An Artistic Mission

ELITE PEOPLE

By Annie Wu Photography by Lux Aeterna Studio

THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN AMERICAN ESSENCE MAGAZINE. G rowing up in Salzburg, Austria, Johanna Schwaiger was constantly surrounded by beautiful art—from the city’s Baroque architecture to majestic fountains and public gardens. “I always thought the masters of these works were of a distant past, … had magical skills, and I thought if I could only learn a little bit of what they knew, I would be so happy,” she said.

Her father, an art teacher, taught her basic drawing and sculpting techniques. Working in clay gave her true joy. “It became my world to retreat to, whenever I felt I needed to escape somewhere, like Alice entering her wonderland,” she said. Today, Schwaiger has not only achieved her childhood dream of becoming a sculptor but also seeks to inspire the next generation of artists to create the kind of art that so moved her.

She came to the United States in 2017 to work with New Masters Academy, a subscription-based online tutorial platform for people to learn fine arts techniques. To begin with, she was invited to teach a sculpture tutorial on video. Today, she is the academy’s program director. Similar to Netflix, people can stream videos of creative artists teaching their crafts from around the world. Even top art schools and entertainment studios, including the Walt Disney Animation Studios, Ringling College of Art and Design, and the National Sculpture Society, have signed up for courses.

Johanna Schwaiger 出生於奧地利薩爾斯堡，從 小就浸潤於藝術之都，從巴洛克時代建築，到典雅的廣 場噴泉以及公共花園，「我總是在想，創造這些傑作的 大師與我們相距甚遠，他們擁有這些驚豔的技巧，如果 我能學習到一點，哪怕再些微，我都會很開心！」她說。 Schwaiger 女士的父親是一位藝術教師，教會她 繪畫基礎與雕塑初學技巧。捏陶帶給她真正的快樂，

Schwaiger is inspired by the grace and strength exhibited by artists of classical Chinese dance.

In order to learn traditional figure sculpture, Schwaiger spent more than a decade studying the historic masters.

A JOURNEY It would take some time before Schwaiger could fulfill her passion for arts education. At age 15, she enrolled in a local school for sculptors. But while the school taught wood and stone carving, she wanted to learn traditional figurative sculpture, like that of the Renaissance masters, together with training in ink drawing, clay sculpting, and bronze casting. After graduating from high school, Schwaiger searched ateliers and schools in Salzburg, Vienna, and other nearby European cities, but none taught these techniques.

Some in the arts world told Schwaiger that realism had become a thing of the past, so she decided to train herself by studying the works of old masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Schwaiger also majored in art history at the University of Salzburg, and soon picked up commissions to paint portraits and sculpt figures

她說：「在我感到想要逃離之際，這對我而言，就是一 個身心靈的避風港，就像愛麗絲遁入夢遊仙境般。」如 今她不僅如願成為一位雕塑家，還身負使命，期許自己 能夠創造出動人且得以啟迪下一代藝術家的作品。 2017 年，Schwaiger 女士來到美國，授課於「新 大師學院」（New Masters Academy），這是一項著 名的線上教學資源平臺，跟「Netflix」有點相似，但其 提供訂閱者的內容是所有藝術門類的專業教學，訂閱者 透過觀賞影片來學習各項手藝，在當代頂尖動畫產業， 如：華特迪士尼動畫工作室，以及瑞格林藝術與設計學 院、國家雕塑學會（National Sculpture Society）等 單位都採用該平臺課程。最初，她受邀擔任雕刻學程的 講師，現在她則身任該學術項目的指導人。

求索傳統之路 在Schwaiger女士熱忱奉獻於教學前，她費心費時，致 力於追尋心之所向。 15歲時，她就讀於薩爾斯堡當地的 學校學習雕刻，當時學校教授的是木雕與石雕，但她想 學習的是傳統的人像雕刻，即文藝復興時期大師們的雕

for churches and graveyards, but she still felt a need for more schooling. At age 26, she discovered that the Florence Academy of Art in Italy taught the traditional curriculum. After completing her training there, she returned to her high school alma mater and began teaching a course in traditional figurative art.

Schwaiger has since made it her mission to continue the lineage of the classical art tradition, through New Masters Academy, education initiatives, and her private art studio. “I try to inspire the younger generation to hone their craft and really focus on the craft as much as possible—and make them understand that if you get strong in your craft, that’s how you become free in your expression,” she said in an interview held at Fei Tian College in Middletown, New York, where she taught a four-week summer sculpting class.

Now 38, Schwaiger taught her Fei Tian College students human anatomy and how to draw from a live model. To her, it’s about respecting the process pioneered by the great classical artists of the Western tradition. “You need to honor the past, what the ancestors learned and what they brought out. It’s basically taking the torch and bringing the torch further. That’s what I believe in,” Schwaiger said.

INSPIRED BY THE EAST In one recent project, Schwaiger took inspiration from a different culture. Several years ago, she and her husband attended a performance by Shen Yun Performing Arts, the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. Based in New York, the company seeks to revive the 5,000 years of Chinese civilization through dance and music. Classical Chinese dance, in particular, has a lineage tracing back to imperial courts and ancient plays. Schwaiger was touched not only by the storytelling, but also by the technical prowess of the dancers. “I could see that this is the kind of excellence … that artists in the past were aiming for. And it’s really moving people’s hearts with beauty, and with excellent techniques,” she said.

Schwaiger thought of capturing through sculpture the grace and strength of the dancers she saw on stage. “What amazed me so much was the variety of dance poses that the dancers can do in sync, and so the whole choreography seems to be a language that is told on stage,” she said.

刻作品。課程訓練從水墨繪畫開始，緊接著學習陶土雕塑 以及鑄銅像。高中畢業後，她在薩爾斯堡、維也納以及其 他鄰近的歐陸城市，尋找相關的藝術工作室或學院，但卻 沒有任何一處專攻她想深造的領域。

彼時，一些藝術界的前輩告訴 Schwaiger，寫實主 義（Realism）已走向式微，成為過去。有鑑於此，她下 定決心要倚靠自學，鑽研過去幾個世紀的大師之作，如 李奧納多 · 達文西、米開朗基羅，以及拉斐爾等，奉其 為圭臬，潛心自學。Schwaiger 同時在薩爾斯堡大學（ University of Salzburg）主修藝術史，期間，透過繪畫 人像，以及替教堂、墓園雕刻人像等來賺取收入。但她仍 認為自己需要更加專精的學習，26 歲時，她發現意大利 佛羅倫斯藝術學院（Florence Academy of Art）有開 授傳統藝術教程，在那學習結業後，她回到高中母校，開 始教授傳統的寫實藝術。

Schwaiger 一直在其職涯的實踐中，傳承古典藝術 的技藝。透過在新大師學院開課，以及她的私人藝術工作 室，「我試著讓年輕一代，打磨他們的手藝，並且盡可能 真正地專精於技藝本身，同時讓他們明白：『唯有在技藝 上堅實強大，才能在創作中擁抱表達自由。』」她接受專訪 時說道，當時她正在紐約上州的飛天藝術學院擔任為期 四週的暑期雕刻課程講師。 現年 38 歲的 Schwaiger 女士，在該學院的暑期課 堂上，教授學生關於人體構造，以及如何繪畫實體模特。 她認為，這是尊重西方古典藝術先驅者的過程，「你必須 榮耀過往，那些先祖學到的，他們帶給我們的，其實就是 傳遞火炬，將之傳得更遠，這也是我所堅信的。」

東方藝術的啟迪 在飛天藝術學院進行的一件創作裡，Schwaiger 從不同 文化中汲取靈感。數年前，她曾與其丈夫一同觀賞一場「神 韻藝術團」的文藝演出，該藝術團成立於紐約，以其頂尖 的中國古典舞聞名世界，旨在透過舞蹈與音樂，復興中華 五千年文明。中國古典舞，其實源自古典的宮廷舞蹈以及 古老的劇作表演。 Schwaiger 分享，觀賞演出後，舞劇 背後的故事，以及舞蹈家精湛舞藝都讓她深受觸動，「我 能感受到，這演出何等的卓越，是過往那些藝術家所嚮往 的，而且，透過其高超技巧展現的美，真正地打動觀眾。」

Schwaiger 想到，她能藉由雕塑來捕捉她在舞臺上 看見的優柔與剛健。「最讓我感到驚豔的是，如此繁複多 樣的舞姿，舞蹈家們卻能展現一致性，整體編排就像一種 在舞臺上訴說的語言。」 透過共同的藝術領域朋友轉介，Schwaiger 認 識了 Celine Ma，馬小姐是北方藝術學院（Northern Academy of the Arts）的中國古典舞講師，該學院 是位於紐約上州 米德爾敦（Middletown）的私立學

Through a mutual artist friend, Schwaiger met Celine Ma, a 22-year-old instructor of classical Chinese dance at Northern Academy of the Arts, a private middle and high school in Middletown, New York. Together, they thought of possible poses that the figure could take on, with Ma occasionally modeling the movements. At first, Schwaiger found it challenging to translate dance, a moving art form, into the still form of sculpture—especially conveying the light, airy movements of classical Chinese dancers. “It’s a moment in time that you’re capturing, and so the pose I picked is not a resting pose. It’s more like she’s like a flower blossoming into her pose,” said Schwaiger.

THE SCULPTURE One of the dancer’s legs is grounded, but the rest of her body is twisted toward the viewer. Meanwhile, her extended arm is gesturing toward the sky. “I was trying to think of how plants grow. That helped me to bring that grace into the piece … like how a flower opens its petals. That’s the image I tried to keep in mind as I was sculpting this,” Schwaiger said.

Ma said of the hand gesture: “It’s reaching high, like giving people hope and aiming for something brighter and higher.” She was not only impressed by Schwaiger’s dedication to artistry, but was also thrilled to see classical Chinese dance represented in another art form. “Dancers in the past—we don’t have a lot of documented footage, and a lot of techniques are lost because there’s no way that someone is passing [them] down through thousands of years,” Ma said, noting that it was thrilling to see “a sculpture that can be everlasting.”

Through working on the sculpture project, Ma also gained a newfound understanding of how Western and Eastern arts can complement each other. And through discussing the posture of the sculpture, she became more aware of the muscles she was using while dancing and “the beauty of the human form.”

THE ROLE OF ART IN SOCIETY Ma trained in classical Chinese dance for seven years, learning the inner meanings behind the art form. She said that the training helped her to embody values that were appreciated in ancient Chinese culture, such as self-discipline, the willingness to endure hardships, and an optimistic outlook. To master the art form, “you really have to build these values within

院。Schwaiger 和馬小姐一起構思適合用於雕塑的舞 姿，而馬小姐能直接透過舞動來詮釋模特動作。起初， Schwaiger 就發現，以雕刻的靜態詮釋動態的藝術形 式格外有挑戰，尤其在光線、空氣流動下，中國古典舞 姿的表現。「這是捕捉一瞬之間，所以我選擇刻畫的不是 靜止的時刻，更像是透過她舞動如花兒綻放的瞬間。」

捕捉一瞬之間 當舞者的雙腿站定後，剩餘的肢體仍在扭轉，同時，將 其臂膀向天空延伸，「當時我在想的是植物如何生長，這 有助於我將那份優美帶入作品之中，就像是花兒展開花 瓣那般，在我雕刻的當下，我將這樣的畫面銘記於心。」 Schwaiger 說。 馬小姐分享了關於舞蹈手勢的認識，「將手觸及高 處，就像給予人們希望，期許一種光亮與高潔。」她感佩 於 Schwaiger 女士致力於藝術表現的心思，也為中國古 典舞能透過另一種藝術形式來詮釋，而感到興奮，「過去 的舞蹈家們，並未被大量記載（紀錄），很多技術已然失 傳，因為數千年來沒有人將此代代相傳。」因此她更為感 嘆，能見到一件可以永存的雕塑作品。 透過此次的雕塑合作項目，馬女士從中發現，東、西 方的藝術如何在其中發揮互補的力量，透過討論雕刻姿 態，她比往常更能意識到舞蹈中肌肉的使用方式，以及人 體之美。

反思藝術之於社會 馬小姐在中國古典舞領域訓練長達七年，學習到這種藝 術形式背後的意涵，她說這過程幫助她內化古老的中華文 化內涵，像是自律、隱忍的意志，以及正向的心態，要想 在藝術上精進，「真的必須將這些涵養內化於心，這只能 發自內心。」她說。 Schwaiger 對此也有相似的理解，她認為藝術家必 須陶冶自我的品行，才能創作出美的作品。「藝術家們要 讓自己沉浸於美的意念之中，才能藉此溝通他人，如果藝 術家思及觀眾，希望他們與藝術之美產生聯繫，那麼觀者 也能感同身受。這也是我認為藝術之於社會如此舉足輕重 的原因。」 她也深信藝術的力量能造福人群，「如果你凝視優 雅、震撼的事物，它們會自然地幫助你連結其中的內涵， 這會提醒著人們時刻懷抱這些與生俱來的品德。」她希望 有朝一日，能過透過公眾藝術作品啟發群眾，無論作品佇 立於校園、醫療機構或是大眾廣場之中。 Schwaiger 女士下一步計劃將舞蹈雕塑刻作銅像， 採用一種失傳的古老技藝——蠟雕，她希望這些作品終 有一天能展示於眾。這些藝術有著美化周遭環境的效果， 「你會願意花時間待在那個空間，願意和他人一起坐下來， 你能藉此感受那個時刻——這對文明教化是一件重要的 事。」她侃侃地說著這份美好願景。

Schwaiger believes that artists must cultivate good values in order to create something beautiful.

you, and it’s something that comes from your heart,” said Ma.

Schwaiger similarly believes that artists must cultivate good values in order to create something beautiful. Artists very much have to immerse themselves in beauty in order to communicate it to somebody else. “If the artist is thinking of the audience, wanting the audience to connect with that beauty, the person who is looking at the art is going to feel that. So that’s why I think art has such importance for society,” she said.

She also firmly believes that art has the power to elevate people. “If you’re looking at graceful things, powerful things, it’s naturally helping you to connect with these virtues. … It’s reminding [you] of these qualities that you should have in yourself,” she said. That’s why she hopes to one day create public art that can inspire through beauty—whether it’s sculpture in schools, hospitals, or public squares.

Schwaiger plans to cast her dancer sculpture in bronze next, using an ancient technique known as lost-wax casting, and she hopes the sculpture can be placed in a public setting one day. With art beautifying its surrounding environment, “you like to spend time there, you’d like to sit down and be there together with others, and you feel the other people that are present—and that’s very essential for our civilization,” she said.