Au, Eliza
Item
Maker Name
Au, Eliza
Biography
Eliza Au was born and raised in Richmond, BC. She attended the Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver, later transferring to the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, NS, where she earned her BFA in Ceramics in 2005. In 2009, she earned her MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, in Alfred, NY.
Although her career has taken her around the world, she has maintained connections with Canada and BC. In 2010, Eliza presented a guest lecture for the North-West Ceramics Foundation Speaker Series, and she has been a reliable donor to NWCF Fundraisers. In 2011, she was nominated for the Royal Bank of Canada Emerging Artist People’s Award; a major ceramics prize for which nominees were exhibited at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto.
Eliza’s work engages patterns and structures created digitally using computer aided design. Making reference to historical decorative motifs and architectural ornament, she organizes interconnecting panels comprising intricate, slip-cast and glazed components. Her work is technically sophisticated and challenging, imbued with elegance, beauty, and balance. She describes her work as providing an outlet “to discover and participate in the meditative act of making without a direct connection to religious belief.” She employs “current technology to reinterpret ornament . . . and modify their meanings to fit our own purpose.”
Eliza has taught in Canada, the United States, and internationally at various institutions including the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, BC; the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, AB;, Monmouth College, Monmouth, IL; The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA; and the Alfred-CAFA (Central Academy of Fine Arts) Program in Beijing, China. She is currently an Assistant Professor (tenure track) of Ceramics at the University of North Texas.
Eliza has attended artist residencies at the Pilchuck Glass School, in Stanwood, WA; the European Ceramic Work Centre in Hertogenbosch, NL; Guldagergaard International Research Center, in Skaelskor, DK; and the Pottery Workshop and The Opposite House, both in Jingdezhen, China. In 2023, she will attend a residency at the Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center, Tel Aviv, Israel, for which she received a Canada Council Arts Abroad: Residency Grant. She has received numerous other grants and awards including in 2012, the Winifred Shanz Award for Ceramics, Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo, ON; and, in 2020, the Award of Excellence, JRA Chrysalis Competition, James Renwick Alliance, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC.
She has been a frequent presenter and panelist at conferences, and curator of exhibitions, many in conjunction with NCECA. Notably, she has been an active supporter of AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islanders), women in technology, and other equity initiatives. Her work can be found in collections around the world including Korea, Taiwan, the United States and Canada.
Eliza has an extensive record of solo and group exhibitions and publications about her work. Recent and upcoming solo exhibitions include one in 2023 at Yingge Ceramics Museum, New Taipei City, Taiwan; The Architecture of Solace, at Greenwich House Pottery, NYC, NY, in 2022; and, in 2021, Planar Volumes at the Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Tech University, Smithville, TN. For a full listing of her exhibitions and other professional achievements, please see her website and CV.
Eliza's practice has been extensively written about - please see her website.
Although her career has taken her around the world, she has maintained connections with Canada and BC. In 2010, Eliza presented a guest lecture for the North-West Ceramics Foundation Speaker Series, and she has been a reliable donor to NWCF Fundraisers. In 2011, she was nominated for the Royal Bank of Canada Emerging Artist People’s Award; a major ceramics prize for which nominees were exhibited at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto.
Eliza’s work engages patterns and structures created digitally using computer aided design. Making reference to historical decorative motifs and architectural ornament, she organizes interconnecting panels comprising intricate, slip-cast and glazed components. Her work is technically sophisticated and challenging, imbued with elegance, beauty, and balance. She describes her work as providing an outlet “to discover and participate in the meditative act of making without a direct connection to religious belief.” She employs “current technology to reinterpret ornament . . . and modify their meanings to fit our own purpose.”
Eliza has taught in Canada, the United States, and internationally at various institutions including the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, BC; the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, AB;, Monmouth College, Monmouth, IL; The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA; and the Alfred-CAFA (Central Academy of Fine Arts) Program in Beijing, China. She is currently an Assistant Professor (tenure track) of Ceramics at the University of North Texas.
Eliza has attended artist residencies at the Pilchuck Glass School, in Stanwood, WA; the European Ceramic Work Centre in Hertogenbosch, NL; Guldagergaard International Research Center, in Skaelskor, DK; and the Pottery Workshop and The Opposite House, both in Jingdezhen, China. In 2023, she will attend a residency at the Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center, Tel Aviv, Israel, for which she received a Canada Council Arts Abroad: Residency Grant. She has received numerous other grants and awards including in 2012, the Winifred Shanz Award for Ceramics, Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo, ON; and, in 2020, the Award of Excellence, JRA Chrysalis Competition, James Renwick Alliance, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC.
She has been a frequent presenter and panelist at conferences, and curator of exhibitions, many in conjunction with NCECA. Notably, she has been an active supporter of AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islanders), women in technology, and other equity initiatives. Her work can be found in collections around the world including Korea, Taiwan, the United States and Canada.
Eliza has an extensive record of solo and group exhibitions and publications about her work. Recent and upcoming solo exhibitions include one in 2023 at Yingge Ceramics Museum, New Taipei City, Taiwan; The Architecture of Solace, at Greenwich House Pottery, NYC, NY, in 2022; and, in 2021, Planar Volumes at the Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Tech University, Smithville, TN. For a full listing of her exhibitions and other professional achievements, please see her website and CV.
Eliza's practice has been extensively written about - please see her website.
First name
Eliza
Last name
Au
Career dates (start and end)
2005
Place of Birth
Vancouver, BC
Studio location
Formal Education
Major Exhibitions
for a full list please see website;
Upcoming...
Upcoming...
Yingge Ceramics Museum, New Taipei City, Taiwan, Solo Exhibition, Aug 18 - Oct 1, 2023
2023 McKnight Exhibition, Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN, July 1 - Aug 20, 2023 (touring, TBA)
2023 Designed by Women, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, QC, February
Collections
Please see Website
Personal Website
https://www.eliza-au.com
Links to Further Resources
Conference Presenter, The Mark of the Machine: Merging Authenticity and Replication, International Academy of Ceramics Congress, Sept 12-16, 2022 (online)
March 4, 2022, Vasi Hirdo, “Constructed Landscapes: Brick, Tile and Pillar at Blue Line Arts, Roseville” Constructed Landscapes: Brick, Tile and Pillar at Blue Line Arts, Roseville - Ceramics Now
January 19, 2022, The Architecture of Solace, Greenwich House Pottery (with artist talk)
https://www.greenwichhouse.org/event/the-architecture-of-solace-eliza-au/
https://www.greenwichhouse.org/event/the-architecture-of-solace-eliza-au/
JRACraft News “Announcing 2020 Chrysalis Award” https://www.jra.org/jra-news/chrysalis-2020
November 18, 2021, XYZ Symposium: Ceramics and Digital Fabrication, Concordia University, Eliza Au Demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ITDDu57i5A
Nov. 11, 2020, Featured Work: Ceramics Now, https://www.ceramicsnow.org/elizaau/
JRACraft News “Announcing 2020 Chrysalis Award” https://www.jra.org/jra-
2014 - Ceramics Now Magazine, Issue #3, article by Debra Sloan "Contemporary Ceramics of British
2011 Nominated for the RBC Emerging Artist People’s Award
2006 Governor General’s Silver Medal Award, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design
Visual Arts Development Award, Vancouver Foundation
2000 Travel Grant, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Scholarship, BC Arts Council
Source
Debra Sloan