Cathy Lu

Cultural Objects & Ritual

October 2020 “.edu edition”

Discussion Guide: Cultural Objects & Ritual

Summary: Summary of Collective Discussion

Exercise: Cultural Objects & Ritual

Optional Reading: The Body Rituals Among the Nacirema by Horace Miner

About the topic

Our objects—who makes them, how we use them, and how we preserve them—are indicative of who we are and to which cultures we belong. Depending upon our relationship to those objects and cultures—whether we are generators and/or consumers, whether we are participants in power structures and/or marginalized by them, whether we are ‘insiders’ and/or ‘outsiders’—we can misrepresent and misunderstand entire communities. In this discussion we will question the validity of an ‘authentic’ object, examine how value and values change across time, and delve into the fine line between cultural sharing and cultural appropriation. How can enduring ceramic objects contribute to representing, reflecting, and revising our understanding of ourselves?

This State of Ceramics was part of the Fall 2020 ".edu edition", a collective curriculum designed specifically for ceramic educators and students operating in digital space, which offers a menu of hands-on clay exercises, readings, resources, and collective discussions generated by artists Cathy Lu, Andres Payan Estrada, and Sigrid Espelien.

2020 has cast into stark relief the relationship between current events and how we conceive of and relate to bodies— how the coronavirus attacks and spreads between bodies, how human rights are unjustly equated with the physical attributes of bodies, how bodies navigate virtual space, how fires consume bodies of land, and how government bodies claim and wield power. Clay has the potential to be a device for elucidating these issues; clay bodies can be understood as a proxy for our bodies. With this in mind, each Fall 2020 “.edu edition” section and discussion focused upon specific questions that Cathy, Andres, and Sigrid engage with in their practices, as they relate to the shifting dynamic of contemporary ceramics within the overarching theme of Our Clay Bodies.

About the Lead Artist

Cathy Lu (b. Miami, FL) is a ceramic artist who manipulates traditional Chinese art imagery and presentation as a way to deconstruct the assumptions we have about cultural authenticity. By creating ceramic sculptures and large scale installations, she explores what it means to be both Asian and American, while not being entirely accepted as either. Unpacking how experiences of immigration, cultural hybridity, and cultural assimilation become part of American identity is central to her work.

Cathy received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, and her BA & BFA from Tufts University. She has participated in artist in residence programs at Root Division, Vermont Studio Center, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and Recology SF. Her work has been exhibited at Johansson Projects, Somarts, Aggregate Space, Berkeley Arts Center, and A-B Projects. She was a 2019 Asian Cultural Council/ Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation Fellow and 2020 NCECA Emerging Artist. Cathy currently teaches ceramics at California College of the Arts, and Mills College.