HANOI’S CERAMIC ROAD

AS PART OF HANOI’S 1,000TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS 2010, LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS WILL COVER A 6KM STRETCH OF THE CAPITAL’S DIKE ROAD WITH CERAMIC MURALS. THE FIRST 100 SQUARE METER SECTION OF THE CERAMIC ROAD WAS UNVIELED IN JUNE.

Working for six months at Bat Trang pottery village and along the Yen Phu dike road, Hanoi artists completed the first stretch of a mural that will eventually run fir 6km along the Red River’s dike. Be a part of Hanoi’s 1,000th anniversary celebrations 2010 with Vietnam Travel.

The concept for this first section came from the project’s founder, painter and journalist Nguyen Thu Thuy, who wished to show respect for the culture of the Hung Kings, Vietnam’s founders.

The artists utilized patterns found on ancient Dong Son bronze drums and wares of colorful tiles to represent the ever-flowing Red River. They decorated three concrete blocks at An Duong Gate with carved tiles glazed with splendid enamels. Terracotta relief’s of stylized Dong Son patterns like boats, lạc births, fish pelicans, and stilt-houses are surrounded by mosaic tiles.

About two years ago Ms.Thu Thuy was inspired to cover raw concrete walls along the Red River dike road with ceramic murals. Since then, she has spent her time and fortune bringing this vision to reality.

The work pays homage to Vietnam’s artistic roots, drawing on Dong Son motifs, patterns from Ly – Tran Dynasty ceramics; patterns from 17th and 18th century folk engravings and relics excavated from the site of Thang Long, the fort founded on the site of Hanoi 1.000 years ago.

“This public monument does not only honor traditional pottery, but also our ancient heritage,” says Ms.Thu Thuy. “It is an outdoor museum that remains close to people in their daily lives, As this project becomes complete, I can see the connection from the past to the present, from traditions to modernity.”

At the beginning, Ms.Thu Thuy did not realize the scale or impact of her project. The finished mural will feature contributions by local and foreign artists, operating collectively under the name “New Hanoi Arts Co.” Foreign members include Jane Golden, director of Mural Arts Program (MAP), Jon Pounds, director of Chicago Public Art Group (CPAG), Olivia Gude, associate professor of the University of Illinois, and Joel Bennett, assistant professor that Santa Rosa Junior College. Book the best Vietnam Travel Deals from us.

In 2010, children will be invited to participate in a drawing contest on the theme of “Hanoi – capital of peace”. Winning images will be recreated in ceramics and added to the Ceramic Road.

The public can also visit the project’s workshop at No 35, Road 6, F361 An Duong Street to contribute ideas and try their at laying mosaic tiles.

What started as one woman’s desire to honor her city has turned into a communal project that is drawing together individuals, teams and domestic and overseas organizations. Everyone in Hanoi will be able to enjoy this interesting artwork.

“This is an amazing and feasible idea improving the city,” has turned into a communal project that is drawing together individuals, teams and domestic and overseas organization Tran Ngoc Chinh. “This should be the beginning of other inexpensive artistic monuments for Hanoi”

French artist films making of Ceramic Road

The 6km-long ceramic mosaic being created along the Hong (Red) River to adorn the Yen Phu dyke should serve as a tribute to the colourful journey that the capital city has taken over the past millennium.

Now, one French filmmaker will capture the creation of that tribute, filming the Vietnamese and international artists who are helping to make and record history, and present the film to the capital for it’s 1,000th anniversary in 2010.

Nathalie Kertchef, from the Image de Ville Cinema Festival in Aix-en-Provence in France, arrived in Hanoi last July to shoot the 150sq.m finished sections of the planned 6-km Ceramic Road. She also filmed the famous ceramic village of Bat Trang where artists found the materials.

The 6km-long dike will run from Au Co Avenue through Nghi Tam, Yen Phu, Tran Nhat Duat, Tran Quang Khai and Tran Khanh Du roads.

The ceramic mural will feature different sections, retracing historical periods of Vietnam, including a section for contemporary Hanoi painters, one for international artists, one for children and a highlight along the Chuong Duong Bridge.

Jacob Reymond was the first foreign artist invited to work on the project with his 10sq.m contemporary art ceramic mural installed on the dike earlier this month. This mural fresco starts at the road near the Phuc Xa stadium and runs towards the Long Bien Bridge.

Meeting of different minds

Capturing this work in the making, Kertchef has finished the first scenes (the pilot) of her film that runs for 26 minutes. On film so far, she has spoken with Nguyen Thu Thuy, a journalist at the Ha Noi Moi (New Ha Noi) newspaper and the mastermind of the project, a group of Vietnamese artists in the Tan Ha Noi art company who were determined to make the idea come true, and Reymond.

“What I want to show in my film is the meeting between Jacob and Thuy. That was the origin of this project, and also the meeting of the other artists,” says Kertchef.

“Within three years this project will generate the meeting and interbreeding of genders, nationalities, colours and history,” notes Kertchef.

“The artists create, share, educate, transmit and fascinate the public as they create outside on the streets on the wall around the city… with bicycles, cyclos and cars passing by, the artists become in turn ‘the object’. They stands there, in the middle of this urban swirl.”

Reymond, a painter and director of Image de Ville, has been attached to Viet Nam for more than 10 years.

“Taking part in the project is a gift for me. It’s a marvellous project that allows artists to create and bring beauty to the community. It is also an occasion for the public to come near to art in their daily lives,” says Reymond.

“What interests me in this project is that I can work on a very large format. Moreover, I can show my work in the streets and everybody can see my work… an artistic work in the streets… it provokes emotions. Some ten of thousands of people pass this road everyday,” he says, laughing.

Reymond’s mural is titled Boat and Eyes, and features personified boats to represent the essence of the Red River in the life of the city.

“I had never worked with ceramics before so I really enjoy the new techniques that I could learn with this work,” says Reymond.

How it all began

According to filmmaker Kertchef, the idea to film the making of the mural interested producer Bruno Jourdan, the general director of Image de Ville which organises an annual film festival on the city.

“One of the next themes of the festival will be art in the city. He asked me to shoot a pilot on the project of this 6-km mural.”

“I accepted this assignment immediately because for me, it was an occasion to come back to Hanoi that had seduced me since 1993. Of course, the notion of meeting Vietnamese and international painters working on the same project pleased me greatly. It has been a long time that I wished to make a film on Vietnamese contemporary painting,” she says.

The film will be presented to the public in France and in Vietnam in 2010 in honour of the capital city’s millennial anniversary celebrations.

Along with Reymond’s family, Kertchef is also looking for funds to support the film and the mural as France’s gift to Vietnam.

Pottery Road to be lengthened

The concrete wall at the Chuong Duong Bridge traffic junction will be adorned with a ceramic mosaic mural themed “Hallmarks of Thang Long Capital” at the cost of VND 1 billion (USD 58,800).

This is part of the Pottery Road project, which was kicked off one year ago aiming to make a 1,000 sq.m ceramic mosaic mural along the Red River dike in Hanoi by 2010 to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of the Thang Long-Hanoi capital.

In three months of working on the sketch and three meetings with the Art Council of the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the two authors of the ceramic mural, Bui Viet Doan and Nguyen Thu Thuy, who initiated the Pottery Road project, had to change the sketch several times.

The “Hallmarks of Thang Long Capital” is over 200 sq.m, featuring a pair of Ly-dynasty dragons which are flying from the Red River surface in rainbow colours, with peach blossoms and folk flags.

This mural is scheduled to be completed this lunar New Year at a cost of VND 1 billion, funded by Garment Company No.10.

Playing with clay at Bat Trang pottery village

Walking through Bat Trang these days, you will pass a number of shops inviting visitors to shape clay into different animals or to make pottery items themselves.

“They can create what they like, from simple things such as pots or bowls, to vases of different figures or to shape clay
into animals such as cats, mice, buffaloes or cartoon characters,” said Nguyen Van Che, owner of a pottery shop.

While it is one of 30 pottery shops offering this do-it-yourself service, Che’s shop was the first in the village to take advantage of this trend back in 1994. “About ten years ago, people paid little attention to this kind of entertainment. But now, it has become attractive to not only local people, but also foreign tourists, particularly the youth,” he said.

Kneading clay into animals and cartoon characters and making pottery has become a fun activity to let loose after a

Young people find making pottery items or colouring ready-made ceramics to be their favourite activity at the village.
long week.

The first 250 m2 or the Hanoi Ceramic Mosaic Mural is going to be done

These days, the passers-by along the Yen Phu Street can see how the artists of the New Hanoi Arts working at the site to extend the length of the ceramic mural. Half of this newly installed part is the continue of the Dong Son Bronze Drum’s motifs section. The other half will be generated with the designs modified from the Ly and Tran dynasties fine arts…