The work “Phuoc Tich Ancient Village” illustrates the perspective of Truong Cong Duc

“I was really captivated by the beauty of the splendid ancient village. Right from the moment I stepped into the village gate, a peaceful scene impressed me with many houses that have fences of Acalypha siamensis leading the way, shades of ancient trees, welcoming smiles of the villagers…,” recalled Le Van Dũng, an art student, when he shared his impression of participating in the program “Phuoc Tich Ancient Village through the perspective of visual arts”.

After more than half a month of experiencing most of the space of the O Lau riverside village, the second-year fine art student (University of Arts, Hue University) has accumulated a lot of inspiration to create sketches about the peaceful village. One of his works has just been selected to be exhibited and introduced to the audience at Diem Phung Thi Art Center.

Showcasing works of “Phuoc Tich Ancient Village through the perspective of visual arts” program

With graphite and watercolor materials, Dũng has released his soul in the space of the gold apple temple with the shadow of the ancient tree in a fanciful and beautiful way. In that scene, the old soul of an ancient building is still quite intact and depicted in detail through each architectural objects to the surrounding setting.

The original Phu Yen student said that he visited many Vietnamese villages, including ancient ones, yet he was most impressed by Phuoc Tich ancient village of Hue ancient capital. It provides not only a setting for his creation, but also a lot of knowledge about culture and history as well as the feeling of being immersed in the love of architecture and heritage.

“I drew Phuoc Tich as I did to my own village,” said Dũng.

Also at the exhibition, the work “Phuoc Tich Pottery Kiln” by female author Tran Thi Thi Linh was very lyrical and contained a mossy soul. Using the black and white acrylic colors, the female fine art student of the University of Arts, Hue University brought people back to the golden past of a village with pottery kilns and famous products that seemingly lost has been now restored.

“Through drawing the pottery kiln, I want to remind myself of the origin of a famous speciality with many sophisticated products that used to be consumed by common people. As if it had fallen into oblivion, Phuoc Tich's pottery kiln is now lit...,” confided Linh, who also said that she draw the painting in a rainy afternoon, so it was very emotional.

The guarding screen of an ancient house in Phuoc Tich

Not only the works of these two young people, dozens of works of lecturers, students and pupils in the province were displayed on this occasion, depicting all the characteristics of Phuoc Tich ancient village, which is recognized as a national heritage village of Vietnam. The village has a system of ancient and mossy garden houses, traditional ruong houses with hundreds of years of age, along with a system of relics of temples, and shrines, etc.

Ms. Dinh Thi Hoai Trai - Director of Hue Fine Arts Museum, was extremely impressive with the fact that despite using many materials and depictions, the painters revealed the heritage beauty of an ancient village in different perspectives of space and time. All created both familiar and strange, near and far feelings, and brought impressions and novelties to the audience.

“Hopefully, these showcased paintings about Phuoc Tich will give the audience and visitors a better understanding of the cultural and historical values of the ancient village. Thereby, people will respect, join hands to protect and promote the value of Hue cultural heritage in general, the culture and history of Phuoc Tich heritage village in particular. From that point, the local culture, tourism and economy will be promoted while the image of the land and people of Hue will be enhanced,” shared Ms. Trai.

Story and photos: NHAT MINH

• Introducing new artworks of young artists (25/03)
• Thai Nguyen Ba and his first teacher (25/03)
• A pilot program to bring Hue Bookcase into libraries of districts and schools (24/03)
• Launching the donation of books and documents to Tang Tho Lau (24/03)
• Highlights of Hue Festival 2023 (24/03)
• There is a very different Hue in literature (23/03)
• The flow of culture in​ “Color of Spring”​ exhibition (22/03)
• Launching the design idea contest of pedestrian bridge crossing Ho Thanh moat and connecting Thuong Thanh (20/03)