Ying-Yueh Chuang: In Search of Paradise

by | Nov 20, 2012 | Uncategorized

Ying-Yueh Chuang, Flower Series #1 (detail). Fabric, porcelain, 302 x 265 x 12 cm. 2011
“As
a collector of things, it is the small elements that most people
overlook that inspire me most, the pieces that are thrown out or read as
undesirable. “

The North-West Ceramics Foundation is pleased to announce Ying-Yueh Chuang as their featured speaker at a free public lecture Thursday, November 29, at 7:30 pm.
The lecture will be held in Room 245 in the North Building of Emily
Carr University of Art + Design (1399 Johnston Street, Granville Island,
Vancouver). All are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Born
and raised in Taiwan, Ying-Yueh Chuang came to Canada in the 1990s,
attending and receiving a diploma from Langara College in 1997 and a BFA
from Emily Carr Institute in 1999. She received her MFA in Ceramics
from NSCAD University, after which she participated as an Artist-in
Residence at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, where she continues to live
and work, from 2001 to 2004. Chuang received the Winifred Shantz Award
for Ceramics in 2006 as well as a number of Provincial and Canada
Council awards for her work. Her work is included in numerous public
collections such as the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Canada Council
Art Bank and the WOCEK Icheon World Ceramic Centre in Korea, and it has
been featured in Art in America, Ceramics Monthly, Ceramic Review and Ceramics Art & Perception.
She has participated in exhibitions in Canada, the United States,
Hungary, Taiwan, Korea, China and Australia. In May of 2012, her work
was shown in a two-person travelling exhibition with Eliza Au, Variations on Symmetry, at the Evergreen Art Gallery in Coquitlam.
Chuang
finds inspiration in things as simple as a grocery store, where the
myriad forms and textures of vegetables suggest possibilities for
exploration. Observing plants, she notices how structures and
environments integrate and repeat to make complex wholes, which have the
potential to expand exponentially. Much of her work incorporates
complex symmetries, which she observes in nature, using hundreds of
brightly glazed components assembled on site. Often organized
geometrically, her compositions suggest scientific specimens, with
figures pinned to a board rather than left living and free. Underlying
the candy-coloured surfaces is an examination of order and freedom, both
personal and social, which reflects her experience in both the
populated, fairly homogenous culture of Taiwan, where rigid expectations
govern family and social relations, and the sparsely populated and
heterogeneous Canadian environment. Chuang values both, and her
installations grow out of mediating the tensions between the two
cultures.
The lecture will take place on Thursday, November 29 at 7:30 pm in Room 245, NB, Emily Carr University. We look forward to seeing you there.
Note: For more on Ying-Yueh Chuang, please see her website at www.yingyuehchuang.com .

technical tuesday: Emily Murphy

by | Nov 20, 2012 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, show us your influences, technical tuesday

Image via Emily Murphy

I’m sure you’ve all been over to Emily Murphy’s Pottery Blog. It’s fantastic to say the least. How that lovely lady does it all is beyond me. Yesturday she posted a great technical post about photographing your artwork. I know I’ve sat through a few photography workshops and I still need a re-fresher once in a while. So head on over to the Pottery Blog for:

how-to: make your own set-up for photographing pottery

Thanks Emily!