Their skilful hands focused on art pieces they were creating, and their eyes were locked on the details. Their hearts, apparently, were with HM the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who passed away on Oct 13 last year. At the Fine Arts Department's Office of Traditional Arts in Nakhon Pathom, two groups of 20 men and women from all walks of life brought out their best during a recent audition where the office recruited volunteers to help official artisans build a royal urn and coffin and sculpt statues for decorating the royal crematorium.
The fretwork audition took place to recruit volunteers for building the royal sandalwood urn. Photos Chanat Katanyu
Students, part-time craftsmen and retired citizens, the pool of candidates varied in age and skills. Some of them had come from the provinces or took leave from their classrooms to have a shot at being included in the prestigious, once-in-a-lifetime royal preparations.
At the recent audition, the first group was assigned to carve a piece of kalamet wood -- or mai chan hom -- into a traditional motif, while the second was tasked with turning clay into a bas-relief of a Thai angel within one day. Only the highly-skilled would be entrusted with the more difficult tasks and the rest would be asked to assist their work.
"We are delighted to have volunteers to support our work. As for their skills, the Office of Traditional Arts, which is in charge of the tests, regularly keeps us informed," said Anandha Chuchoti, director-general of the Fine Arts Department. "We have work for nearly all of them to do. Even the simple task of levelling with sandpaper is good. We admire their volunteer spirit and participation since it is a good thing."
According to the director-general, every task given to the Fine Arts Department for the royal funeral will be completed by the end of September.
The auditions for fretwork artist volunteers were held on Feb 27-28, those for gold leaf application on March 1 and those for sculpture on March 2.
"I feel grateful to King Bhumibol and wish I could do something in return for his kindness, so I applied for this audition. Whether or not I pass the test, I am proud to present my ability. If I make it, everyone at my workplace, Ron Phibun Witthaya School, will be happy to support me to come to Bangkok to do this task upon a special transfer request," said Chalieo Suwanbamrung, a schoolteacher.
Fretwork art samples. Photos: Pichaya Svasti
The man whose hobby is carpentry flew from Nakhon Si Thammarat province, almost 800km south of Bangkok, just to take the fretwork audition for a few hours.
Natnaree and Thawatchai, architect students of Silpakorn University, also took part in the audition. Both wished to do volunteer work in order to show their gratitude towards King Bhumibol. The former, who is studying traditional Thai architecture, was happy with her performance and vowed to manage her time to both study and work. Meanwhile, the latter a freshman, admitted to having fears because he had never carved traditional motifs before.
Another candidate Khatha Muangthet, 36, who is a khon mask-making instructor at Rajamangala University of Technology Bangkok, took part in auditions in three fields -- fretwork, gold lacquer art and motif drawing.
"I want to exercise these skills and serve the late king who was a great artist and my inspiration. He was a role model of perseverance. It would be a great honour and a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me to do this," he said.
The sculpture audition. Photo: Pichaya Svasti
Fretwork is an interlaced decorative design that is either carved in low relief on a solid background, or cut out with a fretsaw or other such tool.
According to Charin Choey-aroon, head of the Traditional Arts Office's Wood Carving and Fine Carpentry Group, the art of making fretwork for royal funerals has been passed down since the Ayutthaya period. All artisans in this group must strictly follow the design despite certain hassles, such as the very hard texture of wood and some difficult pieces.
"It is an uphill task to carve kalamet wood that is very hard, unlike teak wood. We carve wood piece by piece and assemble it together layer by layer. Volunteers must be capable of doing fretwork art, be able to concentrate on the work and have patience. The office has over 30 members of staff to work with 20 artisans of the Sirikit Institute and a number of volunteers," Charin, who worked on the royal urns for the late Queen Rambhai Barni of King Rama VII, HRH the Princess Mother, HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana and HRH Princess Bejaratana, said.
According to Charin, the previous royal urns were adorned with fretwork in the form of traditional motifs -- bai thet (Western foliage), klib khanoon (multi-tiered triangles), pracham yam, bua, nakradarn and uba -- while the one for the upcoming royal funeral is special for being decorated with all these motifs, plus the klib khanoon patterns with bases depicting rows of Garuda.
"Those passing the test will be assigned to carve all patterns and lines as our craftsmen do to create the royal urn and coffin. All candidates are treated equally and allowed to take time to complete their work. We want them to do their best because they are determined to help as volunteers," Charin added.
From his past experience and observation, volunteers scarcely made mistakes unless the pieces of wood they worked on had flaws like insect bites. Their work will be under close supervision of the office's artisans. Those unable to do difficult work will be assigned to levelling and touching up instead.
While the 30 fretwork candidates were awaiting test results, 12 volunteers who had earlier passed the tests due to their experience as volunteers for some of the previous royal funerals have already begun their work in the Fine Arts Department's workshop at Sanam Luang. They work under the supervision of art specialist Pichit Nimngam, who worked for the four previous royal funerals and, especially, designed the motifs on the royal urns for the late HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana and HRH Princess Bejaratana.
Jukkit Suksawat, 51, a volunteer who once worked with 15 Royal Craftsmen School lecturers and students as volunteer fretwork artisans for the royal funeral of HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana in 2008, said he was proud of being a representative of the Thai people who want to show their gratefulness to King Bhumibol. "This year, we will stay and work until our mission is completed. The motifs for this royal urn are more delicate and exquisite than those for the previous ones. Special motifs include the prostrating angels and the Garuda. The time we spend varies according to the complexity of patterns and the thickness of wood ranging from 3-7mm," he said.
Thiti Hatthakij, the Traditional Arts Office's artisan, revealed that the team of artisans and volunteers must carve between 50-60 motifs onto 20,000-30,000 pieces of kalamet wood for this project.
His colleague Sunan Wichadej, who has done fretwork for the royal funerals of all the royals since the 1985 funeral for Queen Rambhai Barni of King Rama VII, shares the pride of being part of the project. Like everyone on the team, he is willing to work late into the night in case of urgent work.
On March 2, about 20 people of all ages ranging from teenage to post-retirement concentrated on sculpting a bas-relief of an angel's face. The highly skilled will be assigned to less difficult work, such as sculpting necklaces and bracelets, while the rest will help prepare clay for sculptors, according to Prasopsuk Ratmai, head of sculpture at the Traditional Arts Office.
"The screening was done based on their skills and understanding. We had models for applicants to look at and sculpt accordingly. The audition was monitored by two experts who judged according to shape, form, volume and traditional Thai motifs," Prasopsuk said.
According to him, this division is responsible for creating 26 sculptures for decorating the royal crematorium, including Hindu gods Brahma, Shiva, Visnu and Indra, the standing and sitting angels, the Garuda and auspicious animals. The principle of work is to highlight the outstanding quality of art in the reign of King Bhumibol: the quality of being realistic, natural and reflecting Thai aesthetics.
The oldest applicant is Boonyiam Boonyakalin, 78, who graduated from Pohchang Academy of Arts and worked at the Traditional Arts Office as a wax model artisan until her retirement.
"I applied for the audition because I love and worship King Bhumibol. I had worked to create numerous statues of the Chakri Dynasty's monarchs. And I wish to create things for decorating the royal crematorium so as to serve King Rama IX for the last time."
