Jingdezhen Autumn Art Fair Ignites at Taoxichuan

I’d like to share with you the opening ceremony of the Autumn Art Fair at Taoxichuan, Jingdezhen.The event lasted for three days—from October 17th to 19th.

The highlight of the opening ceremony was the Lighting Ceremony of Wanyao Square,
where the Mayor of Jingdezhen and Saad Kadoumi, the President of the World Crafts Council,
together ignited the symbolic Taiping Wood-Firing Kiln.

So why was this ceremony held at Wanyao Square?
Because this is Jingdezhen’s newest ceramic art district—the third phase of Taoxichuan.
Its area is almost as large as both Phase One and Phase Two combined, and the goal is to bring more visitors and new energy to the city’s art scene.

Around 50 IAC ceramic members from around the world also took part in the ceremony. The name “Ten Thousand Kilns Square” is symbolic—it doesn’t literally mean there are ten thousand kilns.

This year’s lighting ceremony featured four international wood-firing kilns and their artists,
including Ian Jones from Australia, and Hirakawa Tadashi from Japan — a well-known Bizen ware master who helped revive Japan’s ancient wood-firing tradition and brought it to Jingdezhen.

Also present was Ole Morten from Norway, a ceramic and sculpture artist who runs his own gallery in Risør, and Ted Neal from the United States, a professor at the Ball State University in Indiana, who has nearly thirty years of experience in ceramics and kiln building.

The ceremony not only lit the flame of the kilns, but also ignited the passion for art.
Now, Taoxichuan has a new destination worth visiting— its Phase Three Art Park is officially open to the public. So next time you visit Jingdezhen, be sure to stop by Wanyao Square, and explore this brand-new creative space full of surprises and inspiration.