young sculptors, while encouraging them to pursue artistic innovation. Many of the instructors at the camp have been recognized as outstanding artisans by the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute under the MOC in Nantou County, central Taiwan. Since 2009, the institute’s Taiwan Crafts Workshop has honored 145 artisans in a variety of fields, including 27 for woodcarving. Lin, who won prizes at the Yulon Woodcarving Innovation Awards in 1997 and 2013, is among those who have been recognized by the workshop and has served as an instructor in the training program several times. “Wood sculptors are typically quite willing to assist young people interesting in mastering the craft,” Cheng says. “Our camp, in particular, has little difficulty attracting teachers due to the prestige of the museum.”
Since its establishment, the training program has developed an outstanding reputation in the sector. Last year, 60 students from across Taiwan applied for the 12 places in the camp. “At university, I spent much of my time studying theories about sculpture and woodcarving, whereas in the training camp I was able to focus on improving my practical skills,” says Ting Yuan-chien (丁元茜), who took part in the program in 2010 and 2011 before moving to Sanyi in 2013. The artist, who graduated from the Department of Sculpture at National Taiwan University of Arts in New Taipei City in 2011, also notes that the studios and equipment at the museum are superior to those at her college.
Ting says that living in Sanyi has allowed her to pursue her dream of becoming an artist. “In the beginning, I worked really hard trying to fill every order I got, but now I have a stable income and can afford to set aside time to focus on creative projects,” she says. Her pieces have already been exhibited several times in the Sanyi Wood Sculpture Museum and elsewhere.
The institution’s efforts to promote talented artists and showcase a diverse variety of works have helped it become a significant tourist draw, with 120,000 people visiting the facility in 2014, Cheng says. The museum is also developing new initiatives to aid the local woodcarving sector. Later this year, it plans to launch a competition, which will be funded by Yulon, to recognize designs for cultural and creative products. “It’s our hope that this contest will encourage enterprises to work with local artists on mass-producing imaginative wood sculptures,” the curator says.
Write to Oscar Chung at mhchung@mofa.gov.tw
Back to Nature, 122 × 85 × 62 cm, by Martyn Barratt of the United Kingdom won first prize at the 2009 Taiwan International Wood Sculpture Competition. (Photo courtesy of Sanyi Wood Sculpture Museum)