about
Born in Inner Mongolia, China, Lin Xu holds an M.F.A. (ceramics and sculpture) from Washington State University, U.S.A., a B.V.A. (ceramics) from the University of Sydney, Australia, a B.Sc. (Honours) in Biological Sciences from Brandon University, and a B.Sc. (Honours) in Packaging Engineering from Jilin University, China. Lin’s work has been exhibited throughout Canada and internationally, including in the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, France, Spain, Taiwan and China. She has received many grants and awards, including support from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Manitoba Arts Council. Lin immigrated to Canada in 2004 and was granted Canadian citizenship in 2007.
Lin Xu recently retired from her position as Associate Professor of Visual Arts at Brandon University and has relocated to the Greater Vancouver area of British Columbia. During her 22-year tenure at Brandon University, she played a leading role in developing the Visual Arts program, particularly in establishing the ceramics studio facilities and shaping the ceramics curriculum. Following her retirement and the completion of her degree in Biological Sciences, Lin will be dedicating herself to an in-depth interdisciplinary artistic practice that bridges visual art and science. The evolving body of research explores the intersections of perception, cognition, and ecology, with the goal of fostering a more sustainable and ecologically informed concept to ceramics artmaking.
artist statement
My ceramic practice explores cycles of transformation, renewal, and the hidden energies embedded within materials and forms. Working primarily through small hand-built sculptures, I investigate clay as both a physical substance and a repository of memory—one that records touch, process, time, and change.
I work with a wide range of clay bodies and surface treatments, seeking a harmonious dialogue with the material and allowing its inherent qualities to emerge. What draws me most to clay is its extraordinary capacity for transformation: from soft earth to fired object, from gesture to form, from impermanence to permanence. Through a delicate balance of intention, chance, and process, each piece becomes a study of emergence, revealing the dynamic relationship between material, maker, and environment.
My work invites close looking. Ceramic objects carry traces of their making and firing, embodying the passage of time in ways both visible and invisible. I am interested in how these accumulated histories can be sensed, interpreted, and extended through the viewer’s own experiences and memories.
