Yixue Yang

Technique:Cold work, Flame working, Hot glass

Occupation:Artist, Student

Discipline:Fine art, Installation, Sculptural

Areas of Interest:Competitions, Exhibition, Publications

Product:Sculpture, Fine Art, Installations

Social media Links:
https://www.instagram.com/yixue__ceramics/

I am a Chinese artist based in Sunderland, UK, currently undertaking a PhD in ceramics. My interest in glass began during my MA and has deepened in the final year of my doctoral research. I use flame-worked glass to explore the Daoist philosophy of Wu (non-being)—glass as boundary, absence, and fragile presence. In recent works, I encase found ceramic objects in transparent glass, reflecting on displacement, marginality, and the unseen. Glass has become both a poetic and philosophical extension of my practice.

My recent work consists of a group of ceramic objects collected from second-hand shops across the UK. Originating from different countries and regions, these objects were once part of various domestic settings. Now, displaced and resold, they exist in unfamiliar surroundings, detached from their original cultural contexts and functional meanings. As a Chinese artist living and working in the UK, I project my own condition onto these objects: visible, yet always on the margin; present, yet never fully integrated.
Each piece is gently encased in lampworked glass. Transparent and fragile, the glass does not seal the objects but instead reveals an intangible sense of boundary. In my practice, glass is not only a material language, but also a philosophical manifestation—it symbolizes Wu (non-being) in Daoist thought. Wu is not emptiness, but a space of undefined potential, an open and fluid mode of presence.