However, the continuously swarming patrons at the slide show soon induced me to give up mid-way, and move on for a look at Winnie's own work, at the Gallery's exhibition hall next door. More than 100 vari-sized pieces of pottery there on view radiated a warm and tranquil, very casual flavor via flawless molding and simple, yet diversified glazing—a far cry from other pottery pieces locally produced that year. Some of her early, grotesquely-shaped items, though technically perfect, did show an incoherence between presentation and content. But her tea sets, ashtrays, and plates were in pure, fresh styles, both practical and lovely.
An Ode to A Li, a primitive, brown-tinted creation, protruded noticeably among all the exhibited works, focusing every visitor's attention. Consisting of seven squared pottery plates with extreme, slim lines and multi-faceted, inlaid clay veins—the entire group alien to dexterous molding, graceful glazing, and sumptuous texture—this was a clear invasion of modern art and a new direction for Taiwan's potters.
This was Winnie's inspiration brainchild, conceived in 1979 following a three-hour hike and visit to the Lukai aboriginal village in the remote mountains of Pingtung County, on the southern tip of Taiwan. Dubbed A Li, the village features an extravaganza of architected stone, including walls, roofs, and floor tiles—even tables and chairs for the family garden-all deriving from nearby black shale quarries.
The harmonious end result, the perfect Lukai coordination of common local materials and the tribe's living environment, inflamed her: Only via nature, she thought, can one shake off the normal world and cross new boundaries of creativity. And she also learned a significant lesson at A Li: to make the best use of available materials.
In the decade before this wrenching experience, Winnie had already become dedicated to art. Her involvement with pottery actually began, in escalating terms, in 1969, when she was a junior at William Woods College in Fulton, Missouri. A mathematics major, she was nevertheless "crazy about art." She had attended several art department basic courses as electives—sketching, water colors, and block printing—for spiritual relaxation. Then one day when she passed a pottery arts classroom, its colorful, changeable molded products caught her attention, resulting in her subsequent visits and a course selection the next semester.
In 1971, she moved on to mathematics graduate classes at Missouri State University. But she had become so infatuated with art, that she was now confused and upset about which way to go. After a long period of internal struggle, she finally plucked up the courage to ask the head of the graduate school of art whether she was qualified to switch majors. The response was approval—if she could make up an additional fifteen art credits. Winnie at once picked up sculpture, space design, horizontal design, and history of the Renaissance, all in one semester; she won her MA in less than a year. Contemporary Western art education laid a sound foundation for her chosen life pursuit, and its free creativity mood has since inspired her to make bold trials, seeking for originality and change.
When Winnie returned to Taiwan with her husband in 1975, she joined the National Palace Museum in the study of ancient glazing techniques. Her strenuous efforts were evidenced in successful experiments on glaze formulas-the three-color glaze of the Tang Dynasty, the blue variations of the Ming Dynasty. She regarded this period as a learning and root-searching experience, an indispensable step towards her goal of attaining a competence at designing in a contemporary Chinese flavor "Creation comes only after you have become closely familiar with your traditional legacy," Winnie remarked. At that lime, a great many students of pottery—including collectors and critics from everywhere—swarmed to the Museum for guidance on the Chinese art heritage. Winnie was always pleased to pour out all her knowledge, although this was not her job. This experience was to prove especially rewarding.
On behalf of the National Palace Museum, she later participated in the 36th international Ceramics Art Conference at Faenza, Italy, in 1978. Her in formative thesis, "A Preliminary Report on the 15th and 16th Century Ming Overglaze Enamel" —an end result of her years of research efforts—gained the intensive attention of participating members.
Later, accepting a friend's recommendation, she systematically introduced into local artistic magazines, the results of all her experience in glazing and technical studies and of her extensive knowledge of international pottery artistry.
In March 1979, Winnie moved with her husband, Dr. Kuo Tsung-tien, to Kaohsiung, and there was able to set up a rooftop studio and begin a really intensive acquaintance with her kiln.
Everyday when her husband goes to work and her two daughters leave for school. Yang has been free to gallop to her spacious pottery fancyland.
This year, taking advantage of one of my duty trips, I visited Winnie and her husband and took pictures of some of the many pieces she has completed since her move to Kaohsiung. Following are some brief notes:
Brick, 1979, an individual explanation and an ode to primitive culture.... Tea Set, 1981, dark blue flowers against a white ground, with affection for traditional culture, made rich in Chinese flavor and discarding the ubiquitous Japanese tint.... Round Box, 1981, same motif and also an extension of the style of the Tea Set, yet in abstract form.... Yuan, (low wall), 1982, an exclamation on the disappearance of historical culture in the wake of a trip to Penghu Island in 1979.... Boundless Water, 1982, the green glaze symbolizes the ocean, the brown the earth, and the ladder, communication.
The Door, 1983, a well-portioned texture imbued with both quality and quantity richness, evoking the National Palace Museum.... Yu (luxuriant), 1983, a feeling presentation of local mountains, with inlays of verdant trees.... Lustrous Bowl and Lustrous Dish, 1983, inspired by historical treasures and tinted with low-temperature golden-colored water, a twist from general glazing.... Liu Chiao Pan (hexagonal plate), 1983, a refutation to a painter's painting on ceramics.
These ten items are clear evidence that Winnie has taken great strides since her show in 1980. There is a simplification of color and molding as well as texture, and indication of a new freedom from old dilemmas: the differences between the Chinese and Western cultures, the choice between tradition and modernity.
From Yuan to Yu, she projects maturing individual style, the fruits of a caring persistence at art. We anticipate much: "Every time I open the kiln, I feel unsatisfied, wishing to do it over," she said.