Jacob Chan is a Wirral based ceramic artist who recently reached the final 3 in the Channel 4 TV show The Great Pottery Throwdown. His work is a blend of his traditional Chinese heritage and his Liverpool upbringing. His iconography includes Chinese Dragons and adding lost and found items into his work. Jacob graduated in ceramics and jewellery from the Carmarthen School of Art, Wales in 2017 and has been mentored by the renowned Wirral sculptural ceramic artist Emma Rodgers.
My work reflects on my cultural background and heritage. Being half Chinese and half English my work takes inspiration from traditional Chinese shapes and forms, whilst the surfaces are heavily decorated in slips and oxides that contain other raw materials such as sand, slate and broken pottery collected from around the coastlines and mountain ranges of Britain. I use these materials to represent my Western culture and my cultural journey through my creativity.
My work takes inspiration from shipwreck pottery, specifically Chinese Ming vases that have been recovered from shipwrecks and adorned by coral and sea life that have built up over time. Using the soda firing technique and reaching temperatures as high as 1300 degrees, my work can achieve a unique array of colours including reds, blues, purples and greens from one glaze.