Close up on cloisonne

"The thin metal wires resembled the pencil lines I draw on canvas. It was challenging but also interesting. The coloring process was magical. When I saw the finished result, which was based on an oil painting, presented in total different medium and approach, I was amazed," she says.

"Cloisonne is difficult, but this only involved two of the traditional steps. I can't imagine how hard it would be to make a full cloisonne piece."

Since then, Chang has made one painting a year at the workshop, mostly her own interpretations of pieces by Western artists like Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali.

One of her latest was based on John La Farge's Autumn Scattering Leaves, which she saw at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2023. It took her seven months to finish.