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Rob_Hugo@PortNWI have always been interested in the art of papercutting, and recently, after visiting several websites on the history and technique of Chinese papercutting, I decided to try my hand at it.
My family is of Danish heritage, and Danish papercutting has always been a pasttime of my grandparents. In doing a little research, I found it interesting that recently a Chinese papercutting association hosted a convention where many Chinese artists recreated the papercuts of Hans Christian Anderson. In comparing and attempting the Chinese cuts to the Danish ones, I have to say that the Chinese papercuts are much more intricate and difficult. Danish papercuts tend to focus on holidays and simple themes, such as trees and animals. There are fairly simple to cut with just scissors. Chinese papercuts, however, have more angles, and focus more on dragons, masks, beautiful women. These required exacto knives. It seems, too, that the Chinese papercuts have a more symbolic meaning, and from what I read, were often used as part of ancient ceremonies. Danish papercuts tend to be just decorative. After attempting the Chinese cuts, I definitely have an admiration for people who still practice this art form. It's tough! It would be fun to attempt this craft with students, although I'm not sure I'd like to give them any knives. It would be fun to couple this with poetry, as I read (although I have not yet found them) that there are many ancient Chinese poems that deal with papercutting.[Edit by="juliedavis on Jul 26, 7:55:21 PM"][/Edit]
Here is a link to my Chinese papercut, if anyone would like to see it. It took about three full hours to complete--and tons of patience!
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/julieamdavis/papercut003.jpg%5BEdit by="juliedavis on Aug 4, 9:58:29 AM"][/Edit]
AnonymousI'm so glad that you wrote this post. Right before school ended, I was cleaning out some of my cupboards and I came across my Chinese papercuts I had bought on my trip to China. I forgot how beautiful they were and I wondered why they were still in the bag, forgotten about. I think students would be "wowed" by such detailed and amazing pictures.
I believe that many cultures have papercutting as an artform. I have seen many beautiful pieces of Judaica that were papercuts. I think this would be a great idea for an artproject for students though it would seem patience must be taught (as we can all imagine).
AnonymousThis is very interesting and is worth checking out. It's great to see things that can be used in more than one subject area.
AnonymousYou're absolutely correct that this kind of papercutting takes tremendous patience! I thought it was interesting that numerous websites mentioned that traditionally it was the women and girls in the country who cut these patterns, but now they are being made by men in factories--still cut by hand, but I'm curious as to what difference, if any, this makes. It is cool that so many cultures do seem to have this art, and it would be great to do a comparative study. I know that when my grandmother and her friends would make Danish papercuts that each woman tried to have her own distinctive style or leave her own special mark. I'm sure some of that is lost when the paper is mass-produced in a factory.