After a chance meeting in Washington, D.C., a noted American landscape architect and a Chinese artist joined in a creative project. Raised in southwestern Michigan, James van Sweden was an internationally recognized proponent of the movement to use native grasses in garden settings, including small urban gardens. Bo Jia was born about 100 miles from Jingdezhen in southeast China. A painter, printmaker, and book illustrator educated at the China Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou, Jia designs porcelain produced by the kiln he and his wife own and operate in Jingdezhen. Jia and Sweden’s collaboration resulted in a set of four bowls. Each bowl features a different grass beautifully painted on sparkling white porcelain and is paired with any one of four differently colored saucers. The random matching of bowls and saucers replicates the artists’ fortuitous meeting, while the decoration and materials illustrate their shared aesthetic vision. This bowl is decorated with river oats, a native plant of the southeastern United States and northeastern Mexico. An adaptable grass that grows in shade as well as sun, its leaves resemble bamboo and its flower heads look like oats. The delicate design continues into the interior of the bowl.