Last Terracotta Artisans: Mr. Trong

Hi everyone ❤

Another portrait and story I would love to share with you all today is that of Mr.Trong - one of the last terracotta artisans in Thanh Ha village - a 500 year old pottery village at Hoi An city, Quang Nam province, Vietnam.

He’s a man who carries within him a deep connection with History, both from his own life and from his ancestors. It would be easy to stay with him for many hours to hear his stories.

His surname is “Le”. He told us how those with t the Le surname in the village are the descendants of Le Loi, an emperor that is referenced in Vietnamese History, you can read more about this interesting story here. Over time his ancestors changed their name to Le Quoc, for example Mr Le Quoc Duy nowadays. Two ancestor of his were buried at this village around 1516, in the early 16th century.

The following generations carried on this traditional job learnt from their forefathers, the knowledge and skill being passed from the grandparents to father, father to them. And nowadays, they will hand down to their children again. In 1954, they gathered and built a Pottery Combination, after 1975 aluminum and plastic products became plentiful and cheap, pottery products were not in demand anymore, so they have discussed changing from domestic pottery such as pots, vases, jars… into the decorative and ornamental products that now makes up most of what the village produces.

And he was singing the sirvente of Thanh Ha village

Be silent to hear, be silent to hear.
I read the crambo of making pottery career
Villagers at Nam Dieu hamlet
Produced many kinds of civil goods
The potters also worked all day
To perform terracotta items
In the past time, producing in the green kiln
High quality jars to contain oil or liquor
And pots to cooks fish or soup
All fields use pottery items for containing
Since aluminum, plastic goods sold out much
It’s the time the green kiln has to stop working
Villagers discussed to change the items
Mass production of pottery pots is also sufficient for use
Selling the terracotta boxes for saving money
In the morning, the money is taken out for debt
It is also helpful in period of trouble
A good idea of ​​making decorative items
Pumpkin-lantern, or a lot of different shapes
Tourists everywhere would like to visit
Come and see Thanh Ha pottery village
In the river, a lot of boats
In the village streets, a great number of vehicles
Take the passengers to visit the pottery village.
(Unknown)

I drew a scribble style portrait of Mr.Trong for the series of all the last terracotta artisans for the documentary film project for the Thanh Ha Terracotta Park and Museum in Hoi An city, Quang Nam province, Vietnam.

First I created the general layout of him and a part of his house.

Then I put more details and shadow on him and also background

Here is the final scribble drawing of Mr.Trong

For more information about my art project on the last terracotta artisans in Thanh Ha village, you can read more articles from this series here:
Last Terracotta Artisans: Mr.Biec
Last Terracotta Artisans: Mr.Du
Last Terracotta Artisans: Mrs.Chien

Thank you all for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. It gives me great joy to be able to share my experiences exclusively here on the steem blockchain, with you all. If you enjoyed reading this, please share it with others by resteeming this post.

❤
@livvu