Title: Shu Embroidery in Sichuan, China: The Social Life of Things from a Cultural Perspective and Their Contemporary Evolution
Cover Date: 2025-01-01
Cover Display Date: 2025
DOI: N/A
Description: Shu embroidery, recognized as a distinguished brand of Sichuan, serves as a link between the people and society of the Sichuan region, and its evolution is intimately connected to the social life of this area. This study adopts a fresh perspective to investigate Shu embroidery, utilizing Arjun Appadurai’s concept of “the social life of things” and putting emphasisi on the social and cultural features of things. Arjun Appadurai regards things as an embodiment of social relations and cultural views, meaning that their significance doesn’t just depends on how practical they are but on how they are endowed with the role of representative. By integrating literature research with field investigations conducted in Pixian, Sichuan, and interviews with key informants including intangible cultural heritage inheritors, government officials, and local residents, the research explores the relationship between Shu embroidery and the social, economic, and cultural phenomena of various eras in China. This analysis of Shu embroidery culture enables to deepen people’s understanding of the social life of things in Sichuan and the whole China. At the same time, the study dissects the development and innovation of Shu embroidery in contemporary social life. It concludes that as an entity intertwined with social life, Shu embroidery has experienced the diverse historical periods of Sichuan, China. Throughout its evolution, one can observe the unique social, historical, and cultural connotations of Sichuan in different phases. Furthermore, the study analyzes the transformation of Shu embroidery from historical craftsmanship to contemporary art, discussing the dynamics and directions of this evolution in the context of historical and contemporary developments. It specifies the concrete directions for the modern application of Shu embroidery in terms of themes, techniques, materials, and artistic forms, offering insights for the sustainable development of Shu embroidery and other traditional crafts and fine arts.
Citations: 0
Aggregation Type: Journal
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Title: From Hobbies to Lac Jewelry Design: An Art-based Approach to Promote Well-being of Ageing Community
Cover Date: 2022-06-01
Cover Display Date: Summer-Autumn 2022
DOI: N/A
Description: Art has a healing potential for individuals and society as a whole. Studies indicate that artistic activities have the power to heal elderly people and foster their well-being. This study explored how the elderly amateur artists in a rural area used raw materials in their neighborhood to create jewelry as a hobby. The elderly people in this study chose lac as their raw material. They cooperatively worked on designing the drafts and developing the lac jewelry prototypes. The expert evaluation of prototypes, the artists’ self-evaluation, and the community’s evaluation of the products were high and the highest in terms of shapes and forms, proportion and size, harmony, physical attractiveness, proportion and size, harmony, color, textures, and patterns, material suitability, attractiveness, convenience, usefulness, and durability. The lac jewelry art production contributed to the elderly artists’ well-being emotionally, affectively, physically, mentally, psychologically, and socially. Individual elderly artists’ well-being also positively benefits social well-being and social cohesion. However, this study was limited to an area, specific features of the participants, and the nature of the community. It is necessary to verify the findings of this study in other areas.
Citations: 0
Aggregation Type: Journal
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Title: Design and development of products from reed mats of Ban Phaeng agricultural housewife professional rehabilitation group
Cover Date: 2020-09-01
Cover Display Date: September 2020
DOI: 10.14456/hasss.2020.28
Description: This research aims to study the context, concepts, evidence of wisdom as well as the management of reed mats of Ban Phaeng Agricultural Housewives Rehabilitation Group (BPG), Phaeng Sub-district, Kosum Phisai District, as it also developed the local wisdom by designing the reed mats with geometric shapes to represent the community’s identity of BPG. The final aim assesses the satisfaction of the distributors and consumers towards the product from the reed mat material. The key findings after conducting the research are as follows: 1) the product design from Ban Phaeng reed mats present local characteristics; the reed mats work that has been summarized in the form of endemic products; the community needs the form of products in the area of design, create draft, to be developed into 4 types; regarding the evaluation result of 2 product design, the experts found that the 4th pattern, 9-compartment hanging storage from reed mats, had the highest level of opinions, followed by the 1st pattern, the closet product from the reed mats and the 3rd pattern, 4 compartment hanging storage from the reed mat had the same level of opinions. In part of the evaluation results from a group of 50 product makers and distributors, it was obtained from the sample group selected by purposive sampling and their attitude toward the product forms using local pattern reed mat material designed. When evaluated using the 5 product design principles, it was found that overall satisfaction of both product makers and distributors is at the highest level when considering each aspect. However, it is found that the dealers have the highest level of satisfaction for Usability, Beauty and Local Characteristics and Convenience in Use respectively, followed by Durability and Delivery rated with high level of satisfaction. They also showed the highest satisfaction for all aspects including Durability, Delivery, and Convenience in Use. Beauty, Local Identity and Usability respectively.
Citations: 1
Aggregation Type: Journal
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