Gerald and Kelly Hong (20th/21st Century) American, Ceramic Wall Plaque. Titled 'White Orchids'. Raku-fired ceramic tiles mounted on a wooden substrate. The 'ribs' of the fan are painted wood. 

Size: 16 x 26 x 1 1/8 in. 

#2766 . 

The collaborative work of Gerald and Kelly Hong is the result of a joining of minds, aesthetics, and hearts. They first met at a show where they were both exhibiting their individual ceramic pieces. Gerald’s work is very strong and solid in form and it is decorated with geometric patterns, which are serene and rhythmic. Kelly’s work is more fanciful in design and highly patterned with imagery drawn from nature. Out of this seemingly disparate artistic approach, they found fundamental similarities in their work. Both of them rely heavily on the Asian aesthetic and they both aim to create work which appears both ancient, yet new, at the same time. Gerald and Kelly married in 1996 and it seemed to be a natural progression to ‘marry’ their work as well. They find the process of collaboration exciting and they feel renewed and liberated by being able to make work which would have never been created by either one of them alone. When they sit down to design a new collaborative piece, they hammer out the design together on paper. Various revisions are made, each giving their own suggestions about form and surface. When a design is agreed upon, the piece proceeds. Gerald and Kelly each make the parts in their respective methods that will be combined in the final result. The resulting work is a combination of both of their artistic visions yet it still resonates with the essence of their individual styles.