Suzanne Wang Ceramicist Comes Full Circle By Ma‘ata Tukuafu
KeOlaMagazine.com | May – June 2022
he idyllic rural-village feel of Wailea/Hakalau is what Suzanne Wang wanted when she moved to Hawai‘i Island 11 years ago. She set up her ceramic studio on the lush Hāmākua coast in 2016, both living and working in a place where cars rarely pass by. From Northern California, Suzanne has traveled and worked in many big cities, and says this island is now her home. Her studio is filled with ceramic projects in different stages of creation. “If it wasn’t for this island, I probably wouldn’t be doing pottery,” Suzanne says. “The simpler lifestyle, the space, and my beautiful surroundings has allowed me to thrive as an artist.” Suzanne and her brother grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, and were mostly raised by their single mom, Mei, who ran a little Chinese restaurant. She worked as a waitress in the
40 Suzanne Wang working on a Tulipia vessel in the studio. photo courtesy of Clinton Ferrara
restaurant from a young age, learning skills that would serve her well in her later endeavors. Her mother worked six days a week, 12 hours a day. “My mom worked hard her whole life, and I didn’t truly understand her dedication and discipline until I became a ceramicist,” Suzanne says. At 15 years old, she took her first art class in high school, and Suzanne got hooked on clay. She spent a few years taking community college courses in hand building and sculpture. After enrolling in San Francisco State University in 1991, she changed her major to theater set design, as she wanted to do more collaborative work. Suzanne had a one-year break from college to work in stop-motion animation, and she also fabricated puppets for a children’s television show. She then continued her studies in design, earning her master’s degree at New York University. Suzanne spent 10 years immersed in theater, film, and television. “Then 9/11 happened while I was in New York. Work dried up for a while,” Suzanne says. “I then got the opportunity to work in China doing product development for giftware in the American and European markets.” What she thought would only last a few months turned into two years in mainland China, and a year and a half in Hong Kong. It was an incredible time of change in China, and the
