History of the Museum

The passion for neriage expressed through painting - the uniqueness of female ceramist's style

“Ever since I started to create, I have been deeply attracted by neriage because there are unlimited possibilities in this technique. It has then become a passion, and passion pushes me to keep on pursue perfection.” So said Angela Burkhardt-Guallini.

New Taipei City Government Yingge Ceramics Museum is organizing an opening tea party on the 18th at 3pm at the Ceramics Gallery for the exhibition “Between Lines and Forms – Solo Exhibition of Angela Burkhardt-Guallini”.

The ceramist, Angela Burkhardt-Guallini, comes from Switzerland. She met up with Yu Jan-chi, director of the Museum, at the Icheon Ceramics Biennale in 2007 in Korea. Since then, she has been enthusiastic in applying for an exhibition in Taiwan. She even traveled in Taiwan for ten days in 2009 with her Mandarin teacher. She said this trip made her appreciate Taiwan very much.

The technique of neriage is to make a ceramic plate with clay of different colors. After piling them up, they are cut into strips and combined together again before firing them. Angela started to work with neriage since 1984. She found this method difficult, complicated and challenging. A single piece of work would take 200 hours to produce, and three to five time polishing before it is completely done. Plus, she prefers useful containers and emphasizes on the presentation of lines. She also said that whatever we see in nature could be the source of inspiration, for example leaves, architecture etc, and these ideas could be blended into the works. This is why her creations are rich in lines. Some are thin and some are thick. Some are long while some are short. And some are even irregular of form.

Director of the Museum Yu Jan-chi said that Angela Burkhardt-Guallini’s works are filled with feminist charisma. The soft lines and harmonious colors express the unique meticulousness. The exhibition has just begun, but already countless of visitors stop to admire the works which are highly appreciated. Besides that, Angela already applied to take part in the 2012 Taiwan Ceramics Biennale. Ceramists around Taiwan and from the rest of the world are welcome to apply as well.