Mie Kongo – I saw the light was on

Works created at European Ceramic Work Center in 's-Hertogenbosch in Holland.

My work has been project based, driven by sense of curiosity and discovery through everyday life and ongoing studio practice.

I have been making my sculptures primarily with clay. I think about how the materiality and properties of clay and how the process of working with the clay contributes to my sculptures physically, conceptually and emotionally. I am interested in investigating the inherent qualities of ceramic material, the connotation from history and tradition of ceramics, and devising ways to apply these to my work.

Since 2005 I have been interested in the idea of systems, order, randomness and chance. Encountering the complex frost line that grew on my kitchen window led me to this particular line of inquiry. How do small dots of chance collide and generate something in a certain period of time and in a certain frame of space? When something looks completely random, yet, is there underlying system and order? How can the randomness and chance create meaning?

During a recent residency in Holland, the ornaments and patterns of the architecture, and architectural details fascinated me. I noticed how important those architectural details are in bringing out a sense of order. The systematic ways to lay bricks, stones create structure, and repetitive patterns on tiles and curious design of metal fences, etc.

My recent group of work from EKWC responds to the experience of being in and seeing a new environment. I collected objects that drew my attention; these objects had a previous purpose or were part of a prior process and sometimes discarded. I saw them in a new way, from a different point of view and transformed them into something different.

I allowed chance to help me discover relationships between the objects, and between the objects and the space. This time, I found many solutions as I approached the works intuitively and personally.

Mie Kongo was born in Japan. Now she lives and works in Evanston, IL. In 2006, She received BFA from the School of Art Institute of Chicago, in Chicago IL. She graduated with MFA in Ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI in 2008. She has shown her works in the US and overseas. Mie is currently teaching at the School of Art Institute of Chicago, Hyde Park Art Center and Lillstreet Art Center.

www.miekongo.com