Jing Huang - Hand-Building Nature Inspired Forms

In this workshop, I’ll guide you through my creative process for transforming personal memories and natural landscapes into abstract ceramic sculpture. You’ll see how I use coil and slab-building techniques, clay alteration, and component assembly to push beyond traditional forms.

Through demonstration and discussion, I’ll share my experimental approach to building layered, unexpected structures—and how intuition, place, and material come together to shape the final piece.

Workshop Benefits

At the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

1. Understand and practice coil-building and slab-building techniques for creating complex, abstract forms.
2. Learn to assemble and integrate multiple components into cohesive sculptures.
3. Explore ways to add depth and complexity to your work.
4. Enhance your ability to respond intuitively to the material, moving beyond traditional forms.

After this workshop, you could be making amazing work like this:

Workshop Structure
Step 1. Construct a hollow, mountain-shaped sculpture from the ground up using the coil-building technique.
Step 2. Use paper templates to build cloud-shaped attachments.
Step 3. Use pins and the paper templates to design the layout of the cloud components.
Step 4. Assemble all the cloud components into a cohesive sculpture and finish the piece.

Required Materials

Clay, water, slip compatible with your clay body, banding wheel, bat, small paintbrush, rolling pin, sponge, sharp fettling knife, scoring tool, paddle (spoon-shaped), a variety of ribs, ballpoint pin, paper, pencil, and scissors.

About Jing Huang

Ceramic Artist Jing Huang received degrees from Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, China (2012), Sheridan College, Canada (2015), and Alfred University, USA (2020). Born in Guilin, China, and now based in the United States, Jing’s work explores nature, identity, sense of place, and cultural displacement. Drawing from both Eastern and Western traditions, she weaves together cultural histories, languages, and values to trace her past and articulate her artistic position. Ranging from kiln firing to assemblage, her process embraces experimentation and uncertainty. The resulting works shift and transform, emerging as new forms that embody hybridity and change. Jing has exhibited internationally and received numerous awards, including the Liu Shiming Artist Grant, the Silver Award at the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale, and the Second Prize at the Shiwan Cup Competition in 2024. In 2023, she was recognized as an Emerging Artist by the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) and Ceramics Monthly Magazine. Her work is included in the permanent collections of internationally renowned institutions such as the Victoria & Albert Museum (UK), the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum (USA), and the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum.

Website: www.jinghuangceramics.com

Instagram: @jing_ceramics