Beth Lo


Beth Lo in Lafayette, Indiana is an American artist, ceramist and educator. Her parents emigrated from China.
Lo received a Bachelor of General Studies from the University of Michigan in 1971, and then studied Ceramics with Rudy Autio at the University of Montana receiving her MFA in 1974. She assumed his job as Professor of Ceramics there when he retired in 1985, and was awarded the University of Montana Provost’s Distinguished Lecturer Award in 2006 and 2010.

Artistic Style

Much of Lo’s ceramic and mixed media artwork revolves around issues of family and her Asian ethnicity, culture and language. Lo uses calligraphy and references origami, mahjong and traditional Chinese pottery and figurines. The birth of her son in 1987 inspired her to comment on parenthood. Her 2009 work "The Good Children" includes images of stereotypical ‘good children'. These pieces are two-dimensional images on three-dimensional forms.
She has exhibited her work internationally, and was invited to make a new work for the Main Exhibition of the 7th Gyeonggi International Ceramics Biennale in Korea, 2013.
She has collaborated with her sister, author Ginnie Lo, on two children’s picture books, Auntie Yang’s Great Soybean Picnic and Mahjong All Day Long which won the 2005 Marion Vannett Ridgeway Award.

Musical Style

In addition to Lo's artistic life, she is a musician. Lo has been described as a "multi-talented person is a superb bass player and vocalist". She is a member of several music ensembles, including Salsa Loca and the nationally recognized Big Sky Mudflaps, which has made appearances on the NBC Today Show and at New York's Kool Jazz Festival.

Awards

Lo has received numerous honors including the $50,000 United States Artists Hoi Fellowship in 2009, a $20,000 National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship Grant in 1994, a Montana Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship in 1989 and an American Craft Museum Design Award in 1986. Her figurative sculpture and pottery has been acquired by Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art at Alfred University, Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA, Microsoft Corporation, Cheney Cowles Museum of Art, the University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA, the Permanent Collection, Yellowstone Art Center, Billings, MT, and the Hallmark Card Corporation Ceramics Collection.