Pak-hing Kan was born in 1946 in QuiYang, Quizhou, China and raised in Hong Kong. She learned Chinese brush landscape painting in her early teens at Chiu Fung Studio. After receiving her B. Ed. Degree (1971) from Taiwan Normal University, she taught high school in Hong Kong and also served as a studio assistant at Chiu Fung Studio teaching children’s art (1972-1975).

In 1975 she entered the College of St. Catherine in Minnesota, USA to further her studies in art. There she touched clay for the first time and fell in love with the medium immediately. Clay challenged her to work with form and space, and provided her with a surface to paint.

In 1977, Pak-hing moved to New York City after earning her B.F.A. Degree where she worked as a textile designer in a textile company. She continued studying painting at the Art Students’ League. She also studied with Julio Alpuy privately during evenings and on weekends.

During the period 1980-1981, she found she missed working with clay so much that she returned to Minnesota and studied ceramics at the University of Minnesota Graduate Department. At this time she started painting on silk, creating her wearable art series.

Between 1981-1983, Pak-hing returned to Hong Kong and designed many patterns for embroidery on silk.

In 1983, Pak-hing returned to the USA and has lived in New York City ever since. She worked as a textile designer and as a print consultant for various textile companies and manufacturers.

In late 1995, Pak-hing declined most of the assignments for textile design projects and began working with clay again. She created a series of small boxes. Each box is hand constructed of stoneware or porcelain, painted with oxides, underglazes and multiglazes, fired to cone 6. The idea is that these objects are comfortable for the hand to play with. Each box can be held in one hand while the other hand is used to open it. Once opened, there is a delightful surprise. Pak-hing paints both the inside and outside of all of her boxes, and the interior is much more vibrant. With her love and “feeling” for fabrics, she designed silk wrappers to envelop all of her clay pieces. She hand dyed and hand quilted each piece, which is then decorated with tassels and beads.

Since 2000, Pak-hing has devoted full time to clay. Her recent works are old houses in box form. When opened, one will find all kind of people inside, it seems life is going on.

Updated: December 20, 2003