Shuko Kishida
The porcelain painter Shuko Kishida started her artistic career as a designer in the textile field – she designed knitting patterns and, specifically, experimented with fine, lacy designs. She first became really interested in porcelain painting only in 2000 and from then on she advanced further to be one of the world’s top-ranking artists at an amazing speed! This achievement was not only successful because of her insatiable curiosity but because of her great need for knowledge. Starting in 2003 she attended seminars, particularly in England, to learn about other artists and those teachers who were giving the lessons. Shuko was able to attend lessons given by Marci Blattenberger (who is a member of IPAT Asia and one of the founders of the Internet-Platform PPIO) at Chris Balmforth’s studio in the UK (Chris is the owner of Held of Harrogate, an English supplier of porcelain painting accessories).
Chris contacted me by e-mail in the summer of 2013 and explained how Shuko was able to grasp the new techniques with amazing speed – starting with the first stroke of her brush! Even after a few days of attending the seminar, Marci said to her that she herself could sit back and let Shuko carry on because there was not much more she could teach her – such a talented pupil was very rare indeed! This is truly a natural gift which came to the fore in just a few days. Another fact was remarkable: In 2003, nobody had heard of an Asian lady who had left her own land and travelled alone to foreign countries to further her understanding of porcelain painting. Today, this could be taken a little more easily, but only just a few years ago it was quite a gigantic step for her to make such a trip and deal with unknown people and European habits.