I’ve been doing ceramics for 50 years but just started acrylics

[Desertau]

I started making ceramics in high school and then college after breaking up my studio and giving away my big kilns I have after 5 years still not gotten back into it. I’ve gone through phases but always focused on throwing things as I could but switching from different firing types high fire, mid and low fire glazes also combining all for different effects. I have even tried acrylic painting a little but it’s a challenge learning new mediums I’m not a natural but it’s still fun.

These are a few pieces of my ceramics.

 

[Paige]

Amazing work!

An old neibor did pottery and had a stall at Pike Place market for over 30 yrs. I spent hrs as a kid watching her throw clay.

Still have a bunch of her works.

 

[Desertau]

And trying acrylic painting… mostly areas I’ve hunted gold one a river in China and my first try paintin my daughter

 

[Shad]

Nice work!

 

[Desertau]

Amazing work!

An old neibor did pottery and had a stall at Pike Place market for over 30 yrs. I spent hrs as a kid watching her throw clay.

Still have a bunch of her works.

Did she ever offer to teach you?

 

[RCF]

Great work and very creative! Love it!

Side note: My MIL, now 85, has been china painting for last 40+ years and continues to do so, even now. She painted Christmas ornaments each year for our girls for past 25 years. We have a Christmas tree dedicated to her works of art.

Creativity knows no bounds, even with age. Keep up the great work!

 

[Desertau]

The Chinese guy I’m throwing with is a potter for this blue and white factory in Jingdezhen, China where they make these huge vases in sections assembling them semi dry and cementing the sections with clay slip. I was in China for the international ceramics expo.

The lady standing next to me is the Chief of police for Jingdezhen, she was college friends with a friend of mine from Shanghai he called her up and she picked us up at the airport and took care of us while we were there driving us around and bringing us into the Ming Dynasty cultural center for the lighting of the kilns ceremony, this was closed to the public with a lot of politicians across the country there for the ceremony.

The second picture the guy with the big smile is an expert on ancient Chinese ceramics frequently seen on cctv in China surrounded by governors and Chinese secret service looking very serious.

An artist using a liquid latex technique applying cobalt decoration.

My wife and our good friend traveling with us she a retired university literature professor and author of a dozen books on chinas master jade carvers and we have traveled across the country meeting and making friends with quite a few of these artists, some have visited us here in the US as well.

And my wife and I in front of some large vessels.

 

[Paige]

Did she ever offer to teach you?

I dont think she did and I probably didn't want to learn, as it was her job & income, though she did raise Lamas as well on the side.
She had the Potery Farm in Woodinville and was quit the character.

Those giant vases are insane, so crazy, amazing work!

 

[Desertau]

I dont think she did and I probably didn't want to learn, as it was her job & income, though she did raise Lamas as well on the side.
She had the Potery Farm in Woodinville and was quit the character.

Those giant vases are insane, so crazy, amazing work!

Everywhere in China there is incredible artwork it is humbling I’ve always been the big fish in a small pond my first time traveling around China meeting jade carvers and other ceramic artists I really understood what a small pond I’d really been swimming in. Everyone is extremely kind, welcoming and generous I’ve turned down some beautiful and expensive jade, one carver “Young Xi” his studio was in Suzhou a city about 2 hours from Shanghai he carves the finest of this jade exclusively, I’ve been to his home to see his personal collection the Jade carved there predominantly work in this oily white Nephrite called mutton fat or Hetian yu found in Xinjiang a city on the border of the Middle East the population is mostly Muslim and this area in China is under the control of the military because the jade found there is so expensive the most highly prized are river pebbles washed down from the Koolan mountains into the river where the action of friction erodes the Rhine leaving only the harder nephrite with skin from the inside this jade sells upward of $1000 per gram and this location is a huge gold deposit. This nephrite value only surpassed by two other stones.

These are two examples the one in orange skin a river pebble the other pure white mutton fat.

One being the translucent green and clear water Jadeite and number one the most expensive called Shoushan Village Tienhuang a yellow gold stone prized by the Emperors for the carving of imperial seals the finest pieces selling for as much as $100,000. Per gram. It too is found in half a dozen colors the jade identified by fine white spider web inclusions called radish texture from eons of minerals leaching into the stone from submersion under water in rice paddies, and red streaks called carrot lines. There is also loquat color, red, silver gold, crow skin or black field and white.The deposit was very small and is now exhausted total production from this small deposit would fit in a large steamer trunk. The Ching Dynasty Seals were made from this stone and were the only item recovered by the last emperor as he fled the forbidden city to save his life.
These three loquat color, yellow gold and black field. Most examples are under 50 grams.

This is crystal from Brazil carved by one friend carves this pieces as large as 5 ton that take 5 years to cut and polish.


I could post hundreds of examples of different carvings from other artists in China all amazing artwork and priceless jades.

 

[Desertau]

The guy in the white smock is the crystal carver, we are raiding his garden outside the studio in what looks like a converted elementary school. He’s got dozens of students working in different rooms and galleries, this student now is running his own studio most all these studios have some impressively large dogs that roam the grounds at night too.