Draft:William Lau

William Lau (1939-1973) was a Chinese-American ceramacist and painter. He was also known as 刘伟林. He was among the avant garde in New York City's modernist movement in the 1960s, and one of the few artists of color among his peers. His playful signature style frequently reimagined every day objects through the lens of scale, context, or repetition. His career was cut short when he tragically died at the age of 34 from sinus cancer.

Early Life & Education
Born in southern China in Guangdong Province, Lau was influenced heavily by the ways that ceramics were an integral part of day-to-day Chinese life, and would later shape his sensibility around how they could be reimagined in an American context.

He immigrated to the US as a teenager, and it was his art and shop teachers at DeWitt Clinton High School who first introduced him to the arts.

Lau earned his BFA (1963) and MFA (1966) from the College of Ceramics at Alfred University. His focus was on ceramics and graphics.

Fellowships & Grants
Lau received multiple coveted grants.

Most notably, from 1963-74, David Gil chose Lau for a fellowship at Bennington Potters. During his tenure there, several of his original pieces were chosen by David Gil for production. In 1964, Lau’s Bennington Potters vases were chosen for “Designed for Production, The Craftman’s Approach” at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts and published in Craft Horizons magazine.

In 1966, The Tiffany Foundation awarded him a grant in recognition of his ceramic work.

Exhibitions
In Lau's short but illustrious career, he had more than a dozen exhibits, including:

Group Exhibitions

 * The Rochester-Finger Lakes Regional Exhibition (1964)
 * The Syracuse Regional Exhibition (1965)
 * The First Buffalo Festival of The Arts Today (1965)
 * The Rochester-Finger Lakes Regional Exhibition (1965)
 * Mercyhurst 5th Annual National Exhibition, Ceramics, Erie Art Center, Erie PA (1965)
 * 24th Annual Syracuse Ceramics Exhibition at The Everson Museum of Art (1966) in Syracuse, NY where his work remains in their permanent collection.
 * 23rd Annual Scripps Invitational (1967)
 * Bennington College Invitational, Bennington VT (1967)
 * Museumm of Contemporary Crafts Invitational (1968)
 * Riverside Museum (1969)
 * Eastern Michigan University Invitational (1969)
 * The University of Michigan Faculty Show (1970)
 * Burpee Art Museum, Rockford, IL (1970)
 * The Syracuse Regional Exhibition (1971)
 * Reinterpretation of Classic Chinese Teapot.jpg

Solo Exhibitions

 * Ohio State University (1967)
 * State University at Cortland NY (1971)
 * Greenwich House in New York City hosted a comprehensive posthumous solo retrospective of his work in 1978.

Collections
His work is in the permanent collection of museums around the US including:


 * Bennington Museum of Vermont
 * Syracuse University

Awards
His commendations include:


 * Syracuse Ceramics Guild Award (1965)
 * Buffalo Regional Exhibition Ceramics Sculpture Award (1965)
 * Rochester-Finger Lakes Regional -- Best Use of Materials (1965)
 * Mercyhurst 5th Annual Exibition -- Honorable Mention: Drawing (1965)
 * 7th Miami National Ceramics Exhibition -- NYS Craftsman Award (1966)
 * Rockford Illinois Honorable Mention (1970)
 * Syracuse Regional Purchase Award & Two Man Show for 1972 at The Everson Museum of Art

Teaching
Lau taught at:


 * Greenwich House Pottery in New York City (1966-1969, 1971-1974)
 * The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in the Graduate Faculty of Painting and Drawing (1969-1970)
 * The State University of New York at Cortland in Painting, Drawing and Design (1970-1971)