About the Artist
Hope, Maine
Elaine K. Ng is an artist who utilizes material investigation and process-based practices to explore our relationships to place. She exhibits internationally and has lectured and held visiting positions at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, Tainan National University of the Arts, and China Academy of Art. She has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for research in Taiwan and has been in residence at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program in California; Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library; and the Corning Museum of Glass. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from the University of California, Davis, a master in business administration/master of arts degree from Southern Methodist University in Texas, and a master of fine arts degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan.
Website: ElaineKNg.com
Social Media: @ElaineKNg
Artist Statement
My practice explores our physical and psychological relationships to place and the potential of our material environment to hold meaning. The work in this exhibition began with a proposal to research the cultural significance of plants in the Winterthur Garden and to use foraged dyes, pigments, and fibers to create material signatures of place. Through a serendipitous encounter with economic historian Alka Raman (also a Winterthur Fellow), a 1966 translation of 18th-century French manuscripts from the library, and an 18th-century Indian palampore on exhibit from the museum collection, my fellowship evolved into a collaborative exploration of traditional chintz techniques and the links between material knowledge, culture, and place. This work reflects a journey to seek material knowledge in its various forms, from explicit verbal explanations and visual expression in historic objects to the tacit material understanding embodied in the skilled hands of a maker.