"Constructing Life's Landscape": Xu Ming-Xiang's Ceramic Sculpture Solo Exhibition Opens at Yingge Ceramic Museum

Ceramic artist Xu Ming-Xiang, drawing on decades of experience in ceramic sculpture, presents her first comprehensive solo exhibition titled "Constructing Life's Landscape," bringing together 28 representative works from different periods. The exhibition traces her creative journey from land memory and family emotions to inner life exploration, expressed through the dual concepts of "constructing" and "building." The exhibition is now open until August 30 at the Sunshine Special Exhibition Room on the first floor of the Yingge Ceramic Museum, inviting visitors to step into an artistic landscape shaped by clay.

Wang Jin-Hua, Chief Secretary of the New Taipei City Cultural Affairs Bureau, stated that Xu Ming-Xiang is a certified "Taiwan Craft Artist" from New Taipei City and a female artist who uses clay to document Taiwan's memories and explores the meaning of life through architecture. Her works not only demonstrate exceptional ceramic techniques but also embody profound reflections on land, home, and life, fully expressing the humanistic spirit and artistic value of contemporary craft.

Director Zhang Qi-Wen of the Ceramic Museum explained that the "Taiwan Craft Artist" certification is awarded by the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Center to honor artisans who have long dedicated themselves to craft creation and demonstrated both technical mastery and innovative spirit. The museum has specially curated a series of exhibitions featuring New Taipei City's ceramic craft artists, prioritizing local artists from Yingge. "Constructing Life's Landscape—Xu Ming-Xiang's Ceramic Sculpture Solo Exhibition" is the third installment in this series, aiming to help the public appreciate the diverse facets of Taiwan's ceramic art.

Centered on the theme of "Constructing," the exhibition showcases Xu Ming-Xiang's artistic evolution over more than 30 years. She excels at delicately recreating the beauty of traditional Taiwanese courtyard houses, bricks, tiles, and architectural elements using clay. Employing realistic sculpting techniques, she captures the textures of weathered walls, window lattices, and roof tiles. Her deep childhood memories of rural Miaoli and traditional courtyard homes have been transformed into her distinctive "Old House Series," such as "Recollections of an Old House," which preserves the collective memory of Taiwan's folk culture and establishes ceramics as a vital medium for expressing emotional connections to the land.

From 2013 to 2018, Xu expanded her creative focus to themes of "home" and living spaces. Works from her "Home Series," including "Sofa," "My Designer Bag," and "Shoes," combine furniture, everyday objects, and imagery of old houses. By reconstructing living room and household items, these pieces narrate warm stories of family emotions and life memories.

In recent years, her work has further integrated ancient and modern architectural vocabularies. In "Home Connected to the Cloud," buildings float atop cloud-like forms, elevating the concept of "home" beyond physical space into a spiritual and imaginative landscape of life. From 2024 onward, Xu continues to deepen the relationship between humans, architecture, and the inner universe, using "rock climbing" as a new creative metaphor. She likens the life journey to a climb—facing the unknown and difficulties while persistently seeking direction and breakthroughs. In the work "Release," the building serves not only as a dwelling but also as a projection of the spiritual world. Through the layering and construction of clay, viewers are invited to reconsider the connections between people and land, memory and self.

This exhibition, through the warmth and depth embedded in ceramic sculpture, invites audiences into the artist's spiritually constructed landscape, allowing them to feel the powerful interplay of time, memory, and life. For more information, visit the Ceramic Museum's official website (www.ceramics.ntpc.gov.tw) or its Facebook page (www.facebook.com/YCMuseum).

"Constructing Life's Landscape—Xu Ming-Xiang's Ceramic Sculpture Solo Exhibition" is on display at the first-floor Sunshine Special Exhibition Room of the Ceramic Museum until August 30. (Photo provided by the Ceramic Museum)