Jolie Ngo

Jolie Ngo (b. 1996) is a ceramic artist who expands the potential of the vessel form by creating vibrant, “cyborgian” objects that acknowledge past ceramic traditions while advancing forward-thinking practices. In her own words: “I want to show the ceramic vessel as a future-form that can still hold memories of the past.”

Maintaining a sense of tactility, intimacy and sensitivity often achieved in traditional handworks is paramount to Ngo’s practice. She utilizes contemporary technologies such as clay 3D printing and rapid prototyping to create her forms before, in the words of Ngo, “lovingly dressing them” with hand-painted geometric pattern and hazy gradients, as well as affixing embellishments. This interplay of the machine and the artist’s hand results in objects that resist traditional formal definition.

Influenced by the aesthetics of digital spaces from her childhood—in particular a nostalgia for interfaces such as Minecraft and The Sims—Ngo has become a “world builder.” Her vessels are microcosms referencing architectural environments, maquettes for furniture, the rolling strata of rice terraces, and landscape paintings. Altogether, Ngo’s practice includes a deep engagement with probing the synergy between handmade arts and technology past and present.

Born and raised in and outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Jolie Ngo holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.