Variations on Symmetry

Two ceramic artists, Eliza Au and Ying-Yueh Chuang transform the Art Gallery at Evergreen into a world where structure and symmetry, pattern and proportion define their art work, yet challenge the boundaries of their medium.

Richmond, BC resident Eliza Au is a faculty member of Emily Carr University of Art and Design. She received her BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (2005) and her MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University (2009). Au is interested in how sacred space is transformed by the use of pattern and geometry and much of her work is influenced by Gothic and Islamic architecture. She is also interested in how systems work and how they relate to symmetry, repetition and scale.

Au’s mentor and a senior artist, Ying-Yueh Chuang is originally from Taiwan, now based in Toronto.

She received a diploma of Fine Art from Langara College (1997), followed by a BFA from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (1999) and a Masters degree with a major in ceramics from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (2001).

Chuang has exhibited nationally and internationally in both juried and invitational exhibitions and has been the recipient of many grants and awards including the 2006 Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramists. Her work is found in a number of public collections such as the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Canada Council Art Bank, Burlington Art Centre Permanent Collection and the WOCEK Icheon World Ceramic Centre in Korea.

Where Au’s work is a repetition of rigid forms, by contrast, Chuang’s large-scale installations are organic in shape and form―the artist herself describing her works as “hybrid forms inspired by organic material and imagined objects.”

Chuang’s ceramic structures are both symmetrical and asymmetrical, much like nature. Colour, texture, size, pattern and shape are all considered as part of the building blocks. She creates delicate environments inhabited by ceramic creatures.

Variations on Symmetry runs April 13 – May 19 in the Art Gallery at Evergreen. Join us at the opening reception, Sunday April 15, from 4 – 6pm. The artists will be in attendance. In addition, every Saturday* at 2pm, Evergreen’s Curatorial Assistant leads a free guided tour of the exhibition.