Animals have always surrounded my life having been fortunate enough to keep many as pets and growing up in a family that loves nature.

In my works I use animals as symbols of our own human emotions and nature as so often I have seen the human qualities, gestures and actions captured and felt by animals.

My figures display a range of emotions from the quirky, humorous, whimsical to the quiet dignity and vulnerability that animals can display.

I am greatly influenced by the Chinese Tang dynasty funeral animals of the 6th Dynasty. My works are directly drawn from the animal forms and reinterpreted and used in a different context. My glazes are recreated lead glazes that bring colour and life into an object that I hope brings joy to the viewer where it was once used to be buried in tombs and not seen by life.

As an Australian born, my Chinese heritage still has a strong influence on my work even though I have only been to China a couple of times. I enjoy using the traditional Chinese glazes and techniques in my work and experimenting in a playful way the three-dimensional forms that can be created from clay.

Karen Choy