Miao Embroidery Spirituality and Art Quality
3 min readWhy do we preserve folkloric cultural heritage Mr. Feng Jicai points out, the creators of these cultural heritages do not understand the full value of their creations and we as the one who treasure these values, have a duty and obligation to preserve these and pass them down to future generations.Behind every masterwork of Miao embroidery there is a talented artist or maestro, who made the artistic creation on their wedding costumes.
Miao embroidery patterns are artistic, their designing ideas are artistic and their creating is also artistic and so are the color contrasts All these constitute the masterworks. The beauties of the Miao embroidery are pure from Miao country with its unique aesthetical tastes, affecting more and more people now. As a vehicle for cultural inheriting, the Miao embroidery patterns are intended for explaining the world in the Miaos”eyes, which may be closer to the truth of the universe. In classical and traditional Miao embroidery works we see no perceptions of time and space, and no logic. Condensed together in a single pattern are flying, running and swimming objects and so are the things of the past, present and future Not even proportions and perspectives. What the Miao women express is a feeling, an idea, a thought and a reconnaissance. So at the center of the pattern there is the topic of the embroidery and what scattered around it is the cosmos or human environment around them.
That is the state of self-oblivion and Tianren Heyi, a Chinese philosophical idea for “heaven and human merged into one” If we can compare these Miao embroidery masterworks with the contemporary maestros, we can find to our surprise that “ecstatic self-oblivion” is what in common between these two, because what they express is thinking and meditation and not material. There are human figures on the Miao embroidery patterns and they are only vaguely referring to human beings or shaman, symbolic sign only. The limbs or organs are unexceptionally disproportional or with three or four fingers. However, what do they matter? Human thinking is more meaningful than any others. Traditional Miao embroidery is a reflection of spirituality instead of annals or records. Therefore in case some one pointing to a pattern on the embroidery says that this line representing Zhang Xiumei the Miao Hero, or that line signifying Yellow River or the Yangtze, it is time to raise your brow.Either the person is inexperienced or the embroidery piece is very recent with 20 or 30 years of history only. They are intended for lukewarm and curious tourists, instead for collectors. Embroidery techniques are the wonderful creations of the Miao women. There are so many techniques for different effects, but with only one needle and a silk thread in a pair of hands. Various effects and styles are created with such simplicity and what is more, these differences tell the difference among Miao tribes and sections. “Surprising” is usually the word for expressing the astounding feeling on seeing a Miao embroidery work The splendid colors and dignity direct from the green mountains and fields in the Miao country are eye catching, touching the hearts of the people.
Every Miao embroiderer is an artist, maestro without sophisticated professional training but with the same understanding of the aesthetical tastes and understandings. These are their innate instincts. Their creations are welcome collection works.
