Katherine Choy, Katherine Choy Chou, Katherine Poyu Choy, Choy Pau Yu (Precious Lustrous Gem),Catherine Choy

1929 Born Shanghai, China; lived in Hong Kong

1946 Immigrated to the United States 

           1958 Died Port Chester, New York

EDUCATION

1946-1948 Wesleyan College, Macon, Georgia

1950 BFA Mills College, Oakland, California

1951 MFA Mills College, Oakland, California

1951-1952 Post-graduate studies, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1952-1957 Assistant Professor of Art, Ceramics Department Head, Newcombe College, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana

1955-1956 Designer, Technical Consultant, Good Earth Pottery Corporation, Port Chester, New York

1957 Founder, The Clay Art Center for Advanced Study in Ceramics and Sculpture (Clay Art Center), Port Chester New York

BIOGRAPHY 

Katherine Choy’s functional, wheel-thrown stoneware bottles, vases, bowls, and platters are glazed with copper red, celadon, and iron-rich glazes which she developed; these glazes continue to be used at the Clay Art Center. Her work was a fusion of Eastern and Western aesthetics. She also produced hand-made tiles for architectural commissions, and garden furniture. In her later work she explored thrown and altered vessels, decorated with textured surface treatment and colored slips.

At Mills College, Choy studied with F. Carlton Ball and later, Antonio Preito; Bernard Leach held a workshop while she was there. At Cranbrook Academy, Choy studied clay with Maija Grotell. After earning her Master’s degree, she remained as a teaching fellow at Mills; one of her glaze projects at this time involved experimentation with rare pigments sent to her from Asia by her father. While at Mills College, Choy collaborated on a saki set with Jade Snow Wong. 

Choy is primarily known today as the founder of The Clay Art Center in Port Chester, New York, in 1957; Henry Okamoto became her partner shortly thereafter. With support from patrons in New Orleans, she had purchased the facilities owned by the Good Earth Pottery in Port Chester; her idea was to set up a co-operative studio to encourage young potters in advanced study of ceramic arts; Viola Frey was one of the first working members. The legacy of Katherine Choy continues; the Clay Art Center in Port Chester, New York thrives today as a nationally recognized, vibrant non-profit clay art center.