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Leaf artist’s fine collages celebrate Ha Noi

Published: 08/11/2009 05:00

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It took 10 years for Muu to learn how to preserve and process flowers and bark to make collage art. Now his works are in high demand.

Self-taught artist Nguyen Ba Muu is a “master of leaf painting” in Viet Nam. He never tires of creating new work, and now his love for dry leaves has compelled him to create special collages to celebrate Ha Noi’s 1,000th anniversary.

He intends to exhibit these unique collages for Ha Noi’s anniversary to express his love for the city and its people.

Muu has finished collages of the Tortoise Tower, Mong Phu Temple, Hang Bac Street and One Pillar Pagoda, while many others are still in progress.

“The textures and colours of Vietnamese leaves are suitable for showing the old roofs, mossy walls and shady trees of Ha Noi’s streets,” he says.

Thousands of dried leaves are glued together to weave scenes of Ha Noi through its ancient pagodas, noisy streets and the emerald waters of Sword Lake.

“With the leaves, my creativity has no limit,” he says.

More than 30 years ago, Muu worked for the Ministry of Commerce. One day, he received a strange order from Japan. They wanted to buy what was considered waste in Viet Nam, such as dry leaves, tree bark and pine cones.

Afterwards, the Japanese partner sent the ministry dried-flower baskets made from the useless materials. These gifts left an impression on Muu, and he began to think of ways to use these materials in Vietnamese collages.

Muu was confident with his idea because of Viet Nam’s abundance of materials and resources. However, he spent his first 10 years trying to find a way to process the materials.

Approaching the new genre was not an easy task. Muu tried to discover new techniques to process the materials and preserve his products, but he became disappointed with his constant failures.

“At that time, I had nothing,” Muu says. “Necessary things like glues, chemicals and dyes were not as popular as they are now.”

But he persisted through these difficult times and finally found a solution. He says that now his leaf paintings can stand the test of time, thanks to his own methods. Muu has even travelled to the northern mountains to find leaves and flowers for his work. Sometimes he comes home empty handed, and other times he finds leaves or flowers that may look beautiful but cannot be used in the collages.

Nowadays, with openmarkets to foreign countries, materials and tools are easier to buy, but Muu has difficulties with upgrading the quality of his products to meet customers’ demands.

“I want to make Vietnamese collages that are equal to the products of other countries,” he says.

“India is the country of the lotus, but Indian artists can’t dry the flowers. I have discovered the secret to keeping lotus flowers pink for eternity,” he says with pride.

Muu has set up a business called Vietnamese– Japanese Dried Flowers, and he employs students from fine arts colleges to work with him and learn the secrets of making leaf paintings at his office. He also helps them enhance their skills and earn money to cover their school fees.

These days he has reduced his personal output, due to health problems, but he teaches his trade secrets to the younger generation.

“My hope is to train them to become true artists. Talented and kind-hearted Vietnamese leaf painters are in no way inferior to others,” Muu says.
Training students who have basic painting skills is not easy, but Muu also teaches deaf-and-dumb students with the hope of bringing them a better life. When disabled students finish their courses, Muu sends them to work at the companies and workshops of his other successful students.

Muu’s first four disabled students came from Phu Tho and Hai Phong provinces. Muu confesses that he doubted their abilities at first, but still taught them. In return, they studied and worked hard, and after only one month, they could make simple bunches of dried flowers.

One of Muu’s students, Tu Anh, employed the disabled students to work at her shop with the hope that one day they would be able to produce something even better than a bunch of dried flowers.

“Muu is a talented artist of leaf painting. He thinks of leaves and flowers all day long, even in his dreams,” Anh says.

“He is also a kind-hearted teacher. We’ve learned so much more from him than just a trade; we’ve learned morality as well.”

VietNamNet/VNS

Provide by Vietnam Travel

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