Jennifer Ling Datchuk American, b. 1980

Biography

Jennifer Ling Datchuk is an artist born in Warren, Ohio, and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Her work explores her layered identity as a woman, a Chinese woman, and an American.

 

Trained in ceramics, Datchuk works with porcelain and other materials often associated with traditional women’s work, such as textiles and hair, to discuss fragility, beauty, femininity, intersectionality, identity, and personal history. Her practice evolved from sculpture to mixed media as she focused on domestic objects and the feminine sphere. Handwork and hair became totems of the small rituals that fix, smooth over, and ground women’s lives. Through these materials, she explores how Western beauty standards influenced the East, how the non-white body is commodified and sold, and how women’s work is still a significant economic driver whose workers struggle for equality.

 

Datchuk holds an MFA in Artisanry from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and a BFA in Crafts from Kent State University. She has received grants from the Artist Foundation of San Antonio, a travel grant from Artpace, and the Linda Lighton International Artist Exchange Program to research the global migrations of porcelain and blue and white pattern decoration. She was awarded a residency through the Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum to conduct her studio practice at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, Germany and has participated in residencies at the Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen, China, Vermont Studio Center, European Ceramic Work Center in the Netherlands, Artpace in San Antonio, Texas (guest curator: Deborah Willis, PhD), and the John Michael Kohler Arts/Industry Residency in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. 

 

In 2017, she received the Emerging Voices award from the American Craft Council, and in 2020, she was named a United States Artist Fellow in Craft. Datchuk’s work has been featured in recent exhibitions, such as Monstrous Beauty: A Feminist Revision of Chinoiserie, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., and Later, Longer, Fewer: The Work of Jennifer Ling Datchuk, a 2021 solo exhibition at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, in Houston, TX, curated by Kathryn Hall. Her work has been featured in a solo publication, Jennifer Ling Datchuk: Half, by French and Michigan, San Antonio, TX. She has been featured in publications such as The Guardian, Vogue, and American Craft Magazine.

 

Her work is in the collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX; Cc Foundation, Shanghai, China;  Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; San Antonio Museum of Art, TX and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA. She is an Assistant Professor of Ceramics at Arizona State University and lives and maintains a studio practice in Phoenix, Arizona.

 

 VIEW ARTWORKS ON ARTSY

 

 

Works
  • Double Pleasure
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Double Pleasure, 2023
    Porcelain, metal hook, rope
    17 x 2 x 1.5 in
    43.2 x 5.1 x 3.8 cm
  • Double Trouble
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Double Trouble, 2023
    Porcelain, metal hook, rope
    17 x 2 x 1.5 in
    43.2 x 5.1 x 3.8 cm
  • Flawless (gold)
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Flawless (gold), 2023
    Porcelain, decals from Jingdezhen, China, mirror plexiglass
    20 x 16 x 3 in
    50.8 x 40.6 x 7.6 cm
  • Girls Just Want To Have Fun
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Girls Just Want To Have Fun, 2023
    Porcelain, waterjet, porcelain plates, brass, paracord rope on maple
    14.25 x 87 x 1.5 in
    36.2 x 221 x 3.8 cm
  • Hear Us Coming
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Hear Us Coming, 2023
    Laguna Co. porcelain doll clay, metal ring, wood
    3 x 3 x 3.5 in
    7.6 x 7.6 x 8.9 cm
    Edition of 5
  • Love Yourself Long Time
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Love Yourself Long Time, 2023
    Custom red welcome mat
    30.5 x 22 in
    77.5 x 55.9 cm
    Edition of 50
  • Moving on Up (Spurs)
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Moving on Up (Spurs), 2023
    Laguna Co. Porcelain for dolls, human hair, 11 K gold luster
    4 x 4.5 x 2 in (each boot)
    10.2 x 11.4 x 5.1 cm
  • Moving on Up (Ying Yang)
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Moving on Up (Ying Yang), 2023
    Laguna Co. Porcelain for dolls, human hair, 11 K gold luster
    4 x 4.5 x 2 in (each boot)
    10.2 x 11.4 x 5.1 cm
  • Quality/Equality
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Quality/Equality, 2023
    Felt, Asian human hair, cat bell
    60 x 36 x 1/2 in
    152.4 x 91.4 x 1.3 cm
  • Take It Easy
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Take It Easy, 2023
    Porcelain, bamboo finger trap and gilded
    10 x 7 x 7 in (each vase)
    25.4 x 17.8 x 17.8 cm (each vase)
  • Black and White
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Black and White, 2021
    Porcelain and collected human hair
    36 x 10 x 4 in
    91.4 x 25.4 x 10.2 cm
  • Kitty Kat Pat Scratcher
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Kitty Kat Pat Scratcher, 2021
    Porcelain
    10 x 1 x 1 in
    25.4 x 2.5 x 2.5 cm
  • LUCKY
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    LUCKY, 2021
    Porcelain and gilded silver on wooden table with mirrored plexiglass
    1.5 x 22 x 4 in (sculpture)
    3.8 x 55.9 x 10.2 cm (sculpture)
    24 x 50.5 x 13.5 in (table)
    61 x 128.3 x 34.3 cm (table)


  • Silent Sisterhood
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Silent Sisterhood, 2021
    Wire, silk ribbon, slip cast Laguna porcelain for dolls
    45 x 12 x 3 in
    114.3 x 30.5 x 7.6 cm
  • Ying and Yang
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Ying and Yang, 2021
    Porcelain and 11 K. gold luster
    23 x 18 x 9 in
    58.4 x 45.7 x 22.9 cm
  • American Flag
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    American Flag, 2020
    Synthetic hair, porcelain beads from Jingdezhen, China
    36 x 60 x 4 in
    91.4 x 152.4 x 10.2 cm
  • Bamboo Ceiling
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Bamboo Ceiling, 2019
    Porcelain sculpture, found porcelain shards, sticky putty, wood shelf
    12.5 x 2.75 x 4.5"
    31.8 x 7 x 11.4 cm
  • Don't Play Nice (1)
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Don't Play Nice (1), 2019
    Porcelain, vintage decals
    4 x 5.5 x 5.5"
    10.2 x 14 x 14 cm
  • Don't Play Nice (2)
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Don't Play Nice (2), 2019
    Porcelain, vintage decals
    4 x 5.5 x 5.5"
    10.2 x 14 x 14 cm
  • G.O.A.T. Girls
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    G.O.A.T. Girls, 2019
    Slip cast Laguna porcelain for dolls
    50 x 74"
    127 x 188 cm
  • Hanger
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Hanger, 2019
    Porcelain relief
    10 x 15 x 1.5"
    25.4 x 38.1 x 3.8 cm
  • Happy
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Happy, 2019
    Porcelain relief, sticky putty
    7 x 7.5 x 0.8"
    17.8 x 19.1 x 1.9 cm
  • Happy Hair
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Happy Hair, 2019
    Synthetic hair, porcelain beads from Jingdezhen, China, paint
    63 x 57"
    160 x 144.8 cm
  • Hit Me with Your Best Shot
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Hit Me with Your Best Shot, 2019
    Digital photograh printed on Hahnemühle FineArt Pearl 285 gsm, porcelain, commercial decals, 14 karat gold luster, plexiglass box, Made-in-China Cuban link bracelet, Lenox Oxford China porcelain plates, acrylic nails, plexiglass box
    16 x 20"
    40.6 x 50.8 cm
  • Keep Your Goals Away From the Trolls
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Keep Your Goals Away From the Trolls, 2019
    Porcelain sculpture, sticky putty
    21 x 114 x 0.5"
    53.3 x 289.6 x 1.3 cm
  • One Tough Bitch
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    One Tough Bitch, 2019
    Photograph/documentation of porcelain shards, china paints and gold leaf
    19 x 30 in
    48.3 x 76.2 cm
    1 / 8
  • Shrill, Originally Commissioned by Artpace | San Antonio
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Shrill, Originally Commissioned by Artpace | San Antonio, 2019
    Porcelain from Jingdezhen, China, cobalt powder, glass
    9.5 x 4.5 x 4.5"
    24.1 x 11.4 x 11.4 cm
  • Sisters are Doin’ It for Themselves
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Sisters are Doin’ It for Themselves, 2019
    Digital photograph printed on Hahnemühle FineArt Pearl 285 gsm, leather, porcelain brick purse made of crochet doilies, handkerchiefs, and old boyfriend t-shirts
    24 x 18"
    61 x 45.72 cm
    2 / 8
  • Truth Before Flowers
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Truth Before Flowers, 2019
    Collected porcelain plates from Bavaria, Germany, hand painted details, decals
    10.5 x 10.5 x 0.3"
    26.7 x 26.7 x 0.6 cm
  • Twist and Curl
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Twist and Curl, 2019
    Digital print
    Photograph: 32 x 48"
    Photograph: 81.3 x 121.9 cm
  • Exotic AF
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Exotic AF, 2017
    Porcelain, blue and white ceramic shards, acrylic
    15 x 9 x 8"
    38.1 x 22.9 x 20.3 cm
  • Money Honey
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Money Honey, 2017
    Archival digital print
    48 x 36 in
    121.9 x 91.4 cm
    Edition of 8
  • Truth Flag (Fanny Hills, 1848, age 9 years old)
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Truth Flag (Fanny Hills, 1848, age 9 years old), 2017
    Digital jacquard textile produced by Textiel Lab in Tilburg, Netherlands
    60 x 36 in
    152.4 x 91.4 cm
  • Formation
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Formation, 2016
    Porcelain, plexiglass
    14 x 12 x 5"
    35.6 x 30.5 x 12.7 cm
  • Blue and White Bowl 1 (white shirt)
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Blue and White Bowl 1 (white shirt), 2014
    Digital Photograph
    20 x 14 in
    50.8 x 35.6 cm
    Edition of 8
  • Blue and White Bowl 2 (black shirt)
    Jennifer Ling Datchuk
    Blue and White Bowl 2 (black shirt), 2014
    Digital Photograph
    20 x 14 in
    50.8 x 35.6 cm
    Edition of 8
Press
Exhibitions
Publications
Art Fairs