Slot Stepwell, 2023
Stepwell, 2024
Earthenware
Eliza Au is interested in how pattern and ornament operate in sacred architecture. Her project investigates the four-sided symmetry of a stepwell with its alternating steps leading down to the water. By holding water, the stepwell acts as life-giving architecture. A meditative rhythm emerges through the repetition of the arabesque pattern in the two-dimensional planes in her forms. A sense of lightness and effortlessness is created by the regularity of the perforated planes; and the objects get divorced from mass and form as negative space defines the work as much as positive space.
Another form that influences her is the traditional Indian jali, a perforated stone or latticed screen, common in Indo-Islamic architecture. These screens filter harsh light and help ventilate the interior of the building. By combining the jali with the stepwell form, a normally heavy, immovable architecture becomes light and airy, alluding to these spaces as practical but also spiritual places.
ELIZA AU is originally from Vancouver, B.C. in Canada. She received her BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and her MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. In 2020, she received an Award of Excellence during the Chrysalis Competition held by the James Renwick Alliance. Her work is in several permanent collections including the Everson Museum of Art and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Au is currently based in Texas where she is an Assistant Professor of Ceramics at the University of North Texas.
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