Ka Kwong Hui, also known as Hui Ka-Kwong (1922–2003) is a

Chinese-born American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...

potter, ceramist and educator. He is known for his fine art pottery work, a fusion of Chinese and American styles, and his work within the pop art movement.

Early life, immigration and education

Ka Kwong Hui was born in 1922 in Canton (now

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. He attended Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts (SAFA), and the Kwong Tung School of Art. He apprenticed in sculpture under Cheng Ho. In 1948, Hui immigrated to the United States to study art at Pond Farm Workshop under

Marguerite Wildenhain Marguerite Wildenhain, née Marguerite Friedlaender and alternative spelling ''Friedländer'' (October 11, 1896 – February 24, 1985), was an American Bauhaus-trained ceramic artist, educator and author. After immigrating to the United States in ...

and Frans Wildenhain. After a period of study with Wildenhains, Hui moved to attend ceramic classes at

Alfred University Alfred University is a private university in Alfred (village), New York, Alfred, New York. It has a total undergraduate population of approximately 1,600 students. The university hosts the New York State College of Ceramics, which includes The ...

. He graduated from Alfred University (BFA 1951, MFA 1952).

Career

After graduate school, he moved to the New York City-area to teach at Brooklyn Museum Art School (BMAS). Hui later became the head of the ceramics department at BMAS. He also taught art courses at Douglass College,

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

, and the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. He had notable students, including Jim Agard, and Stephen De Staebler. From 1964 to 1965, Hui collaborated with pop artist

Roy Lichtenstein Roy Fox Lichtenstein (; October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997) was an American pop artist. During the 1960s, along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and James Rosenquist among others, he became a leading figure in the new art movement. Hi ...

on a series of ceramics. Hui and Lichtenstein had worked at Rutgers University together. Hui created six bisque female mannequin heads with

Ben Day dots The Ben Day process is a printing and photoengraving technique for producing areas of grey or (with four-colour printing) various colours by using fine patterns of ink on the paper. It was developed in 1879 by illustrator and printer Benjamin ...

for Lichtenstein. The ceramics work with Lichtenstein influenced Hui's own artwork, and resulted in his own explorations within the pop art movement. Unlike Lichtenstein's work within the pop art movement, Hui did not make commercial products, but rather focused on using bright colors and symmetry. In the 1990s, Hui created a series of bird-shaped sculptures in a green glaze, in reference to the

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...

Death and legacy

When Hui retired, he moved to

Caldwell, New Jersey Caldwell is a borough located in northwestern Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, about west of New York City and north-west of Newark, the state's most populous city. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population ...

. He died on October 17, 2003. Hui's work can be found in public museum collections including

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

Everson Museum of Art Everson may refer to: People with the surname * Ben Everson (born 1987), English footballer * Bill Everson (1906–1966), Welsh international rugby union player * Cliff Everson, a New Zealand car designer and manufacturer * Corinna Everson (born ...

The Newark Museum of Art The Newark Museum of Art (formerly known as the Newark Museum), in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States, is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, A ...

, Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, and Museum of Arts and Design. In 1997, he was honored as a Fellow by the American Craft Council (ACC). Hui's work was part of the notable ''Objects: USA 2020'' traveling art exhibition, which highlighted the American

studio craft Studio craft is the practice of craft methodology in an artist's studio. Traditional craft tends to generate craft objects out of necessity or for ceremonial use while studio craft produces craft objects at the whim of the maker or intended owner ...

movement and paid tribute to the groundbreaking '' Objects: USA'' (1969).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hui, Ka Kwong 1922 births 2003 deaths Artists from Guangzhou Alfred University alumni Chinese emigrants to the United States Brooklyn Museum Art School faculty Rutgers University faculty People from Caldwell, New Jersey American pop artists American potters 20th-century American ceramists