February 2022 - Exhibitions at New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan

Exhibitions at New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan

Ceramic Figures: A Microcosm of Life

On view through March 22, 2022

Humans have used the resources on the earth to collect food, to grow crops, and to build settlements since the earliest times. Humans have formed consciousness and civilizations on this earth. However, human development and industrialization have taken their toll on the natural world as time evolves. Human activities have caused environmental problems such as greenhouse effect, marine pollution, food shortage and desertification.

Facing those environmental changes and unexpected events, people begin to change their thinking. They make all efforts to address challenges. They reflect on the past. They hope that things will go back to their familiar normal after all the turmoil.

“Ceramic Figures: A Microcosm of Life” takes the concept of “life is a journey” and leads the viewers to experience the change of times and the inseparability of humans and the environment through ceramic figurines. The exhibition hopes to convey a message that all the scenery along the way will lead to destinations where people live every day with a smile.

Humanity as the Center: Taiwan Academy of Ceramic Sculpture Art Exhibition

On view through March 27, 2022

The creation of ceramic art is an extremely complex process mostly born of the impressions on the mind of a ceramic sculptor from life experiences and social phenomena. The sculptors first form specific artistic content before corresponding ceramic techniques are chosen to manifest it, ultimately creating a completed piece of ceramic art.

Subject matters in ceramic art are diverse, ranging from figures, human anatomy, cultures and customs, animals, and plants to natural phenomena, which are represented in realistic, figurative, or abstract styles. Among these subject matters, humanity is the most frequently explored. After all, humanity is what we are the most closely associated with.

Taiwan Academy of Ceramic Sculpture is one of the few organizations in Taiwan engaging ceramics in sculpture. Its members have long been immersed in artistic creation and research, frequently unveiling new works. This year’s exhibition specifically takes humanity as its theme, drawing a circle around it, and presenting works created around this circle. We hope to thus share our abundant emotions and the value of life, conveying the truth, goodness, and beauty of humanity through our works. In the end, what we have to transcend is ourselves, as we aim to create boundless possibilities within our limited lifetime.

2021 Taiwan Ceramics Awards

On view throughout the year

Purpose: Taiwan Ceramics Awards, organized by New Taipei City Government in the spirit of recognizing role models, creating the future, enriching the present, and is aimed to promote ceramic art and take it to a new level. The Excellence Award, The Creative Award, The Functional Award and The Emerging Award are launched to further vitalize and broaden the horizons of Taiwan’s development of ceramics.

Organizer: New Taipei City Government

Executive Organizers:
Cultural Affairs Department, New Taipei City Government, New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum Taiwan Ceramics Awards is established to follow the spirit of “recognizing role models, creating the future, and enriching the present.” The four award, which include the Excellence Award, the Creative Award, the Functional Award, and The Emerging Award are launched to further vitalize Taiwan’s development of ceramics and broaden the horizons for the art form and the industry. With the Taiwan Ceramics Awards, we acknowledge the achievements and contributions by the forebears of Taiwan’s ceramic arts and ceramic industry while discovering new forms, techniques, styles from ceramic artists, offering them an arena to demonstrate their talents, so that they become better prepared for realizing their dreams and bringing Taiwan’s ceramics to the rest of the world.

3F Special Exhibition Rooms on view through November 9, 2022
1F Sunlight Gallery on view through May 15, 2022
Ceramics Park on view through July 3, 2022
The exhibition is also available online here

The Excellence Award: HSU Yung-Hsu

Our first Excellence Award winner HSU Yung-Hsu will be showing 47 pieces (set) of his artworks that recalls his ceramic journey. HSU started his career as ceramic artist at the age of 43, as he attempts to “expand the scope of life before his body is engulfed by illness,” this motivation to create stems from the long term pain that he suffers from. For more than 20 years, his practice has evolved from single objects to installations that create dialogues with space, he applies pinching and coiling techniques that requires a high investment of labor and personal feelings in his work. His large scale sculptures surpasses the challenges the body, technique, and firing limitations which overturns our narrow vision of ceramic art.

The Creative Award

The Creative Award is established to encourage professional growth and creativity of ceramic practice in anticipation of promoting ceramic art through showcasing high quality artworks. This year we have selected 1 Grand Prize winner, 3 High Distinction Awards, 2 Recommendation Awards, and 25 Finalists. The Grand Prize artwork, Rebirth from the Falling: Pantropical Spotted Dolphin created by WANG Yi-Ting, attempts to express ecological destructions through animal fossils. These ceramic fossils not only symbolizes the consequences that we need to confront, but also incorporates the rebirth of new life. WANG has attended a lecture on the dissection process of pantropical spotted dolphins, this knowledge has led her to understand the environmental impact that humans has caused and therefore, she uses clay, silica, and crystalline surfaces to create fossils of a “Whale Fall” that articulates the circle of life through artistic expression.

Grand Prize: WANG Yi-Ting

High Distinction Award: HSU Hsu-Lun, HUANG Yu-Yang, LAI Yi-Ting

Recommendation Award: HSU Wang-Ling, HSU Chiung-Wen

Finalists: YOU Ya-Rong, WANG An-Pei, WU Mi, SUNG Lee, TU Yu-Chieh, CHOU Hui-Lin, LIN Huan-Teng, HONG Jhan-Jhu, KAO Lien-Hsiu, CHANG Yu-Mei, CHANG Yu-Lin, CHANG Li-Chuan, CHEN Zi-Yun, CHEN Chia-Feng, CHEN Chun-Chieh, CHEN Hsiao-Chun, PENG Fei-Jung, TUNG Pin-Yuan, HUANG Wei-Chien, YANG Wei , LIU Yi-Tang, Liu Chi-Wen, TSAI Pei Ting, TSAI Meng-Ju, LAI Yi-Lun

The Functional Award

The Functional Award encourages to present functional ceramics that are inspired from daily life, these artworks need to be equipped with modern day aesthetics and unique styles. This year, we have selected 1 Grand Prize winner, 3 High Distinction Awards, 2 Recommendation Awards, and 25 Finalists. The Grand Prize winner, Huang,Wei-Chien, created the The Rhythm of Jatiwangi which she used clay to create a musical instrument, this ceramic ukulele was inspired by her residency experience in Indonesia. HUANG employed the elements of the Indonesian kiln factory in her work, which also infuses the memories and emotions of her stay there. The ceramic ukulele not only provide unique musical sounds that recalls her past experience, but also a creative and functional piece that pioneers a path for innovation in the ceramic field.

Grand Prize: Huang Wei-Chien

High Distinction Award: Nakai Yumiko, CHOU Hui-Lin, LIN Lung-Chieh

Recommendation Award: CHOU Yi-Po, JHONG Jing-Ping, PAN Chun-Pi

Finalists: DING You-Yu, WANG Miao-Shu, WU Ming-Yi, LU Chiao-Chih, LI Yu-Ting, LEE Shan-Yin, TU Yu-Chieh, LIN Guan Hong (FU-Chin), Elisa Chou, LIN Chu-Li, LIN Chih-Pin, HOU Hun-Ting, HUNG Mei-Line, Sun Fu-Sheng, CHUANG Jin-Wei, KUO Chih-Shiung, CHEN Xi-Hung, CHEN Chin-Wang, CHEN Jui-Yu, CHEN Chi-Sheng, HUANG Ming-Wen, YANG Deng-Ming, YEH Ching-En, LIU Tzu-Yu, TSAIA Jung-Tsung

The Emerging Award

The Emerging Award promotes the ceramic practices of the new generation, it encourages young artists to show their talents through creative proposals that include artist’s statement, techniques, display, ceramic textures and mix media to showcase the creativity of the new ceramic generation. This year we have selected two Emerging Award winners.

DING You-Yu: his practice is influenced by traditional sacrificial vessel where he redefines the value of modern vessels and employ these vessels as information carriers, this is a carrier that is different from text and explores the possibilities of expression and spirituality.

CHEN Shao-Yi: her work combines 2D narratives with 3D sculptures; she is inspired by the various feelings from daily life in which she collages unrelated events together to create a fantasy world.

Nothingness & Substance: LIN Wen-Hsuan’s Ceramic Art Exhibition

On view through March 13, 2022

This collection of works was created with the theme of “Nothingness & Substance.” “Nothingness” is the essence of life perceived by the artist through her experiences in creating ceramic art, while “Substance” is an expression of clay as a material and as proof of life that existed.

The artist believes that neither clay nor life has a fixed shape. All must return to the earth in the end. Thus, she began to try to remove human influence from ceramic art, attempting to create equality between the artist and the viewer through ceramic art without technique, so as to explore “Nothingness & Substance.”

In the “Shape of Memories” series, clay and fibers were designed to be pulled down by gravity in the kiln, achieving one of the core elements of these works. In the “Time in the Kiln” series, on the other hand, the space inside the kiln was translated into the shape of the works. In her recent work, “A Specimen of Home,” the nest-building instinct of wasps was incorporated. The nest was fired at 1230 degrees to preserve a moment of life. The theme of “Nothingness & Substance” is explored through these three series of observations from different periods.