Zha Yuankang
查元康
— Ceramic Art Celebrity of Jiangsu Province
— Senior Craft Artist of Distinguished Professional Title
— Senior Engineer of Rural Revitalization Technology (Distinguished Professional Title)
— Member of China Ceramic Industry Association
— Member of the Chinese Calligraphers Association
— Member of the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association
— Executive Director of Wuxi Calligraphers Association and Executive Deputy Director of its Seal Carving Committee
— Artistic Advisor of Yixing Calligraphers Association
— Adjunct Professor at Second Military Medical University of PLA
— Adjunct Professor at Harbin Engineering University
— Adjunct Professor at Jiangsu University of Technology
— Vice President of China Purple Clay Culture Research Association
— Executive Director of Yixing Purple Clay Collection and Appreciation Committee
Born in Yixing in 1955. Since 1985, he has studied painting, calligraphy, and seal carving under renowned Chinese painting, calligraphy, and seal carving master Han Tianheng, and studied pottery carving under Mao Guoqiang, Master of Chinese Ceramic Art. He served as a member of the 9th and 10th Yixing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) consecutively from 1988. With forty years of artistic practice, he has achieved considerable accomplishments.
His pottery carving works have a distinctive artistic style, integrating the traditional disciplines of seal carving, calligraphy, painting, and poetry, comprehensively showcasing the rich and varied expressive techniques of purple clay pottery carving. His works have won dozens of gold, silver, and bronze awards in various national-level ceramic arts competitions and have been collected by museums and art institutions both in China and abroad. He was awarded the First Prize of the "Yangxian Literature Award" by the Publicity Department of Yixing Municipal Committee in 2015. In 2016, he was honored with the title of "Top Ten Families Nourished by Virtue and Scholarly Atmosphere in Yixing City" by the Publicity Department of Yixing Municipal Committee.
