Born in Lafayette, IN in 1949 to parents who had recently immigrated from China, mixed-media collage and ceramic artist Beth Lo finds solace in creating work that captures the emotions she felt as a young girl who sought belonging within a culturally blended environment. “I didn’t quite fit in with my parents and relatives,” Lo said. “When I went back from China I didn’t belong, but never completely felt at home in the United States, either.”
Lo’s ceramics, decorated with lively scenes painted in pastel underglazes, illustrate these childhood experiences in a playful manner, while simultaneously embracing themes like cultural marginality, tradition vs. Westernization, and language and translation. While those who engage with Lo’s work may not always have shared experience that directly connects them to the subject of her work, she hopes that through seeing themselves in her youthful figures, users are compelled to reflect on the realities of being raised in a minority culture in America.
“The whole point of my work is to make people familiar with that which is foreign,” Lo said. “I’m hoping that there is a little bit of gravitas mixed in with the playfulness of the work. In the current political climate, I think it’s really important to be aware of cultural differences and embrace them.”
In her Missoula, MT studio, Lo begins with a rough sketch of an idea or feeling, which then determines the process she will use for a given work. Lo handles clay with three main processes: Wheel throwing, coil building, slab building. Overtime, the artist has also compiled a collection of molds created through slip casting, like the takeout boxes from her “Origami, Calligraphy, Take Out Boxes” series. After her forms are built, Lo contemplates the scene she will paint onto the surface of the piece with underglazes, before coating with a glaze and firing.
Taking calligraphy lessons during summer break was Lo’s closest experience to formal art training in her adolescence, which she believes has been formative in her artistic career. She fell in love with wheel-throwing in her college years after enrolling in a community art class. “It was just so magical,” Lo said. “It makes you forget about time.” At the time, Lo was pursuing a Bachelor of General Studies from the University of Michigan. Despite initial hesitations from her family, who envisioned her pursuing a career in science or medicine, Lo earned an MFA at the University of Montana in 1974 after studying ceramics with the masterful Rudy Autio. A period of experimentation for Lo, the artist describes the imagery of her ceramics as abstract at the time.
When Lo became a mother to her son Tai in 1987, Lo began to reflect more on her family and the aspirations she had for her young son when it was time to paint the surface of her ceramic forms. Combining the influence of the Socialist Realist work of China plus her own concept of parenting and the challenges that come along with it, many of her earlier works depict figures Lo refers to as “the good child:” cheerful scenes of precocious children grocery shopping, working in a chemistry lab, or doing the dishes. “It was my sardonic way of looking at my own parenting and wishing for a good child,” Lo said.
As she and her son grew older, her work became less focused on her son, and more broadly about childhood and the innate goodness and positivity of kids, drawing from her own experiences growing up. “I feel that children everywhere, even when in difficult situations, figure out how to be joyful,” Lo said. “They have this phenomenal ability to play.”
Prior to her passing, Lo would often invite her mother, Kiahsuang Shen Lo, into her studio to collaborate. A Chinese brush painter, Lo’s mother picked up the art form later in life and created solely for the joy of painting. In her honor, Lo has created several pots with replicas of her mother’s landscape paintings on their surfaces. “She was wonderfully wise, wonderfully giving, and wonderfully supportive,” Lo said. “I’m just happy to give back to her memory.” Lo said. Lo has also collaborated with her sister, author Ginnie Lo, on two children’s books Auntie Yang’s Great Soybean Picnic and Mahjong All Day Long, both inspired by childhood events and memories.
—Natalie Rieth, Marketing & Development Coordinator
Beth Lo, service ware, low fire oxidation, hand built, 13 x 9 x 1 inches, Rosenfield Collection.
Beth Lo, cups, high fire reduction, wheel thrown, 4 x 4 x 4 inches, Rosenfield Collection.
Beth Lo, cups, mid range oxidation, wheel thrown, 3 x 3 x 4 inches, Rosenfield Collection.