The Architecture of Solace by Eliza Au

The Jane Hartsook Gallery is pleased to present Eliza Au’s first solo exhibition in New York City. Au’s installation consists of a series of ceramic lattice screens, which use ornament and repetition to reexamine sacred space. She uses computer-aided design (CAD) to create repeated abstract patterns that she translates into clay, constructing forms that evoke architectural units like bricks, tiles, and pillars to inspire a sense of meditative rhythm. The finished ceramic works are a physical manifestation of the computer-based wireframe in which structure and ornament become inseparable. Their composition is so detailed that the negative space defines the work as much as the positive space, creating a compelling duality of form that, along with the structure’s abstract patterning, creates a window into a calmer world.

Eliza Au is an artist working in clay using digital fabrication techniques. She earned her MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and her BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Au has shown her work nationally and internationally, including at: the Appalachian Center for Craft (Smithville, TN; 2021); the Taiwan Ceramic Biennale, (New Tapei City, Taiwan; 2020), and the Korean International Ceramic Biennale (Icheon, Korea, 2019). She has previously attended residencies at the European Ceramic Work Center (Hertogenbosch, NL), the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts (Helena, MT), Greenwich House Pottery, and recently received a McKnight Artist Fellowship to attend a residency at the Northern Clay Center (Minneapolis, MN) in 2022. In 2020, she received an Award of Excellence during the Chrysalis Competition held by the James Renwick Alliance. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Au is currently based out of Texas where she is an Assistant Professor of Ceramics at the University of North Texas.