VAHMS is saddened to learn of the passing of renowned BC ceramicist Wayne Ngan last Friday at the age of 83. The impact of Wayne’s life and work on the BC craft community cannot be overstated. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Wayne Ngan was born in 1937 in a small village near Guangzhou, China and emigrated to Canada when he was 13. He graduated with honours from the Vancouver School of Art in 1963, beginning a prolific career in pottery, painting and sculpture. Ngan’s work was featured as the inaugural exhibition of the Bau-Xi Gallery in 1965, with key exhibitions following at the National Gallery of Canada, Vancouver Art Gallery,  National Palace Museum (Taipei), Museum of Civilisation (Ottawa), the Canadian Craft Museum and the Belkin Gallery, among others. Ngan was the recipient of  the Saidye Bronfman Award for Masters of the Crafts (1983) and the BC Creative Achievement Award of Distinction (2013). Ngan’s work has been recognized as instrumental in the development of the well-known West Coast Modernist Aesthetic that continues to influence ceramic practice in British Columbia; his unyielding experimentation in form and surface has resulted in pottery that spans the refined to the rough. Ngan’s work is collected and exhibited worldwide.