Jennifer Ling Datchuk American, b. 1980

Stemming from personal experience, Datchuk explores her Asian heritage and specifically connects to Chinese blue-and-white porcelain traditions.“My work has always dealt with identity, with the sense of being in-between, an imposter, neither fully Chinese nor Caucasian. I have learned to live with the constant question about my appearance: ‘What are you?’ I change my response depending on my hair, make-up, clothes, what I am doing, where I am at, or what I am eating – who I am at the moment. I find people are rarely satisfied with my answer. I explore this conflict through my chosen media – porcelain, which nods to my Chinese heritage but also represents “pure” white – the white desire I find in both cultures. Bound by these conditions, I stitch together my individual nature, unravel the pressures of conformity, and forever experience pain in search of perfection.” – Jennifer Ling Datchuk.

Datchuk was born in Warren, Ohio and currently lives and works in San Antonio, Texas. Trained in ceramics, her works often use a myriad of materials ranging from porcelain to fabric and embroidery. 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 as well as Artpace to research the birthplace of porcelain in Jingdezhen, China. 

In 2016, she was awarded a residency through the Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, Germany and was a Black Cube Nomadic Museum Artist Fellow. Recently, she completed a residency at the European Ceramic Work Center in the Netherlands and was awarded the Emerging Voices Award from the American Craft Council. Datchuk was an artist in residence at Artpace, San Antonio in 2019.  

Datchuk’s artwork has been part of various exhibitions throughout Texas and the United States, including Artpace, San Antonio, TX; Trinity University, San Antonio, TX; Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX; Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA; Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA; Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA; Seattle Design Center, Seattle, WA; Black Cube Nomadic Museum, Denver, CO; Hammond Museum, North Salem, NY; and Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA.