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Draft:Wayne Ngan

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Wayne Ngan
Born(1937-05-19)May 19, 1937
Guangzhou, China
DiedJune 12, 2020(2020-06-12) (aged 83)
Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada
EducationVancouver School of Art
Known forStudio ceramics, wood-fired stoneware, kiln building
AwardsSaidye Bronfman Award (1983)

Wayne Ngan (May 19, 1937 – June 12, 2020) was a Chinese Canadian ceramic artist and potter based on Hornby Island, British Columbia.[1] He was known for his wood-fired stoneware and experimental glazes.[2] Ngan also built his own kilns.[2] He received the Saidye Bronfman Award in 1983[3] and had a solo exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1978.[2]

Early life and education

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Ngan was born in Canton, China,[4] 19 May, 1937. In 1951, he immigrated to Canada.[5][4] He lived with his grandfather[4] on Mitchell Island near Vancouver, Canada.[6]

He attended the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University of Art + Design).[3][7] Ngan enrolled in the least expensive studio course, pottery.[8] Ngan worked at a shingle mill [5] and later on sold homemade ceramic tea bowls to support himself.[7] He graduated in ceramics from Vancouver School of Art with honours in 1963.[2][9] Ngan received the Marie E. Lambert Pottery Prize[9] and the A.W. Tickle Memorial Award.[6]

Career

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In 1967, Ngan moved to Hornby Island.[7] There, he built a home and studio.[8] He worked with Lloyd House to design his studio and kiln sheds.[10] Ngan's home included a firing studio, garden, sod roof and repurposed chicken coops into bedrooms.[7][11] At his home, he constructed three different kilns, for an array of firing techniques.[2][7] He practiced hakeme, a hand-brushed decoration on pottery and salt-glazing.[7]

Ngan utilized various techniques including raku, high-fired stoneware, salt glazing, and wood firing.[2] He developed a ceramic practice that was closely connected to the island's landscape and materials.[3][5] He experimented with local natural materials such as clays, ash glazes, seaweed, and driftwood.[2][12]

In 1978, Ngan lived in Japan for three months.[7] He studied Japanese ceramic traditions with potter Yoichi Murakami.[2] Ngan taught and led workshops on ceramics at different educational institutions in Canada and China.[9] In 1984, after receiving a grant from Canada Council and inspiration from the Sung Dynasty, Ngan built a 300-cubic-foot wood-fired kiln.[4][9]

In the beginning of the 2000s, Ngan spent more time on painting and sculptures.[5]

Work

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Ngan's ceramics were functional and sculptural.[13] His work is associated with the West Coast ceramic movement influenced by Bernard Leach and Japanese pottery traditions.[5][14][15] Writer Joni Low described Ngan's vessels as restrained in form and emphasizing materiality and process over decoration.[5] Ngan engaged directly with his materials and firing processes. He built and modified his own kilns and developed glaze formulas through experimentation with locally sourced materials.[2][12]

Ngan's work was influenced by the pottery traditions of China, Korea, and Japan, particularly the work of Shoji Hamada.[2][5] His techniques included salt glazing, wood firing and hakeme brushwork.[7] He was also influenced by Sung dynasty ceramics.[2]

Low and other commentators have noted that Ngan's house, garden, and workspaces on Hornby Island functioned together as part of his studio practice.[5][11]

Artist and writer Amy Gogarty has argued that Ngan's work was distinguished by "his mastery of firing techniques and by his ability to integrate historical ceramic traditions with a distinctly regional West Coast vocabulary of materials and form".[13]

Recognition

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In 1978, the Vancouver Art Gallery presented Pottery by Wayne Ngan, a solo exhibition curated by Doris Shadbolt.[7][16] His work was later featured in the exhibition Thrown: British Columbia's Apprentices of Bernard Leach and Their Contemporaries, which examined the development of British Columbia studio pottery.[14]

His work is held in the collections of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at the University of British Columbia[17] and the Vancouver Art Gallery.[18][19] A collection of his pottery is on permanent display at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa.[8][20]

In 1983, he received the Saidye Bronfman Award, for Canadian fine craft.[4][8][20] In 2013, Ngan received the BC Creative Achievement Award of Distinction.[4][21]

Personal life

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Ngan married fellow artist, Anne Feveile in 1968.[7] They had two children, Goya, and Gailan.[7] The couple separated in 1983.[7] Ngan had a third child in 1989, named Meris.[7] He had 3 grandchildren.[4]

Ngan died from lymphoma on June 12, 2020, at his home on Hornby Island.[1][7]

Posthumous exhibitions and legacy

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In 2025, the New York gallery James Cohan presented the posthumous exhibition Wayne Ngan: Spirit and Form.[22][23] Ngan's former studio continues to be maintained by his family and is open to visitors seasonally and by appointment.[24]

Selected exhibitions

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  • Pottery by Wayne Ngan, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver (1978–79)
  • Thrown: British Columbia's Apprentices of Bernard Leach and Their Contemporaries, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver (2004)
  • Wayne Ngan: Spirit and Form, James Cohan, New York (2025)

References

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  1. 1 2 "Wayne Ngan". Telford, Toneff & Boyd Burial & Cremation Centres. Retrieved August 3, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Shadbolt, Doris (1978). Pottery by Wayne Ngan. Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery.
  3. 1 2 3 Tate, Lois Eustis (2024). Wayne Ngan, Island Potter: A Portrait by a Friend. Eugene, Oregon: Luminare Press. ISBN 9798886796049.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Goodyear, Sheena (June 26, 2020). "Wayne Ngan — B.C. ceramics artist whose 'whole life is an art project' — has died". CBC.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Low, Joni (2015). "The Invisible Social Traces of Objects: Wayne Ngan's Ceramic Vessels". The Capilano Review. 3 (25): 105–112.
  6. 1 2 Lee-Son, Jacqueline; Sturmanis, Dona, eds. (1994). Richmond: Secrets & Surprises. Richmond, British Columbia: Yorklin Associates. pp. 76–78.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Weder, Adele (June 30, 2020). "B.C. potter Wayne Ngan turned clay into objects of rare sculptural beauty". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved August 31, 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Shadbolt, Doris. "Wayne Ngan — Potter". Canadian Museum of History. Retrieved August 30, 2026.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Wilson, Carla (June 26, 2020). "Obituary, Wayne Ngan: A life of magical art in ceramics and sculpture". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved August 30, 2026.
  10. ↑ Kahn, Lloyd (2008). Builders of the Pacific Coast. Shelter Publications. p. 12. ISBN 978-0936070438.
  11. 1 2 "Towards a Good Fit". Architectural Design. 48 (7): 472–473. 1978.
  12. 1 2 Steggles, Mary Ann (2016). "The Canadian Mantra: Reuse, Repurpose, and Recycle!". Studio Potter. 44 (1): 63.
  13. 1 2 Gogarty, Amy (2011). "The Doris Shadbolt Pottery Collection". Ceramics: Art and Perception (85): 72–74.
  14. 1 2 Watson, Scott, ed. (2011). Thrown: British Columbia's Apprentices of Bernard Leach and Their Contemporaries. Vancouver: Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery.
  15. ↑ Milroy, Sarah (March 15, 2004). "A Licence to Kiln". The Globe and Mail. p. B3.
  16. ↑ "Pottery by Wayne Ngan". Vancouver Art Gallery. Retrieved August 3, 2026.
  17. ↑ "Search the Collection". Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery. Retrieved August 3, 2026.
  18. ↑ Annual Report 2024 (PDF) (Report). Vancouver Art Gallery. 2024. p. 50. Retrieved August 3, 2026.
  19. ↑ "Highlights from the Collection". Vancouver Art Gallery. Retrieved August 3, 2026.
  20. 1 2 Amos, Robert (2007). Artists in Their Studios: Where Art is Born. TouchWood Editions. p. 77. ISBN 978-1894898584.
  21. ↑ Nelson, Miranda (October 29, 2013). "B.C. Creative Achievement Awards honour artist Wayne Ngan". Georgia Straight.
  22. ↑ Navarra, Doug (September 24, 2025). "Wayne Ngan: Contemplative Materialism and the Artifice of Presence". Ceramics Now. Retrieved August 3, 2026.
  23. ↑ Coleman, Madeline Leung (August 28, 2025). "See Wayne Ngan". New York Magazine.
  24. ↑ "Contact". Wayne Ngan Studio. Retrieved August 25, 2026.

Further reading

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  • Shadbolt, Doris. Pottery by Wayne Ngan. Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery, 1978.
  • Tate, Lois Eustis. Wayne Ngan, Island Potter: A Portrait by a Friend. Eugene, Oregon: Luminare Press, 2024.
  • Watson, Scott, ed. Thrown: British Columbia's Apprentices of Bernard Leach and Their Contemporaries. Vancouver: Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, 2011.
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