JENCHI WU
about
My first recollection of clay was at my late-grandparents' hardware store in Taipei. The store carried everything from pots and pans, to screws and nails. That was my first time seeing bundles and bundles of ceramics bowls carried on a mover’s shoulder, being moved matter-of-factly into my grandpa's store. Because of this unique circumstance, I never got into trouble when I accidentally broke a bowl or two, so never grew up feeling ceramics were precious or had to be coddled. My love with ceramics began there.
The action or implication of breaking became a tradition for many cultures – in the US, we give encouragement by saying "break a leg." Breaking glasses during Jewish weddings can represent both joy and sadness. The Finnish also have a tradition of breaking plates, with the number of broken shards representing the number of children the newlyweds can expect to have. A German tradition is for guests to break plates for good luck before entering the bride's house. The list goes on with similar traditions in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Greece and others. Once the functional ceramics are broken, the utilitarian purpose takes on different meanings.
A perfect clay vase that is dropped and squashed during its plastic stage takes on a completely new form. That physical impact on clay is what intrigues me. My work explores various states of impact and breaking. Through repetition and deconstruction, I allow the clay to take on new forms. The moment of impact is then fired and captured in the ceramic, with the result showing the conversation between the artist’s hands and the clay which is constantly in flux.
gallery
Ceramic, Cables
Ceramic, metal
Ceramic
Wet Clay
Ceramic, rope
Detail
Ceramic
Education
California State University, Los Angeles. MFA
Exhibitions
2023 Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Missouri
2022 Uncommon Ground, Rock Springs, Wyoming
2022 Solo exhibition - Off Grid, California State University Channel Islands, CA
2022 Artaxis + Longwell Museum at Crowder College, Minnesota
2022 Ventura Clay, NCECA 2022, Sacramento
2020 Eureka, Rio Hondo College, CA
2018 Guilin Wood firing conference, China
2012 Sculpture Installation, Twofold: a Solo Exhibition, Ventura College Art Gallery
2011 Sculpture Installation, Solo Exhibition, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA
2011 Million Pieces Million Wishes, Solo Exhibition, 643 Project Space, Ventura, CA
2011 Solo Exhibition, Atkinson Gallery at SBCC, Santa Barbara CA
2010 Jardin de las Granadas, Solo Public Installation, Santa Barbara, CA
2010 kilnopening.edu 2010: So. Cal Ceramic Instructors and Their Students,
American Museum of Ceramic Art
2010 Craft Is A Verb, PS Zask Art Gallery, Palos Verdes, CA
Related Experience
2022 Ventura Clay, NCECA Fertile Ground, Co-curated
2019 Unconventional Clay, Co-curated
2018 Guilin International Wood Firing Conference Workshop, Guangxi, China
2018 Organized wood firing conference to Guilin, China
2017 Current Organizer of Ventura College Ceramics Visiting artists program
2015-2018 New Media Gallery, Co-gallery director
2015 Interdisciplinary program with CSUCI to China
