The Tea Exchange
The Tea Exchange
10
Feb
28
Apr
Past Event

The Tea Exchange


When

Sat 10 Feb - Sun 28 Apr

10am - 5pm

Where

The Chamber of Clear Rhythm
Chinese Garden of Friendship

Get directions
Price

FREE

Map, showing The Tea Exchange

Discover an immersive tea art exhibition presented by the Chinese Garden of Friendship and Museum of Chinese in Australia (MOCA).

The Chinese Garden of Friendship and MOCA present ‘The Tea Exchange,’ a new exhibition that will transform one of the Garden’s heritage pavilions to celebrate tea and its importance as a ceremonial cornerstone and cultural ambassador of Chinese Australian Society. 

So much more than just a drink; Tea fosters an exchange of knowledge and culture, encourages conversation, and strengthens Asian-Australian relationships.

This exhibition will explore the history and cultural significance of tea in Australia, through contemporary artworks by Casey Chen, Remy Faint, Sarah Goffman, Bernadette Huang, Gabby Malpas, Yang Qiu, EJ Son, Kenny Son, Jayanto Tan, and items loaned from a private collection

MEET THE ARTISTS

Bernadette Huang

Bernadette is a Taiwanese-Australian ceramicist based in Sydney. She completed her studies at UNSW Art & Design followed by an internship in Yingge district of Taiwan, often referred to as the ‘capital’ of ceramics. Her work is focused on accentuating form and feel to highlight the clay and its natural qualities. Whether through embracing symmetry or hand-carving to expose natural textures, Bernadette aims to elevate the final piece into one that is tactile and thoughtful. Bernadette produces tableware and decorative wares with a goal of creating functional yet sculptural works to enrich day-to-day spaces and uses.

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Casey Chen

Casey Chen’s ceramics practice references historical illustrations from an eclectic mix of folklore, mythology and pop culture. Blending childhood nostalgia with long-standing East Asian ceramic traditions, Chen applies his imagery to hand-thrown plates and vases, which are then fused with geometric patterns from traditional sources. The result is a cultural pastiche, and a dynamic conversation between traditional craft and contemporary perspective. Chen graduated from the National Art School in 2020 and was the recipient of the annual Harvey Galleries National Art School Exhibition award.

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EJ Son

EJ Son is a Korean Australian multi-functional artist, predominantly working with mixed media sculpture and installation. Son’s recent works uses silicone in attempts to arouse curiosity from the viewers and by rupturing the familiarity, creating space for the new to occur. They make wide range of references from Korean proverbs, personal narrative, gender identity, sex and internet culture. Son graduated first class honours at SCA in 2018, finalist of Emerging 2020 Gosford Regional Gallery, have exhibited at Verge Gallery, Pari, Delmar Gallery and Bus project in Melbourne.

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Gabby Malpas

Malpas is a New Zealand, Australian and British citizen of Chinese descent. She melds Chinese representational with European, Australian and New Zealand iconography. Although the imagery draws heavily from Asian culture, there is also a European influence from her western upbringing and art school training.

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Jayanto Tan

Jayanto Tan is a visual artist who was born and raised in a small village in North Sumatra, Indonesia to a Sumatran Christian mother and Guandong, China Taoist father. As an immigrant visual artist living in Sydney, who fled poverty and political repression in search of a better life, his practice blends Eastern and Western mythologies with the reality of current events. He draws on the identity politics of his diaspora to express personal experiences of ‘otherness’ through found objects, ceramics sculpture, authentic food, installation and performance. His practice shares autobiographical experiences of loss, displacement, hope and offers a sentiment of mixed spirituality and sharing to demonstrate a diverse culture bringing the timeless wisdom of meditation to a contemporary world.

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Kenny Son

Kenny (Yong-soo) Son of is an object designer-maker who has a simple goal of creating work that has ‘life’; objects that add significance and value to everyday environments. In 2010 he graduated from a Bachelor of Honours in Visual Arts at The Sydney College of Arts (SCA), and in 2013 completed his Masters in Design at The University of Technology, Sydney. Kenny is interested in creating work that has the ability to interact physically and emotionally with the users, essentially giving longevity to the object.

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Remy Faint

Working within an interdisciplinary field of painting, sculpture and ceramics Sydney-based artist Remy Faint’s work explores ideas surrounding authorship, mark-making and abstraction. Drawing upon influences from his Australian-Chinese heritage and European abstraction specifically in painting and ceramics, Faint’s use of mark-making and the physicality of the surface explores aspects of cultural mapping and urban landscapes. Faint has exhibited at venues such as Farr Side Gallery Marrickville, Mothership Gallery and UNSW Art and Design and is currently completing his Bachelor in Fine Arts (Honours) at UNSW Art and Design.

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Sarah Goffman

Sarah Goffman is an installation artist whose practice involves transforming discarded materials and waste of consumer society into elaborate replicas of traditional Chinese and Japanese ceramics. Her work examines the moral and ethical responsibilities of consumers in a culture of excess and waste. Goffman has been exhibiting mixed media installations since 1994. Goffman completed a Diploma of Arts in Photography (1994) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (2000) at the National Art School. In 2018, she was awarded a Doctor of Creative Arts from the University of Wollongong.

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Yang Qiu

Yang Qiu is an interdisciplinary artist based in Sydney. She transforms everyday produce into whimsical ceramic sculptures, elevating humble vegetables and fruit into an artistic expression. Informed by her background as a pastry chef and her interest in art, Yang began to explore ceramics as a means of artistic expression, studying fine art at UNSW in 2017. During this time, she became particularly intrigued by mould-making, which allowed her to create objects of striking and unusual forms. Drawing inspiration from her experiences as an only child, Yang imbues her work with a sense of whimsy and childlike wonder.

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