2005 Sanyi Wood Carving Festival

The 2005 Sanyi Wood Carving Festival is held in Sanyi County in west-central Taiwan's Miaoli County from October 1 to 29. This year, the festival features works from many famous artists and all kinds of collectable items from around the world. There are also DIY classes offered to those participants who are interested in trying out wood-carving.

The festival is co-organized by the Tourism Bureau and the Miaoli County Government. As usual, the Sanyi Wood Carving Museum is a place one cannot afford to miss.

An article titled "Sanyi festival celebrates beauty of wood arts" was published by the Taiwan Journal on October 7, 2005. Written by Rita Fang, the article highlights various exhibitions and demonstrations during this year's Sanyi Wood Carving Festival. The festival is now in its 13th year.

Sanyi is famous in Taiwan for its woodcarving and woodworking craftsmanship. It is a community of woodcarving and woodworking artists-in-residence, including several foreign artists who are invited by the local government to come, work and show off their crafts for a year at a time. The local government is also investing in apprenticeship programs in order to make sure that woodworking skills are kept alive among future generations.

Woodcarving used to be an important export industry. However, it began to decline steadily in the 1970s and 1980s as competition from cheap labor in China and Southeast Asian countries grew more intense.

Nonetheless, Taiwanese craftsmen began to improve the quality of their wood works. The launch and continuation of the Sanyi Woodcarving Festival also contributed to the revitalization of the woodcarving industry in Taiwan. Most importantly, the Miaoli Wood Sculpture Museum was established in 1995. The museum displays sculptures made by Han and aboriginal artists in Taiwan, as well as those representing many other ethnic traditions around the world.

Every year, as a part of the month-long Sanyi Woodcarving Festival, the Miaoli Wood Sculpture Museum holds the "International Woodcarving Cultural Arts Festival Exhibition" and related scholarly symposium on woodcarving. This year's exhibition features 140 pieces of wood art, about half of which are the works of 25 Taiwanese artists, 18 works by 6 New Zealanders, 21 works by 8 Australians, and 31 pieces from artists all over Oceania.

More details about the exhibition and the Sanyi Woodcarving Festival in general are provided in this article.