Yen Lien
Yen Design and Art
Austin, Texas
@craftlajoie
Artist Statement
Yen-Yu, also known as Yen, is a Taiwanese artist living in Austin, Texas, with a graphic design degree from Austin Community College (ACC). She combines her background in international trade with leadership skills developed through her involvement in student organizations. Yen's family nurtured her artistic talents, blending watercolor painting, stone carving, and Chinese tea culture into her ceramic art. She sees clay as a medium with a unique personality, symbolizing an inner soul and an outer body. Her artistic journey began in childhood when doodling and modeling were her favorite forms of self-expression. Clay serves as a time machine to revisit those moments. Yen experiments with various techniques, blending wheel-throwing and coil-building to create functional pieces and large sculptures. Yen's approach involves vibrant underglaze colors and glaze chemistry in reduction-firing atmospheres. She sees her creations as spiritual vessels, transmitting love, energy, and memories to others. Her mission as an artist is to infuse her work with passion, love, and positivity, using bright colors and playful designs to evoke smiles and reconnect people with their blessings. Yen's art reflects her unique blend of cultural influences and personal experiences, aiming to spread happiness and positive energy.
What type of clay do you use?
Porcelain for functional works and stoneware for sculptures
What temperature do you fire to?
Cone 6 oxidation and cone 10 reduction
What is your primary forming method?
Coil building and wheel throwing
What is your favorite surface treatment?
Altering, hand modeling, underglaze painting, glaze combinations
What one word would you use to describe your work?
Whimsical
What is your favorite thing about your studio?
The big French door!
What is the one thing in your studio you can’t live without?
Shimpo banding wheel
What are your top three studio wishes?
A Brent wheel, a pug mill, a wall shelf system
What’s on your current reading list?
Ceramics Monthly, Pottery Making Illustrated, Communication Arts, glaze books
How do you save money on materials and supplies?
Reclaiming the clay, keeping tools clean for longer lifetimes, creating my own glazes and underglazes, tool re-use
How do you recharge creatively?
Traveling, exchanging ideas with friends, visiting exhibitions or artists' studios, watching animations
Do you have any DIY tips for studio efficiency?
Organize space and clean up after each work
What challenges have you given yourself to overcome?
Building big scales
What did your first piece look like?
Pinch pot for the pit fire
What ceramic superpower would you have and why?
Strong arms and big hands so I can build big and carry big work!
What area of skill do you most look to other artists to learn?
Asymmetrical forms and structures, surface designs, glazes
Who is your ceramic art mentor and why?
Professor Matthew Isaacson, who always provides guidance, gives me challenges, and pushes my limits to learn and grow.
What is on your studio playlist?
Movie soundtracks
Why do you create art?
Spreading the joys to people I love
Who is your favorite artist and what do you admire about that artist?
Linda Sikora’s teapots, Cristina Córdova and Crystal Morey’s figurative sculpture, Sam Chung and Matt Kelleher’s forms, Renee LoPresti’s colors
What is your best studio tip?
Get organized in your studio space! Be brave and flexible in creating ideas! It's always okay to give it a try and see what it will be!
If you could change one property of clay, what would it be?
Reduce clay shrinkage!
