Wednesday Wonder: Pamela Leung's Clay Magic

The beauty about making clay work is sometimes you cannot

completely control it. It's that little bit which makes it alive. . . .

For the late ceramics sculptor and teacher Pamela Mei Yee Leung, clay held magical properties; it evoked the stories of Chinese mythology, the meaningful symbolism of animals, the morals of Western folk tales, the influences of astrological signs, the wisdom of the ancients. It was at once both playful and serious. More than a tool, more than a means to creativity, clay, in Leung's hands, held the essence of the artist's own deeply expressive self, what she describes as her feelings about human character.

I suppose our whole process of life is about transformation.

In the wonderful and moving video interview below, Leung talks about her recurring cancer, the transformative power of clay, and how she used her art to dream the imaginary into passionate life. 

Direct Video Link

Pamela Leung was born in 1962 in Hong Kong. She lived, trained and studied, and worked in Great Britain for many years, and exhibited extensively in the United Kingdom and abroad, in solo and group shows (information about her exhibitions, teaching, lectures, residencies, workshops, and many features in publications is listed here). She died in October 2011, following more than a decade of illness with cancer.

In addition to her porcelain sculptures for which she used hand-mixed clay and the coiling method, Leung worked in bronze. Her ceramics were high-fired and known for their beautiful glazes.