Since its inauguration 24 years ago, the mission of the “Taiwan Ceramics Award” is to draw inspiration from the past, enrich the present and create the future. The biannual award witnesses the development of Taiwan’s ceramic arts and promotes our local artists amongst the international community. In 2021, 121 artworks from 66 artists were submitted to compete for the “Excellence,” “Creative,” “Functional” and “Emerging Artist” prize categories. In the end, five artists were awarded the prizes, creating yet another page in the contemporary history of Taiwanese ceramics.
First Excellence Award Winner: Acknowledging the Best in the Ceramic Field
Our inaugural “Excellence” prize is awarded to Yungshu Hsu, who is no stranger to the international arts community. Master Hsu, having won the first place of the eighth “International Ceramics Competition” in Mino, Japan, was elected an Honorary Member of UNESCO’s International Academy of Ceramics in 2018. A regular participant of national exhibitions, including the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale, Hsu thrills both art lovers and critics alike with his unlimited artistic energy.
Hsu only works with his bare hand. Through the coiling technique, Hsu builds up his piece by repeatedly thickening the clay form, turning the single item into a large space that prompts thoughts and reflection of spatial dynamics. Hsu’s exploration of form and space earns him the praise and recognition of the ceramic community. This year, we offer a full retrospect of Hsu’s exceptional career and dedication to ceramics as an art form.
Creative Award: Environmental Issues Should not be Overlooked
Grand prize winner, Christine Yi-ting Wang has earned her B.F.A. (Studio Arts) from University of Texas at Austin and M.F.A. (Ceramic Art) from Kyoto City University of Arts. Her fascination of animal skeletal structure was kindled by the attendance of an anatomy workshop, in which she was in close contact with the intricate animal remains.
In Pantropical Spotted Dolphins - the Death and Rebirth of Fossils, Wang features the fossils of flora and fauna of several kind. All become extinct due to human activities. However, the flora and fauna come back to live, through the organics growing on the fossils.
Art and Function Finds Balance, and Emerging Artists shows Depth
Grand prize winner for the functional award, Weichien Huang was trained at NCYU’s Visual Arts Graduate Program. Her work “I hear the music afar” is in the form of a guitar and ukulele, carrying the landscape of a pottery factory. That landscape forms the background of her memory as an artist-in-residence in an Indonesian village. The instruments will bring back the music afar, allowing one to live the memory once more.
The two “Emerging Artists” use ceramics as the media to interpret the contemporary cultural materials. Youyu Ding, who was trained as an industrial designer at National Taiwan University of Arts, brings our attention to the reading of ceremonial objects. In “The Evolved,” Ding offers an alternative interpretation of these objects in a contemporary context, urging us to view them as information carriers in a non-traditional “text.” Shao-ying Chen, another emerging artist, focused on the practical aspects of ceramic arts as a graduate student at the National Tainan University of the Arts. Her “ False Kamani” is a dreamy landscape created through pictorial narrative and sculpture. The dream, in fact, is a series of disconnected, real-life events.
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2021 Taiwan Ceramics Award
04/01-08/28
02-8677-2727
www.ceramics.ntpc.gov.tw
