Younglan Tsai

Taiwanese American artist probing the material beauty of custom-formulated clay bodies, fired in a soda kiln.

A bare, unglazed clay body bursts with expression after interacting with soda vapor in a kiln. Each firing bears different outcomes, but all of the various ranges of appearances are the product of the same material structure. The chemical composition of the clay formula is its inner order. Just as architecture is order and structure coming into physical being, the clay modules are each a fleeting physical instance of a multifaceted material. Within architecture, one perceives the organizing order that created the physical environment and is moved. That is the perception of beauty. The clay modules are paired down to the simplest shapes, using repetitive forms in order to shed the conceit of an object, and try to bring focus on the material surface, texture, and colors. In juxtaposing instances of each inner order, I observe their nature and am moved by their potential.

My art practice is in designing clay chemistry; composing sparse standardized shapes on the potter’s wheel; firing them unglazed in a specialized atmospheric kiln; and finally building modular assemblies with the outcoming forms. My intent is to embody d...

Master of Architecture, University of Texas at Austin, USA