Xia Shaohua and his clay works based on Peking Opera figures The Buddha once remarked that everything can be found in something as seemingly insignificant as a grain of sand, a dropped leaf or a flower petal. Xia Shaohua sees the world through the medium of clay and fire. […]
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One of the joys of working with ceramics is the tension between the perceived control of the artist and the immutable fact that the kiln has a mind and will of its own. Xia Shaohua knows this all too well, which is why he took time to say …
“Every time you open the kiln, anything could happen – it could be a perfect work of art or a pile of broken pottery shards,” the pottery artist explained. “It’s always been mysterious and unfathomable, which has enchanted me for many years.”
The life of almost all artists, in almost all mediums, includes times of testing and trial interwoven with times to great triumph and (sometimes) public recognition. Xia Shaohua had this experience and shares it this way …
“The award was a great encouragement for me at the time, because I was struggling between following my artistic path and being realistic and worldly in a big city,” he recalled.