Lien Pao-Tsai

Lien Pao-Tsai (; born 1953) is a Taiwanese potter whose artistic development spans early childhood, her university years, and her later life alongside her husband, also a potter. A significant figure in the evolution of contemporary Taiwanese ceramics, she has worked across many forms and techniques, incorporating mixed media and exploring themes drawn from social issues, the environment, and human emotion. Since 1982, Lien has presented both solo and group exhibitions in Taiwan and internationally. Her works are held in museum collections at home and abroad, and she has received major awards in Taiwan and Italy.

Early life Lien Pao-Tsai was born in 1953 in Changhua, Taiwan. She was initially named by her father as , with the second character of the given name being 'colorful'. However, the staff of the household registration administration mistakenly registered her name with the character 'guess'. She did not feel confident about her name as a child. It wasn't until her college teacher told her that the of her name implied that she was mysterious as people had to “guess” everything about her that Lien got over it. Chen Qiu-Ji has been an inspiration for Lien in her pottery career as well as her working partner, with whom he founded the learning institution of pottery. Her childhood hobby seemed to have cultivated her artistic talent and become one of the decisive factors that led her into the world of pottery. Even though she didn't receive artistic education as a young child, her fondness for arts and her desire to become an artist was already evident.

Career For more than 40 years, Lien has been devoted to different forms of ceramic art creations. She conveys her own experience, social observation, and care for life through pottery sculpture, painting, installation art, and other mixed-media creations. Also, most of her ceramic works are combined with mixed media, such as cast iron and oils, thus opening a contemporary landscape for her special personal ceramic creation.

In addition to early-life ceramics, she puts most of her effort into pottery sculptures. Her pottery sculptures mostly represent three-dimensional figures, animals, gods and Buddhas. For instance, one of her pieces focuses on the raging violence in Syria. The sculpture features an orphan, whose family members were all killed in the war.

Inspired by her children, Lien begins to see the world with innocent eyes, interpreting the interrelationship between human beings and nature through the vibrant images of animals.

In the context of animals, she likes Chinese fables and Western histories, and she skillfully transforms characters in the story, such as frogs, clowns, tortoises, and rabbits from fables into her artworks, shattering the origin concept of those characters.

Subsequently, with her experiences of sickness and death and studying Buddhism, most of her artworks changed to a form of representing various aspects of life, illustrating the nature of life which are birth, old age, sickness, and death. Those experiences also make her go on the road of making one thousand Buddhas. and they need to expand their own vision to see this world. She describes herself as having gone through many vicissitudes and experiences, and now she can have a more clear and mature mind. says Sung, who has been invited to judge ceramic contests over the years. “Lien is one of the few who creates with both her hands and heart.”

Signature style Lien's signature theme has always revolved around current social affairs, the environment, and the everyday feelings of individuals, all showing her awareness of what has happened in society, around the world. with a subject of one the Gods in the Taiwanese, criticizing greed that happens nowadays in our society. The footprints on the ground symbolize the diligence of the Taiwanese early immigrants, and reminds them not to lose their ancestors for material belongings. Reasons for being spoiled (被寵爱的理由), 2012 She has since had a few solo exhibitions and joint exhibitions to present her ceramic works not only in Taiwan but also in other countries from 1983 to 2018. To exhibit her artworks around the prestigious museums abroad, the Council of Cultural Affairs, now the Ministry of Culture, All-China Women's Federation, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs also sponsored her to show her artworks in Italy. In addition, she was invited to be a jury of the Taipei Fine Art Museum several times from 1983 to 1997. 2012: Lien Poa-Tsai’s Spiritual Memoir, Taichung Cultural and Creative Industrial Park, Taichung, Taiwan 2013: Rules, Chang Liu 40th Anniversary Memorial Exhibition, Taipei, Taiwan 2015: The X Florence Biennale Art Design, Florence, Italy New Aesop's Fables, Qujiang Futao International Ceramics Museum, Shaanxi, Qujiang 2018: Panoramic World, National Museum of History, Taipei, Taiwan At the same time, her paintings, Promised Land and Plowing Hearts, are in Dharma Drum Mountain. Not only is her work collected in the Museums in Taiwan, but also collected by Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Awards and honors

1999: the Asian Pacific Art Institute of America's 20th Century Award for Art Accomplishment 1999: LifeLong Artist Accomplishment Award of the 20th Century 2015: Florence Biennale Art Design Silver Award