2020, 24.5 x 44.5 x 14.5″(H x W x D), Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Low-fire, Mid-range, Oxidation, Surface: Glazed
As a perpetual shifter and seeker, I’m drawn to explore environments, ‘landscapes’ and new ‘contexts’ for myself to be and the work to become. The surface of this work reflects an animal's skin, as a portrayal of the process of our adjustment to the changing living space, surroundings and culture.
2020, 23.5x48x19.5″(H x W x D), Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Low-fire, Mid-range, Oxidation, Surface: Glazed
Consists of two cloud-like sculptures; each one has the potential to stand differently, to contribute new gestures and create a unique landscape. No matter if the scenery is coming from my past or current, the East or the West, in the transitional space of my work, both landscapes exist here.
2019, Dimensions variable, figure in the middle - 28.5x23.5x22.5″(H x W x D), Media: Mixed Media, Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Low-fire, Mid-range, Oxidation, Surface: Glazed
‘Hidden’ is a large installation including multiple ceramic pieces and several ink paintings. It’s a collage of recollections from my past, present, and imagination. Installing multiple works together evokes a different context, allowing the viewer to walk amongst and to see additional aspects in a new focus.
2019, 13x7x6″(H x W x D), Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Low-fire, Mid-range, Oxidation, Surface: Glazed
Old, new, familiar, unfamiliar, I’m constantly searching for myself somewhere in between. I use soft color palette and velvety glaze surfaces to mimic the Chinese pigment. Those glazes run and pool naturally with gravity and form, bringing a sense of nature into the work.
2019, 60x37x27″(H x W x D), Media: Mixed Media, Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Low-fire, Mid-range, Oxidation, Surface: Glazed
Inspired by the concept of ‘empty space’ in Chinese art, from my early memories of practicing traditional Chinese ink painting. The bottom of the mountain’s silhouette and the edge of the frame create a negative space, an optical illusion, allowing change and transition to unfold.
2021, 17x28x9″(H x W x D), Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Low-fire, Mid-range, Oxidation, Surface: Glazed
Clouds are important elements and motifs in Chinese culture and mythology, created between heaven and earth, representing vehicles for traveling between spaces. This work explores the movement of clouds, the fluidity of nature, and my diasporic experience moving from one culture to another.
2021, 16x12x11″(H x W x D), Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Low-fire, Mid-range, Oxidation, Surface: Glazed
Nature continuously changes. It moves, as I have moved. Mountains, clouds, and rivers coalescing from memories of my hometown, also speak of different relationships to place. Recalling and abstracting these elements in my memory gives me the ability to translate, imagine, and graft them together into a poetic ceramic moment.
2019, 44 x 16 x 30″(H x W x D), Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Low-fire, Mid-range, Oxidation, Surface: Glazed
I reference the scholar’s rock in Chinese culture. Its meaning is “respected stones.” Unlike the traditional manner of displaying the rock on top of a wooden base, ‘Given’ is installed against the wall, with a white pedestal that balances the rock in this unique corner.
2022, 15.5 x 16 x 13″(H x W x D), Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Low-fire, Mid-range, Oxidation, Surface: Glazed
Until I moved away from home, I had little conscious appreciation of my environment. ‘Loop’ is not only a representation of the actual landscape; it mirrors the feelings of respect and appreciation for my past, culture and tradition. It’s a process of seeking a deeper understanding of my identity.
2022, 15.5 x 16 x 13″(H x W x D), Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Low-fire, Mid-range, Oxidation, Surface: Glazed
‘Loop’ indicates no beginning or end, but places an emphasis on the path itself. Amid the dislocation and ambiguity of being neither here nor there, I anchor myself by tracing my past and taking inspiration from the early memory of my hometown (Guilin)’s landscape after a long departure.
Artist Statement
If the distance between China and North America is 7723 km, then what is the distance between the previous me and the current me? If there are 12 hours between home and here, what time is it now? When a new life meets an old one, that moment draws me close. Tasting newness and oldness at the same time, I become the distance and difference; I am there, here, then, now.
In my recent work, I explore nature, identity, sense of place, and cultural displacement. Comparing and utilizing the elements and values from the East and the West, I trace my past, find my position. Living and moving among cultures, histories, languages, and assumptions always brings more – a question or an answer?
My work is comprised of multiple layers of ceramic materials and possibilities, suspended and fired on stilts, flowing down and pooling naturally in response to the topography and gravity. I hand-build my sculptures part by part and assemble them together to achieve an unknown structure and landscape. During this experimental and highly unpredictable process of making, firing, and installing, the position of my work has shifted and changed, becoming a new work of art. The scene of my work now looks ambiguous - it is neither the picture of my hometown nor the view of here. It is something extracted from a recollection of experience and imagination; it comes from a person who appreciates the past and embraces the possibilities of the future.
Bio
Born and raised in Guilin, China, Jing Huang is a ceramic artist currently living and working in Charlotte, North Carolina. She received degrees from Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute (BA, Ceramic Art, 2012), Sheridan College (Diploma, Ceramics, 2015) and Alfred University (MFA, Ceramic Art, 2020). Jing has lectured, curated exhibitions, conducted workshops and exhibited extensively throughout the US, Canada, China and the UK.