LI Jianxiao — Master of Arts and Crafts

Source: Yuncheng Urban and Rural Collective Industrial Association

Updated: December 16, 2020  09:12     

LI Jianxiao, a native of Yanhu district of Yuncheng city in Shanxi province. She is a member of the Paper-cutting Art Committee of the Chinese Culture Promotion Association, and the Shanxi Paper-cutting Association. She also is and the vice president of the Yuncheng Paper-cutting Association. She liked the art of paper-cutting since she was a child, and was praised by the local people for her ingenuity, cleverness and diligence. Growing up, she achieved prominent progress under the guidance of professional experts: FENG Zhen and DUAN Gaifang. In her mid-aged years, she focused on artistic works of SU Lanhua and WANG Sannv, drawing traditional art essence in southern Shanxi and creating hundreds of paper-cutting works, which were collected by collectors and art galleries home and abroad. In particular, works such as "Chinese New Year Customs", "Chinese Marriage Customs", "Chinese Good Children" and "I Love Reading" have participated in the national exhibition competitions for many times, and won the highest awards in the national competitions five times. Her works are enthusiastic, down-to-earth, and rich in a rural life style, which is rough, uninhibited, and straightforward. It has been awarded the “Outstanding Inheritor of Folk Art", "Hedong First Cut", "Folk Art Master" and other titles by Shanxi Province and Yuncheng City.

LI Jianxiao founded her own studio in 2013, located in Hongqi East Street, Yanhu District, Yuncheng City. It mainly deals in painting, calligraphy and paper-cutting art works. It has two intangible cultural heritage projects, that is, paper-cutting and grass-flower printing and dyeing skills. The studio is committed to the exchange and dissemination of traditional paper-cutting art, and hopes that the paper-cutting art will enter the lives of the mass public. It is particularly worth mentioning that entering Master LI Jianxiao’s studio feels like stepping into a world of grass flower printing and dyeing. A piece of white cloth, a rubber hammer, and a few pieces of flowers and plants constitute the whole of printing and dyeing art. Through the collection of natural plants such as leaves, flowers, fruits and other natural plants, she carefully designs patterns and colors before making cloth or products through sorting out, cleansing, dying, and color fixing. There are hundreds of flower and plants species, such as orchid leaves, pine needles, peach leaves, willow leaves, winter jasmine, peach blossom, apricot blossom, dandelion, wormwood, gray strips, and so on. They are vividly displayed on clothing and daily necessities. The works are simple yet elegant, environmentally friendly and distinctively beautiful, presenting viewers the magical charm of grass printing and dyeing skills at close range. 

For decades, LI Jianxiao has been working relentlessly to bring artistic works closer to the audience. Her works play a significant role in enriching our cultural life, uplifting our aesthetic taste and advocating Chinese traditional culture to the world.