About

My name is Kathy Matta and I've been traveling and studying in China for the past 25 years. Sixteen of those years have been studying and making my art work with a very rare material known as Chinese natural lacquer; the actual sap from the lacquer tree. This process that you see in the fish is called bodiless lacquer and I am the only person who has ever used it to make fish.

Studying this form of art is very rigorous and time consuming; up to a year to make one piece. In addition, there is a skin allergy associated with working with the sap, similar to poison ivy. It hasn't been easy learning this and sometimes living in very uncomfortable conditions.

I am one of the few lacquer artists who work with the raw material because of the time and expense of the materials. It’s time I bring my art work back to Alaska to educate about this rare and dying medium.