Dear Tiffany Tang...
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 27 seconds. Contains 891 words
Dear Tiffany Tang,
Thank you so much for creating vases that feel like the visual equivalent of breathing in crisp, refreshing air. Oh, and for working with one of my absolute favorite shades of pink.
I came across Tang’s work for the first time on a hot day in July 2018 while a friend and I were trying to beat the heat, bouncing between cool-looking businesses in Tiverton, Rhode Island. We were checking out the pieces on display at Arch Contemporary Ceramics, when I saw the most precious set of cups. The patterning was such an amazing presentation of simplified yet had the evidence of an eye for detail. Plus, I’m an absolute sucker for sophisticated, muted cool-toned pastels. I still kick myself to this day for not buying them on the spot, but it makes me all the more relieved that I saved her artist business card. Still, it’s easy to understand why ‘precious’ comes to my mind when first encountering her work, based on her biography that goes along with it:
“Tiffany is interested in creating purposeful connections and direct relationships through this vehicle of functional work. The scale of the work is made for the tabletop, asking to be handled and enjoyed...There are many stages in the process, and each informs what the next step will be, leading to the work existing as an accumulation of experiences. The use of colors and patterns are a form of inviting joy into the work. Blue greens, dark teals, serenity blues, pastel pinks, rosy quartz, palest yellows, lavender blushes, lilacs, and orchids…The work has a constant humanity that never falls away, but instead transforms with people as time moves forward. Tiffany wants to be able to touch people’s lives by bringing forth beauty in the world, even in the smallest ways..”- https://tiffanytang.com/contact
What’s particularly striking about her ceramic pieces is how much of her work uses such light-tinted colors, yet is extremely, extremely vibrant. Personally, I believe it’s due to the fact that she knows just how to pair them, so that a pastel pink can bounce off of a cool blue/white with such vibrancy! It takes a special eye to get that just right, and Tang has that and so much more. When she does get more saturated in her colors, however, it makes you almost wish you could eat the vases with how she lets the layers of hardened, dipping glaze crack over the base surface like a hard candy (note: please don’t eat ceramics. Artists work very hard on those and neither they nor your stomach will forgive you for consuming this forbidden treat). For her more ready-to-use pieces, you can tell she gets such enjoyment out of making them! Dish sets have no two dishes that are the same, and sometimes you really do just want a little chair in your space to rest a pencil or a plant on. Or you know, you just want to have a little chair with blue stripes!
I encourage my fellow artists to really branch out and look at artists that are working with a media that is vastly different from your own. I think it’s common for us to stick to what we know, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But it’s so refreshing to branch out and see what artists of other media are doing, what methods and materials they’re using, and what they look to for inspiration. Tang’s organic touch to these ceramic pieces is such a beauty to me, and makes me personally all the more excited to explore more possibilities with my very organic abstractions. It’s also so refreshing to see an artist take such joy in their work. You can tell just from the biography alone that Tang truly holds her artistic practice close to her heart and approaches her work with a certain sensitivity towards herself and others, and we can all use a little bit of that affection for ourselves and what we make in our own studios. As stated in the continuation of her biography:
“By seeing the value of growth through pain, she wants people to be drawn into this beauty to find a shared human connection. The work has a constant humanity that never falls away, but instead transforms with people as time moves forward. Tiffany wants to be able to touch people’s lives by bringing forth beauty in the world, even in the smallest ways.” - https://tiffanytang.com/contact
Looking for more of Tiffany Tang? Well, bookmark her website for one, and follow her on instagram! You also still have a chance to purchase her ready-to-use pieces from Arch Contemporary through their website, all linked below.
With that being said, I’m now all the more excited to take a ceramics class once I’m fully vaccinated against Covid. (And no, I won’t eat what I make). - Sasha