Olen Hsu creates wheel-thrown forms in translucent porcelain, with muted matte or semi-matte surfaces drawn from early Chinese glazes. Weightedness and weightlessness, and tautness and languidness, alternate in his subtly altered shapes.
Olen first trained under the mentorship of Japanese ceramicist John Takehara, working in handbuilt stoneware and eggshell-thin wheel-thrown porcelain from 1985 to 1993. During this time, Olen's style developed through first-hand contact with Takehara's teaching collection of ceramic works—from contemporary pieces by Lucie Rie, Ruth Duckworth and David Leach to early Sung Dynasty Chinese pots, Japanese tea bowls and Korean white wares.
Olen went on to studies in the History of Art and Architecture at Yale University (BA 1997). University grants made travel possible as part of his thesis research—drawing and photographing some 150 Romanesque sites in France and Spain (1995), and various temples, mosques and other sacred sites in Japan, China, India, Pakistan and Turkey (1996), while also studying examples of ceramics, enamel ware, lacquer, painting, sculpture, textiles and other decorative arts along the way.
He returned to working in clay upon graduating, apprenticing in a British Studio Pottery tradition with potter Maishe Dickman in New Haven, Connecticut and then moving to Queensland, Australia in 1999 to study with woodfiring potters Carol and Arthur Rosser in the Eungella rainforest and Gwyn Hanssen Pigott in Netherdale. Toward the end of his stay in Australia, Hsu drove south along the coast from Mackay to Canberra to visit the studios of contemporary woodfiring potters. He returned to the United States to continue studies in clay at the Kansas City Art Institute (BFA 2001) and sculpture at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA 2003).
A fellowship from the Dedalus Foundation brought him to New York in 2003, where he established a studio in Brooklyn and participated in various exhibitions and residencies—including the AIM Program at The Bronx Museum of the Arts (New York), the Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center Artist-in-Residence Program (New York), and a 2006 residency at the John Michael Kohler Arts/Industry Program in Kohler, Wisconsin. In 2008, Olen expanded his studio, moving to Pennsylvania to establish a kiln, a garden, and a home which he shares with his partner Michael and their Bedlington Terrier, Poilu.
Olen Hsu is the recipient of grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center Arts/Industry Program, and a Turbulence Commission from New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. His work has been shown at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York; the InterSpace New Media Arts Center in Sofia, Bulgaria; James Nicholson Gallery, New York; Ampersand International Arts, San Francisco; P.S. 1, New York; and Turbulence.org.
Olen first trained under the mentorship of Japanese ceramicist John Takehara, working in handbuilt stoneware and eggshell-thin wheel-thrown porcelain from 1985 to 1993. During this time, Olen's style developed through first-hand contact with Takehara's teaching collection of ceramic works—from contemporary pieces by Lucie Rie, Ruth Duckworth and David Leach to early Sung Dynasty Chinese pots, Japanese tea bowls and Korean white wares.
Olen went on to studies in the History of Art and Architecture at Yale University (BA 1997). University grants made travel possible as part of his thesis research—drawing and photographing some 150 Romanesque sites in France and Spain (1995), and various temples, mosques and other sacred sites in Japan, China, India, Pakistan and Turkey (1996), while also studying examples of ceramics, enamel ware, lacquer, painting, sculpture, textiles and other decorative arts along the way.
He returned to working in clay upon graduating, apprenticing in a British Studio Pottery tradition with potter Maishe Dickman in New Haven, Connecticut and then moving to Queensland, Australia in 1999 to study with woodfiring potters Carol and Arthur Rosser in the Eungella rainforest and Gwyn Hanssen Pigott in Netherdale. Toward the end of his stay in Australia, Hsu drove south along the coast from Mackay to Canberra to visit the studios of contemporary woodfiring potters. He returned to the United States to continue studies in clay at the Kansas City Art Institute (BFA 2001) and sculpture at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA 2003).
A fellowship from the Dedalus Foundation brought him to New York in 2003, where he established a studio in Brooklyn and participated in various exhibitions and residencies—including the AIM Program at The Bronx Museum of the Arts (New York), the Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center Artist-in-Residence Program (New York), and a 2006 residency at the John Michael Kohler Arts/Industry Program in Kohler, Wisconsin. In 2008, Olen expanded his studio, moving to Pennsylvania to establish a kiln, a garden, and a home which he shares with his partner Michael and their Bedlington Terrier, Poilu.
Olen Hsu is the recipient of grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center Arts/Industry Program, and a Turbulence Commission from New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. His work has been shown at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York; the InterSpace New Media Arts Center in Sofia, Bulgaria; James Nicholson Gallery, New York; Ampersand International Arts, San Francisco; P.S. 1, New York; and Turbulence.org.
