Truong Thi Gach, 82, a Cham artisan, has been making pottery for 70 years in Bau Truc village in Ninh Thuan province (Photo: VNA)Ninh Thuan (VNS/VNA) - Truong Thi Gach, 82,of the Cham ethnic group, is from a very long line of ceramic artisans. Her great-great grandmother madepottery, and now, her own great-granddaughter works in one of the oldestpottery villages in Southeast Asia, located 10km from the central coastal cityof Phan Rang in Ninh Thuan province.
“I learned how to make pottery from my motherand my grandmother when I was 10 years old,” Gach said. “I taught my daughtersand granddaughters since our Cham culture only allows women to make pottery.”
Located on National Highway 1A, the BauTruc Pottery Village in Ninh Phuoc district is famousfor ceramics made from clay from the Quao River.
“Villagers take the soft clay and mix it withsand to create a base material,” Gach said. “These techniques have been passeddown from generation to generation."
Cham pots are shaped by hand and are not made ona rotating electric wheel. The pots are dried under the sun for four to sixhours before being fired outdoors over straw or wood.
The entire process, from beginning to end, isdone by hand: from drying and soaking the materials in water to mixing sand andkneading the clay, to decorating the pots before firing.
“That’s what makes our products unique,"Gach said. “We place the product on a chair or table and walk around it toshape it.”
Simple tools like anvils, moulds and wet clothsare also used. The patterns on the pots, which are freely decorated, often depicttree branches or shells, made with traditional techniques that colour thepottery in old, mysterious styles, according to Gach.
Images of snails or paintings featuring thedaily life of Bau Truc Village’s people are often used for decoration as well.
Because the potters do not use kilns, theirhandmade jars are especially good for keeping water cool.
Pots from the village have natural colours:varying from reddish-brown, pink-red and dark gray with brown streaks, whichare all characteristic of Chăm culture.
Upon entering the village gate, visitors can seepottery lining the streets and in front of houses, and can stop to learntechniques at workshops and take home their handmade items.
The village’s most popular items are reliefsfeaturing Cham women, kings or dancers, and products for spiritual worship oreveryday household utensils.
Jars, decorative lamps, reliefs, and statuettesof Apsara (female dancers) and Shiva, one of the three main gods in Hinduism,are also sold at the village.
Future prospects
The village, which has existed since the reignof Cham King Po Klong Garai (1151-1205), holds a ceremony every year to honourPo Klong Chan, the founder of the village.
Today, however, Bau Truc potters are tryingdesperately to survive.
Some 85 percent of the total 400 households inthe village earn their living from making pottery.
However, the villagers fear they will have tostop working as potters because of the unstable output, low income, and lack ofinterest from traders.
Though the village has a variety of works indifferent sizes and colours, as well as fine art works and souvenirs, they haveto compete with other craft villages with a long storied history, according toPhu Huu Minh Thuan, Director of the Bau Truc Pottery Village Cooperative.
Many products have simple designs that cannotmatch the variety and modern style of ceramics made by the famous Bat TrangPottery and Binh Duong Pottery villages.
“Our monthly production is about 1,000 items, asmall number compared with Bat Trang or Binh Duong,” Thuan said.
The artisans’ income is only around 2.5 millionVND (110 USD) per month.
“That’s why many households no longer makepottery, even though they still love the traditional work. They have to lookfor other jobs with better earnings,” Thuan said.
To save the village’s craft, Thuan hasrecommended several solutions to provincial authorities, including financialsupport to register an official village trademark, and more trade promotions atseminars and conferences.
Ninh Thuan authorities are also planning tocompile a dossier on Cham pottery in a bid to earn UNESCO cultural heritagerecognition.
However, the provincial authorities urgentlyneed support from government agencies, especially the Ministry of Culture,Sports and Tourism and the Vietnam National Institute of Culture and ArtsStudies in HCM City, according to Thuan.
In 2017, the pottery made in Bau Truc Village inNinh Thuan was recognised as a national intangible cultural heritage by theMinistry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.-VNS/VNA
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