Artwork
2023
2021 - 2015
2021 Alfred
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2021 - “At My Place”
2021 - “Unhanding Heritage”
2021 - “Flustered Youngster”
2021 - “ Well Behaved Timidity”
2020 Alfred
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2020 - Zodiac Cup Set
❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁
2020 - “Sweet Anticipation”
2020 - “Bathtub Story”
2020 - “Back Home”
2020 - untitled
2020 - “I'm An Only Child“
2020 - “Ended On The 15th year”
2020 - “Bob-over”
2020 - Alfred second year 1st Midterm
2020 Covid Summer
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2019-2020 Alfred 1st Year
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2020 - Alfred first year 2nd Midterm
2019 - Alfred first year 1st Final
2019 - Alfred first year 1st Midterm
2019
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2019 - “Boy, Girl”
2019 - “As A Foreigner”
2019 - Sheridan
2018
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2017
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2016
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2015
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~ Artist Bio ~
Sami Tsang is a Toronto-based ceramic artist whose work explores domestic encounters and private narratives borne out of the flux amidst two cultures – Chinese and Western. Sami studied traditional Chinese painting for 7 years in Hong Kong, which profoundly affected her pursuit of an art career.
Sami earned her BA in Craft & Design from Sheridan College (2019) and her MFA in Ceramics from Alfred University, NY (2021). Sami has presented solo, and group exhibitions and art fairs in the United States, China, and Canada, including Sculpture Space, NYC, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, the Gardiner Museum, Cooper Cole Gallery, Toronto, ON, Claire Oliver Gallery in NYC, Toronto Art Fair, NADA Miami, and AYE Gallery in Beijing, China. Tsang’s work is included in private collections, Collection Majudia, and Gardiner Museum. Sami is an Artist-in-Residence (Ceramics) at Harbourfront Centre (Toronto, Canada).
~ Artist Statement ~
Being genuine is central to who I am. Mediated through materials and self-reflection, my work is a raw, truthful, and spontaneous response to how I feel in a given moment. My work is inspired by a sense of urgency to ask the question, what is so pressing?
The Initial sketches that inform my work are inspired by Chinese proverbs from my childhood memories. Additional themes of my work center on humor, vulnerability, challenging tradition and overcoming childhood into adulthood.
When I am creating ceramic sculptures, I work from a meditative place. As the piece evolves, I make additions to the work. My sculptures and drawings are representational of the different stages of my childhood and adolescence where I often felt repressed and silenced. The characters that appear in my work are responses to the moments when I felt entrapped in domestic settings, and then liberated as a Chinese Canadian woman artist.
My sculptural works feature ceramics, textiles, and rice paper covered in resin. My large-scale work point to the importance of representation and taking up space in connection with others.
As I continue to have difficult conversations with myself, the narratives I incorporate into my sculptures represent transformation, breaking boundaries and challenging tradition.
Artist CV
EDUCATION
2021 MFA, Ceramic Art, Alfred University, NY, USA
2019 Bachelor of Craft and Design: Ceramics, with Honours Sheridan College, Canada
ARTISTS RESIDENCIES/FELLOWSHIPS
2024 7th International Artist Retreat and Residency, Anhui, China
2022-25 Artist-in-Residence: Ceramics, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto
EXHIBITIONS & ART FAIRS
Solo
2025 Upcoming - Solo Show, Claire Oliver Gallery, NYC
Upcoming - EXPO Chicago Art Fair, USA
2024 Upcoming - Art Toronto Fair, Canada
Upcoming - Two-person exhibition, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto
Two-person exhibition, AYE Gallery, Beijing, China
2023 Solo Exhibition, Companion Gallery, Humboldt, TN
A Good Hard Look, Cooper Cole Gallery, Toronto, ON
Sami Tsang, ClayAKAR, Iowa City, USA
2022 Disgraceful Me, Project Booth, Art Toronto Fair, Canada
Know Your Place, Solo Exhibition, Art Gallery of Burlington, Toronto, ON
Sami Tsang, ClayAKAR, Iowa City, USA
2021 Sami Tsang, Charlie Cumming Gallery, Gainesville, FL
Mooncake Party, Gardiner Museum Award Winner, Gardiner Museum, Toronto
Mooncake Party, MFA Thesis Exhibition, Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, Alfred, NY
Group
2024 Emergence, The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo
Those Heavy Hours, Retail Exhibition, Gardiner Museum, Toronto
Teetering On The Brink: Femininity, Inheritance and Disaster, Group exhibition, Claire Oliver Gallery, NYC
Significant Forms, Group exhibition, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna, BC
2023 Art Toronto Fair, Canada
NADA Miami Art Fair, Miami
In Parallel - Group exhibition, The Power Plant, Toronto
Other Tigers, The Lost & Found, Toronto
Annual Artstream Spring Tour and Exhibition, Fort Collins, CO
2022 Every Answer is Correct, Ernst & Young, organized by the Powerplant
Award Exhibition, Craft Ontario, Toronto
Plenty, Black and Smith Gallery, Jerseyville, ON
What a Cup Knows, Artstream Nomadic Gallery, Fort Collins, CO
Material Mugs VII, Companion Gallery, Humboldt, TN
Off-site Exhibition, organized by The Power Plant, Toronto
SMASH, Gardiner’s annual art party, Gardiner Museum, Toronto
Two-Person (Sami Tsang & Sasha Barrett), Tandem Gallery, Bakersville, NC
Breakthrough PLUS 2022, FUSION Clay & Glass Ontario, Toronto
Above Board Tableware exhibition, Above Board Ceramics, virtual
Earth Oracles, Mayten’s Project, Toronto
Separate/Together, Cooper Cole Gallery, Toronto
2021 Award Exhibition, Craft Ontario, Toronto
Alfred MFA 2021 Group Exhibition, Sculpture Space, Long Island City, NY
Above Board Tableware exhibition, Above Board Ceramics, virtual
Canadian Exhibition, curated by Carole App, The Ceramic School, USA
15th Yunomi Show, ClayAKAR, Iowa City, IA, USA
2020 Crafts in the Art: International Virtual Exhibition, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Americano 2020, ClayAKAR, Iowa City, IA, USA
14th Yunomi Show, ClayAKAR, Iowa City, IA, USA
Confluence, Robert C.Turner Gallery, Alfred, NY, USA
2019 The Intimate Object XV, Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, FL, USA
The Functional Canvas IV, Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, FL, USA
NCECA Juried Student Exhibition, Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Bonspiel Mug Show, Hennepin Made, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Sheridan Ceramics Graduate Exhibition, Gardiner Museum, Toronto
All Year Ceramics Exhibition, Craft and Design, Sheridan Gallery, Canada
2018 Liquids Cream and Gels, Online Exhibition, The Gynocratic Art Gallery, Canada
Breakthrough Exhibition, Fusion, Toronto
2017 Made in Canada, Gardiner Museum, Toronto
Year End Exhibition, Craft and Design, Sheridan Gallery, Oakville, ON, Canada
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2024 Finalist for the Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics, The Canadian Clay & Glass
Canada Council for the Arts, Travel Grant
2023 OAC, Exhibition Assistance Grant
2022 OAC, Skills and Career Development Grant
Pottery Supply House Grant, Craft Ontario, Toronto
Emerging Clay and Glass Artists, FUSION Clay & Glass Ontario, Toronto
2021 Tucker’s Pottery Supplies - Clay Supply Grant, Craft Ontario, Toronto
2019 Clifford Scholarship, for Exceptional Personal Achievement, Sheridan College
Gardiner Museum Award Winner, You Know What I Mean, Toronto
Mudtools Merit Award, NCECA Juried Student Exhibition, Minneapolis
FUSION Scholarship Award, Fusion, Toronto
2018 Joan Bennet Award, for Outstanding Achievement, Sheridan College
2017 Best In Show Award, Made In Canada, Gardiner Museum, Toronto
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE (Related Work, Presentations)
2023 Canadian Clay Symposium, Demonstrating Artist, Burnaby, BC
Visiting Artist, Demonstration and Artist Talk, Sheridan College, Oakville, ON
2022 Guest Artist Presentation, Mississauga Potters' Guild, Canada
New Clay Conference, Demonstrating Artist, Ottawa, Canada
Earth Oracles, Panel Discussion, Mayten’s Project, hosted by Gardiner Museum
2021 Craft Ontario, Artist talk, Award Exhibition, Toronto
Renaissance Venice, exhibition installation, Gardiner Museum, Toronto
2020 Make and Do Ceramics, From the Personal to the Universal, Artist talk/Demo, virtual
2017-2019 Studio Assistant (summer) Timothy Smith, Gleason Brook Pottery, Wiarton, ON
TEACHING
2021 Introduction to Hand-building (TA), Brooke Cashion, Alfred University, NY
2020 Sophomore Intro to Hand-building (TA), Meghan Smythe, Alfred University, NY
2020 Ceramic Pottery II (TA), John Gill, Alfred University, NY
2019 Observational Drawing (TA), Alfred University, NY
COLLECTIONS
North Dakota Museum of Art
Private collections
Collection Majudia
Gardiner Museum
ON-LINE MEDIA
Metal Magazine April 1st 2024
NUVO Magazine Sept 1st 2023
CBC ARTS October 24th, 2022
NOW PLAYING TORONTO - Shaping Personal and Universal Narrative
Globe & Mail February 27, 2022
ARTE FUSE February 2022
GARDINER MUSEUM
GARDINER MUSEUM - 15 Canadian women ceramic artists to follow
ALFRED UNIVERSITY
CRAFT ONTARIO
ART KUNST MATRIX
ART VIEWER February 16, 2022
Art Toronto 2021
Contemporary Art Daily
Demo and Conversation with Sami Tsang - From the Personal to the Universal (YouTube)
LIQUIDS, CREAMS & GELS | Curated by Mariko Paterson (Exhibition)
LANGUAGES
Cantonese, English, Mandarin