Jane Ingram Allen
Made In Taiwan
SanZhi, Taipei County
May 2 - 7, 2005

Host Organization: San Zhi Resources Data Organization
Zhongsan Road, Sec. 1, No. 81, San Zhi village, Taipei County, Taiwan
Tel: 02-2636-2016
Email: citadel@tpts4.seed.net.tw

We have arrived in San Zhi, and we are staying at Suang-Lian Elderly Center near the city. It is a beautiful place and very modern. It is run by the Presbyterian Church. They also have accommodations for us like a hotel room in one part of the large building, and another building where the workshop will take place. The studio is located in what they call the Bamboo House. It is a building with a large meeting room, kitchen and other attached rooms. The staff is very committed to the care and welfare of the elderly here at Suang-Lian . It is really giving us another prespective on Taiwan.

One the first day we went out picking plants. We found many plants that would make paper, but it is getting more and more difficult to find those that Jane has not already used in Taiwan. We spent most of the time around the beach area. San Zhi has many large sand dunes that support hardly trees and vines. We had the company of two small black dogs that we were told are traditional Taiwanese dogs. While traveling around the area, we came upon a person building a structure that is used for drying rice straw.

After dinner, we visited the San Zhi Library to see where we were to hang some of the site maps and hold the lecture on Saturday. It is a nice library, and it will be possible to hang some of the works there. We also plan to hang some works at the elder center. We also visited a local coffee shop and had some special drinks and bagels. San Zhi is celebrating a Matza festival, and this included a street performance of Taiwanese opera. The performance was in front of the temple.

The next day started early when we hung four site maps in the lobby of the elder center. They are quite nice there, and the Taiwan site map "Floral Abundance" is prominently displayed. We also hung the site maps of Guandu, Kinmen, and Liou-Guei. The residents here seem to enjoy them.

Jane, with the help of some volunteers, began to strip and cut up the plants that were picked the day before. The vines were too difficult to peel the skin off, and so she decided to cook the entire plant just pounding the stems to make them easier to cook..  As they were going throught the plants that had been picked, it was discoved that only three had not been used before. This was okay since the workshop participants would be able to use the others along with the prepared mulberry fiber sent by Suho Museum. By the end of the day all but two of the eight plants picked had been cooked. Jane had made paper samples from two of the plants cooked. Because Tim had a meeting and was gone for the day, most of the pictures were taken by a volunteer helping Jane.

Today the workshop was held at the bamboo house, and we had many of the residencts of the elder center attend. As with most workshops, Jane starts with a Power Point lecture, and then the students make paper using the Western method and putting the paper on felts. One of the most enjoyable parts of this portion of the workshop is the human press. After the pressing, the students placed their paper on trees and other locations before going to lunch.

When they returned Jane demonstrated the modified Asian method of making paper. The students used this method to continue making paper and adding decorations to it.. After the workshop Jane made paper that will be used for her San Zhi site map.  After that we went to the local library and hung three site maps: those of Penghu, PingTung and Chiayi in the San Zhe public library. They look very good there, and the partrons enjoyed looking at them and reading the information on the signs. We wanted some variety in our diet, so we went to a very nice restaurant specializing in fish and seafood. The dinner was excellent.

The second day of the workshop was focused on making more paper with the plants from this area and learning some non-traditional techniques for pouring pulp and other methods.  Jane also demonstrated her mixed media technique for making the "site mpas", and some people produced artworks from their paper during the afternoon.. During the morning a television crew from CTC came to film some of the workshop and interview Jane about her work.  The television crew spent over one and one half hours with Jane talking with her and filming the making of paper. They also filmed the art work hung at the Elder Center and then went to the San Zhi library to video her work there.

The day was spent working on the San Zhi site map. This work is slightlyt smaller than some of the others, but this site map truly represents San Zhi area with its rivers, sea coast, temples, people and plant life. While working on the map, Jane had a visitor from the local TV station 4. They interviewed her and spent some time at the gallery. Chang, Wen Jane, our host for this resisidency in San Zhi, was working on a big flower piece made with many pieces of the handmade paper made during the workshop.   She is creating this work for Mother's Day which is Sunday. She plans on presenting it to the many mothers at the Elderly Center during Saturday's closing reception.

Return to Made In Taiwan home page

(updated May 6, 2005 )

For more information on Jane, click on one of the icons below