Musem Director’s Foreword
When the Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum opened in 2000, it began holding international ceramics competitions, and starting in 2004, these were reorganized as the “Taiwan Ceramics Biennale.” However, due to space limitations, this Museum divided the “competitive international exhibition” and the “curated international exhibition” parts of the Biennale and organized them under the form of the “competitive exhibition plus workshop” and “curated exhibition plus symposium.
In early 2007, the Taiwan International Ceramics Biennale, in the spirit of “Boundless,” sent letters to ceramists around the world, inviting them to submit works to the competition. It was expected that the creative energies thus released would be as limitless as the sea, that a vast turbulent sea of ceramic art would be created. Through the entire process of the competition–from preparation, requesting submissions, initial review, collection of works, and final review, to the public announcement of the competition results and the imminent opening of the exhibition-we have seen many astonishing and splendid works of contemporary ceramic art from Taiwan and abroad. We would thus like to thank the 684 ceramists from 58 countries for the trust and support they have shown to this Museum. After all, if it were not for their enthusiastic participation, we would not be able to continue organizing this international competition.
Meanwhile, we would like to give special thanks to the seven members of the jurors’ panel, including the four from abroad–Susan Jefferies (the Chairperson, from Canada), Mutsuo Yanagihara (Japan), Claude Champy (France), Tony Marsh (United States) – and the three from Taiwan – Ava Pao-shia Hsueh, Chin-Yuan Chang, and Sophia S. T. Wen. From the vast amount of information reviewed in the initial round, the jurors labored hard to select 114 finalist works. Then, during the final round, the foreign jurors visited Taiwan, and after full discussion and a rigorous selection process, the prizewinners’ list emerged – though the process was indeed both mentally and physically taxing. We would also like to thank the honorary guest critic for this exhibition, Janet Mansfield (Australia), who verified the fairness and objectivity of the selection process and served as moderator for the jurors’ forum together with Susan Jeffries, the Chairperson. During the forum she raised many valuable ideas concerning the planning and execution of the Biennale and gave us added momentum toward and self-confidence for the Biennale’s future
The Ceramics Museum has always actively promoted interaction between Taiwanese ceramic artists and the international community. Despite our limited budget, we still expect that by holding the Taiwan International Ceramics Biennale, the creative energies of ceramics will be continuously concentrated on the island of Taiwan, so that it can do its best to contribute to the illustrious development of ceramic art worldwide.
Jan-Chi YU
Director of Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum
Titania Henderson
I choose to hand-build with Bone China and French-Limoges porcelain materials that in many ways determine their own language. They allow me to create my vision and ideas with elements of shadow and light. My minimalist direction is derived from nature – its beauty, its movement and, in particular, its survival.
Curriculum Vitae
2005 Finalist, 54” Concorso Internationale Della Ceramica d’Art, Museum of International Ceramics, Faenza, Italy
2005 Highly Commended, Tattersall’s Contemporary Art Prize, Melbourne, Australia
2004 Finalist, Siemens RMIT Fine Arts Scholarship, Melbourne, Australia
2004 First prize, Smorgon Steel Contemporary Art Prize, Melbourne, Australia
2002 B.A, Fine Art with Distinction RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
TITANIA HENDERSON 