Tea pots and dragons
- Ceramic artist Emma Rodgers was his mentor
- He draws on his different cultural heritages
- He was a finalist on The Great Pottery Throw-down
Chinese Dragons, Foo-dogs but also modern skyscrapers are part of Jacob Chan’s iconography, as are lost and found items. The work of the young Wirral based ceramicist is in fact inspired by “traditional Chinese shapes and forms whilst the surfaces are heavily decorated in slips and oxides that contain other raw materials such as sand, slates and broken pottery collected around the coastline and mountains of Britain”. Chan, who graduated in ceramics and jewellery at the Carmarthen School of Art in 2017, was mentored by the international ceramic sculptor Emma Rodgers and in 2020 opened his own studio. Focusing on the combination of wheel thrown and sculptural ceramics and using the soda firing technique to glaze his work, Jacob creates pieces with a unique array of colours.
Interview
- How did you become a ceramicist?
- During my final secondary school years, we had to choose the subjects we wanted to pursue for our future career and I chose creative ones with an overwhelming feeling of excitement and fear of the unknown.
- Why did you choose this creative path?
- Because I fell in love with clay. As soon as the clay touched my fingertips it was a completely new and exciting medium which I could push to its limits. Clay continues to excite me and there is a continuous journey of learning.
- How would you describe your aesthetic?
- My craft has constantly been a progression of taking old and traditional techniques and trying to incorporate my own modern and contemporary twist to create new and exciting pieces of ceramic artwork.
- What is less known about your craft?
- In my work I incorporate and hide bits of broken pottery and natural materials such as sand and slate that I collect around the coastline and mountain ranges of Britain to highlight the western side of my culture.
Jacob Chan is an expert artisan: he began his career in 2012
Where
Jacob Chan
