Lee Tsai-Yu, Ceramic Artist
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Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Lee Tsai-Yu. I've been studying art since I was young. I did my undergraduate degree at National Taiwan University of Arts in Craft Design, which exposed me to a wide range of materials — metalwork, fibre, even industrial design. I then went on to specialise in ceramics at the Graduate Institute of Applied Arts at Tainan National University of the Arts. After graduating I worked for about a year, and I've been a full-time artist ever since.
How did you come to choose ceramics?
I've always been interested in many materials — anything I can work with directly using my hands. The advantage of ceramics is how directly it engages your body. Your hands go straight into the material; you're shaping it with touch alone. With other materials you need tools as intermediaries. Metalwork, for example, requires saws and files, and the process is more rational — you have to plan clearly, work logically, know your endpoint before you begin.
Ceramics is different. You can think as you make. My personality is quite free-flowing, so a process where I can discover things through the material as I go — that suits me.
Where does a piece usually begin for you?
When I was a child I competed in impromptu speech competitions — you'd draw a topic right before going on stage and speak immediately. I discovered I was good at seizing on a few key things and assembling them into a whole picture, sometimes only completing that picture as I was already speaking.
I do the same thing when I make. I don't like to think something through clearly in advance. I give myself a very vague but essential image, glance at it once, then put it aside and start working. If things drift from that image as I go, I follow the drift. When something feels right, I keep it and develop from there.
You've made large sculptural work before, and now you focus on tea ware. How do you experience those two differently?
After leaving school, I found myself wanting to simply enjoy the process of shaping clay. I made a series of large jars — some nearly as tall as I am. What I loved was that when you're trying to control something that large, you lose complete control, and in that tension between controlling and not controlling, something interesting emerges. I'd try to preserve that — keep the parts that felt right, adjust what needed adjusting. The whole thing felt like dancing with the object. What came out felt like mine, but not entirely mine.
When I started making tea ware, I realised that feeling was still there — just condensed into something much smaller. Maybe that's why some people feel my work is different from others'. I don't like things that are too neat. I like leaving a little of the earthiness in.
Many people describe your work as quiet and gentle. Do you see it that way yourself?
I never think about what feeling a piece should have, so however people describe my work is fine with me — they're bringing their own feeling to it, and that's good.
But if I try to say what I'm reaching for, I think I want to capture something that feels alive. I want my pieces to look a little like animals, though not in a literal way. I have a habit of giving each teapot a personality. One might be a dignified young woman I'll call Didi. Another might be a small sweet thing. I give them all a kind of character, something anthropomorphic.
Your work has a very clear style. Has it always been that way, or did it develop gradually?
Gradually, I think. It surfaced slowly over time. I only became aware of it later — that this thing called style is what people notice first. Because I've always worked from an internal feeling rather than any external idea of how something should look, there's a consistency that comes through naturally. It's just me, making things. I've never tried to pursue a particular style — and maybe that's exactly why some people find my work recognisable.
Has anything changed since ceramics became how you make a living?
There's something interesting about entering the market: when your work is actually sold, you never need to ask customers for their opinion. Whether they buy or not is already the answer. You start to understand what resonates and what doesn't — colours, glazes, all of that becomes information. But I don't make new work because of that. My starting point hasn't changed.
Because my work is functional, I do listen to users when it comes to how things are used. A gongfu cup needs to be able to be rolled between the palms to warm it, so I can't add too much surface decoration. A gongfu teapot lid knob can't be too large, which is why I make my horse lying down rather than standing. These are adjustments made for function, but there's still space to express within those constraints.
I think having limits is actually where the greatest freedom comes from. When I was making pure sculpture, I was facing a vast emptiness — I didn't know where to begin, I had to excavate everything from within myself. Now I'm working freely within a defined space, and that actually gives me room to breathe. I create more easily this way.
Why horses as your main subject?
It was a very simple beginning. My father was retiring and wanted to learn the tea ceremony, so I thought I'd make something for him based on his zodiac sign. It turned out our family is quite funny that way — my mother and I are both Dragons, and my father, my brother, and I are all Horses. So our whole family is just two zodiac signs. I already had a feeling for the Horse, and that's how it started.
可以簡單介紹一下妳自己嗎？
我是李采諭，從小就一直學美術。大學念台灣藝術大學工藝設計，那個科系的性質是什麼材料都會接觸——金工、纖維、偏工業設計的內容都有。後來進了台南藝術大學應用藝術研究所陶瓷組，開始專注在陶瓷這個媒材。研究所畢業後工作了一年，之後就一直以全職創作者的身份做到現在。
妳是怎麼選擇陶藝的？
我其實對各種媒材都感興趣，我喜歡手可以直接碰觸的東西。陶藝的優點是它跟身體的互動很直接——你的手就是直接去捏這個材質。其他媒材基本上都要透過工具，比如金工就一定要有鋸子、銼刀，而且處理方式很理性，你要規劃得很清楚、很有邏輯，一開始就要知道終點在哪裡。
陶藝不一樣，它是一個可以邊做邊想的東西。我的個性比較隨性，所以陶藝這種透過媒材去邊做邊發現自己的創作形式，對我來說是合適的。
創作時，你通常從什麼開始？
我小時候參加過演講比賽，抽到的類型是即席演講——上台前才抽到題目，然後直接講。在那個過程裡我發現，我很擅長抓住某幾個關鍵之後，再組合成一個完整的畫面，而且那個畫面有時候是上台之後才完整建構出來的。
我後來發現，我在創作時也常做同樣的事。我不喜歡把一個東西想得很清楚，我會給自己一個非常模糊但很關鍵的畫面，然後看一下就放著，在做的時候再去做。如果做著做著走樣了，我就順著它走。做出覺得不錯的東西，就留下來繼續發展。
妳之前做過大型雕塑，後來轉向茶道具，這兩者對你來說有什麼不一樣？
離開學校之後，我開始單純去享受捏塑的過程，那時候做了一系列大型的甕，有些跟我差不多高。我很喜歡在控制一個很大的東西時，那種完全失控又必須控制的狀態——它會產生一種有趣的語言，我就試著把那個語言保留下來。哪裡感覺對了就留下那個隨性，哪裡需要修正就修正，整個過程就像是一直在跟這個東西跳舞。最後做出來的東西，會覺得是我做的，但又好像不完全是。
後來開始做茶道具，我發現那個感覺還在——只是我可以把它濃縮到一個很小的東西上面。，我不喜歡做非常工整的東西，我很喜歡留有一點點土的韻律感。
很多人形容你的作品很安靜、溫柔，你自己會這樣看嗎？
我不太會想著要做成什麼感覺，所以別人怎麼形容我覺得都可以，那是他們用自己的感受去感受這個東西，很好。
但如果要說我自己在捕捉什麼，我好像想要捕捉一種「活著」的感覺。我希望它看起來像一個動物，但不是很具象的那種。我有一個習慣是會為每一只茶壺給他一個個性——有的我會說這一只是高貴的妹子，嬌滴滴的千金；有的我會覺得是那個小可愛。我好像會給它們一個擬人化的感受。
你的作品有非常明確的風格，但這個風格是一直都有，還是慢慢堆疊出來的？
是後者。它是慢慢浮現出來的，比較到後期才意識到原來風格是這樣的東西。因為我一直都是從很內在的感受出發去做作品，所以結果會有一個統一性——因為都是我做的。我從來沒有刻意說我要做成什麼風格，所以我覺得，也許就是因為這樣，有些人才會覺得我的作品有一種辨識度。
當陶藝變成賴以維生的事情之後，有什麼改變嗎？
進入市場有一個有趣的點：當你的東西真的被銷售，你完全不需要去問客人意見，他們會用金錢為喜歡的作品投票。所以你自己慢慢會知道什麼東西接受度高，什麼東西沒那麼被喜歡，釉色、顏色，這些都是訊息。我覺得自己是幸運的，製作自己喜歡的作品又剛好能被市場接受。
另外因為我做的是實用的器物，在功能上我會聽使用者的意見。比如功夫杯要有滾杯的功能，所以上面不能做太多裝飾；功夫壺的鈕不能太大，所以我的馬就做成坐在地上的樣子。這些是為了功能性做的調整，但在某個範圍內還是可以發揮。
我覺得有限制的時候，反而會獲得某種最大的自由。以前做純藝術，面對的是一個虛空的世界，不知道從哪裡開始，什麼都要從內心挖掘。現在是在實用功能的範圍內盡情發展，反而有一種空氣感，讓我可以更自在地創作。
我也很喜歡看到自己的作品能夠被別人使用，珍惜，進入別人的生活 ，能夠直接得到藏家的反饋，是很讓人開心的事。
為什麼選擇馬作為主題？
其實是一個很單純的開始。我爸退休之後想學茶，我就想說做一個他生肖的茶道具送他。我們家剛好很有趣——我跟我媽都屬龍，我跟我爸跟我弟都屬馬，所以我們家就是兩個生肖。對馬這個生肖本來就比較有感覺，就這樣開始了。