Eva Kwong

Clay: The Natural Object

Course Description
Nature is the source of sensuous forms and colorful patterns. We will take inspiration and observations from nature and use them to transform our clay work. We will choose a natural object and suspend our preconceptions by learning to study what is actually in front of our eyes. We will learn to extract information from nature to develop new form and surface ideas for our work in clay. We will work with low-temp clay and slips, and we plan to bisque fire work as the schedule permits.

Artist's Biography
Eva Kwong is known for her compelling, evocative, and colorful sculptures and pots based on organic forms. Born in Hong Kong, Eva earned her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA from the Tyler School of Art. In 2006 she participatd in the 38th Annual NCECA (National Council on Education in Ceramic Arts) Conference as well as The 6th Annual Gulong Event in Australia. Eva currently teaches ceramics at Kent State University in Ohio.

Artist's Statement
Much of the inspiration for my work comes from my wonderment about the natural world within and around us. The references to natural forms began when I was a work-study student in the Nature Lab at the Rhode Island School of Design in the early 1970’s. That 20 hours each week gave me an immersion in the shapes, colors, patterns, structures, and principles found in organic forms and the human body. This experience generated the visual vocabulary that informs all the work that I do.

I like to make things. It is my way of experiencing and understanding the world through my own filter. It is like ”tapping,” a term used by the bushman to refer to a sense of an animal or water nearby. It is a gut-felt, intuitive impulse to put things that I think about into concrete form.