Kaohsiung’s Shanlin District began to
promote the art of gourd carving in 1996, when the principal of Xinzhuang Elementary
School, Huang Hung-ching (黃泓清), and gourd craft master Kung Yi-fang (龔一舫) together pushed
for a gourd art museum in Xinzhuang Community, and later established Taiwan’s
first such museum at Xinzhuang Elementary School. In 2004, People’s Association
chairman and gourd carver Ho Ming-hsien (何明賢) founded Shanlin Gourd Art workshop (杉林葫蘆藝術工坊), which became
a major feature in the promotion of local industry. Cultivating gourds is
Shanlin’s exclusive agriculture and also a cultural and creative highlight --
there are products for daily use, souvenirs and exhibition pieces. Gourd design
focuses on a target market, creating economic value.
(Photo: Kaohsiung City Government)
Gourds are a type of melon that humans
have used for daily applications from the earliest times. Because the Chinese
word for gourd is a homophone for “good fortune,” for thousands of years gourds
have been seen as mascots and ornaments to be kept. Collecting gourd artwork
spread around the world -- gourd associations have been established in the
United States, Japan, and Central and South America.
In the earlier days, it was rare to
cultivate gourds in rural areas, so the material for gourd carving would mostly
be wood or stone, made into gourd shapes. Overseas, gourds were a natural
material for high-end artistic creation. In addition, gourds are a short-term
crop that can be harvested in about half a year. Compare this with the wooden
carvings so beloved of the art market, as it takes decades for a single tree to
grow. The humble gourd brings no pollution, nor does it burden the environment.
(Photo: Kaohsiung City Government)
At present, Shanlin Gourd Art and
farmers cultivate more than 60 varieties of gourd and in a combined production
space turn gourds into creations of imagination, carving reliefs, hollowing
out, painting inscriptions, all kinds of artwork that can be displayed on a
gourd. As gourd craft is a diversified art, combining calligraphy, painting,
engraving and multimedia materials, in recent years several artists have taken
up residence in Shanlin.
Ho Ming-hsien explains, “When we
started with this gourd business, we hoped that this rural area as a whole
could prosper through it, as Shanlin has always grown melons, but we have taken
these melons with a low economic value and made them into something of greater
value.” He said he wants to make Shanlin into a supplier of gourd craft
materials throughout Taiwan.
(Photo: Kaohsiung City Government)
As Ho actively promotes gourd art and
seeks to make it one of Shanlin’s local industries, his engravings have taken
on diverse cultural elements from China, the West, the Middle East and Japan,
intersecting international identities with his exquisite works.
Ho says he has been actively looking
to the European market in recent years. He hopes he can take gourd craft to
Europe and introduce people overseas to this fine craft from Shanlin in Taiwan.