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Cheng-Tsung Feng’s “Sailing Castle” Cruises Through 400 Years of Taiwanese History

by Aurelia Butler 9 September 2025, 14:33

All images courtesy of Cheng-Tsung Feng, shared with permission

Cheng-Tsung Feng’s “Sailing Castle” Cruises Through 400 Years of Taiwanese History

September 9, 2025

ArtCraftDesign

Kate Mothes

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Through the study of time-honored craft techniques, Taiwanese artist Cheng-Tsung Feng envisions contemporary installations that connect us not only to the past but also to nature and our present surroundings.

Working across sculpture, installation, craft, and design, the artist draws on what he describes as “ancient and gradually forgotten oriental culture,” translating traditional motifs and methods into new works that nod to the continuum of East Asian art and ingenuity. One might even position his practice within the realm of storytelling, tapping into collective cultural memories and overlapping histories.

In his installation “Sailing Castle” in Tainan, Feng evokes the sails of wooden ships as a visual metaphor for the urban landscape, “where clusters of buildings resemble vessels gathered in harbor,” he says. Symbolizing movement, discovery, and societal progress and expansion, he creates a dialogue between architecture and advancement, along with memory and the present moment.

The beams and sails are inspired by a number of actual buildings in Tainan like the Confucius Temple, Fort Zeelandia—built by the Dutch East India Company in the 17th century—and Chihkan Tower, another Dutch outpost also known as Fort Provintia.

Called Formosa in the mid-1600s, Taiwan was under colonial rule by the Dutch, whose trade interests centered predominantly around Chinese silks imported to Europe, where they were prized for their luxury and highly sought after. Situated at the Anping Shipyard historical site, amid the canals of the West Central District, Feng wraps the area’s maritime heritage and four-centuries-long legacy of shipping into “Sailing Castle.”

“The overlapping sails evoke both the gathering of ships along the waterfront and the simultaneous anticipation of departure and the arrival of returning voyagers,” he says.

Using primarily wood and canvas, Feng’s pavilion is a cross between artistic intervention and functional meeting space, complete with small surfaces jutting out of the posts on which visitors can sit. Cruising, as it were, through a green park and illuminated at night, “Sailing Castle” sparks a sense of awe at the same time as it encourages us to slow down for a moment or two of contemplation and rest.

Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

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In ‘Crewel Intentions,’ Danielle Clough Delves into the Nostalgic World of 1970s Magazines
by Aurelia Butler 11 August 2025, 16:00
“Crewel Intentions” (2025), wool, cotton, rayon, and silk on linen, 9.5 x 18 x 2.25 inches framed. All images courtesy of the artist and Paradigm Gallery + Studio, shared with permission
In ‘Crewel Intentions,’ Danielle Clough Delves into the Nostalgic World of 1970s Magazines
August 11, 2025
ArtCraft
Kate Mothes
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Several years ago, Danielle Clough ran across a vintage copy of Playboy at an antique shop. Unbeknownst to her at the time, the 1970s-era film photography, feathered hairstyles, and iconic—if stereotypical—advertising would influence a wide array of large-scale embroidery portraits.
The Cape Town-based artist (previously) scoured the popular magazine’s pages in search of faces and settings she could translate into embroidery. Because of the source, Clough is sensitive to the fact that one might expect the imagery to be hyper-sexualized, but “when they are stripped from context, they can be beautiful and illicit wholesome reactions in their newly recalibrated, woolly world,” she says.
“Dyed in the Wool” (2025), wool, cotton, rayon, and silk on linen, 14.5 x 14.5 x 2.25 inches framed
In her solo exhibition, Crewel Intentions, now on view at Paradigm Gallery + Studio, Clough’s characteristically vibrant fiber compositions tap into a bygone era that, in terms of time, does not seem too distant, but when measured against the technological and socio-political leaps of the past few decades, it can feel like ancient history. Through the historic technique of crewel embroidery, a form of freehand fiber work in which wool yarn is sewn onto cloth, the artist creates a raised and textured surface that can strike virtually any shape or size.
Nostalgia can have a comforting effect when the contemporary world feels overwhelming. In the 1970s, the world was still largely analog—correspondence primarily went through the mail; magazines and newspapers were printed en masse; and the internet as we know it didn’t yet exist, but there were hints (the “modern” internet would emerge in the mid-1980s).
The artist merges new materials and saturated hues with imagery and styles we often associate with an earlier age, both romanticizing and acknowledging outmoded attitudes, styles, and technologies. “Clough’s appreciation of her material and her subject allows her to start a conversation on graceful aging,” the gallery says, “celebrating outdated processes of making and the aesthetics that stand the test of time.”
The 1970s represent a way to explore generational transitions, beauty standards, societal norms, photography, and representation. Through careful cropping and lighting, Clough incorporates a cinematic effect that is most provocative in pieces like “Crewel Intentions” and “The Extra Mile,” in which her characters make eye contact with the viewer, as if they know what’s in store for the future.
Crewel Intentions continues through August 24 in Philadelphia. Explore more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
Detail of “Crewel Intentions”
Installation view of ‘Crewel Intentions’ at Paradigm Gallery + Studio
“The Extra Mile” (2025), wool, cotton, rayon, and silk on linen, 8.25 x 16.25 x 1.5 inches framed
“The Yarn We Spin” (2025), wool, cotton, rayon, and silk on linen, 25 inches diameter
Detail of “What’s a Girl to Do?” (2025), wool, cotton, rayon and silk on linen, 32 inches diameter
Installation view of ‘Crewel Intentions’ at Paradigm Gallery + Studio
“Boy Lollipop” (2025), wool, cotton, and silk on linen, 17 inches diamater
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In ‘Bourdon Street Chippy,’ Lucy Sparrow Celebrates a British Culinary Institution in Felt
by Aurelia Butler 7 August 2025, 18:58
Photos by Alun Callender for JBPR. All images courtesy of the artist and Lyndsey Ingram, shared with permission
In ‘Bourdon Street Chippy,’ Lucy Sparrow Celebrates a British Culinary Institution in Felt
August 7, 2025
ArtCraftFood
Kate Mothes
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From fried cod to red saveloy sausage to the carb-lover’s chip butty—a simple sandwich made with chunky fries on a buttered roll—the menu at Bourdon Street Chippy resembles what you’d expect to see at a traditional British fish and chips shop. The only real difference, despite the delectable-looking cones of deep-fried treats and perfectly formed pies, is that everything from the jarred, picked eggs to the battered haddock to the wall decor is made from felt.
The brainchild of artist Lucy Sparrow (previously), Bourdon Street Chippy is the latest in a series of elaborate, large-scale, interactive installations highlighting quotidian places like supermarkets, pharmacies, and bodegas that we visit all the time but rarely think of much in the way of aesthetics. Crafted in soft fiber, many of the artist’s renditions of merchandise and food sport cute, smiling expressions while faithfully replicating iconic dishes and products.
Bourdon Street Chippy is presented by Lyndsey Ingram Gallery, which is located on Bourdon Street in London. While the scampi and chips that Sparrow whips up aren’t edible, they are available for purchase. Visitors are welcome to peruse the menu and order their takeaway directly from the artist. “As much theatre as art, the familiarity of…these spaces disarms the viewer, taking them to a playful, often nostalgic place,” the gallery says.
The exhibition includes handmade banquette seating and a wall-to-wall gallery of sewn portraits of the chippy’s famous patrons. Read fabric menus, have an even tougher time than usual getting ketchup to come out of the Heinz bottles, and be reminded not to feed the seagulls. All in all, the installation includes more than 65,000 individual felt pieces, including 15 chip shapes in different colors.
The exhibition continues through September 14. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
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Xanthe Summers Weaves Themes of Labor and Visibility in Bold Ceramic Vessels
by Aurelia Butler 7 August 2025, 16:00
“The Weary Weaver” (2024), glazed stoneware, 39.4 x 28.4 x 28.4 incjes. Photo by Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps. All images courtesy of Xanthe Summers, shared with permission
Xanthe Summers Weaves Themes of Labor and Visibility in Bold Ceramic Vessels
August 7, 2025
ArtCraftSocial Issues
Kate Mothes
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“Clay is an incredible medium to hold narrative,” says Xanthe Summers, who turns to the medium as a way to explore themes around domesticity, craft, and so-called “women’s work” like cleaning, mending, working with textiles, and caregiving. When it comes to clay, she says, “I think mostly I am invigorated by its ability to hold—to hold water, to hold function, to give shape, to carry stories, and to carry meaning.”
Currently based in London, Summers grew up in Zimbabwe, where she observed inequities within the social structure that mirror many places around the world, especially in terms of gendered labor within the domestic sphere that often goes largely unseen and unacknowledged.
“Common Threads” (2025), glazed stoneware, 23.6 x 21.7 x 21.7 inches
She explains that “many homes have cleaners and gardeners who exist within this ‘invisible’ framework: caring for children, cooking their meals, and sometimes traveling for hours—and their work is underpaid, undervalued, and considered unskilled.”
Summers taps into ceramics, especially the archetypal vessel motif, to join the ever-evolving continuum of the medium. Throughout millennia and across myriad distinct cultures, the earthen material has found endless applications in the home, industry, and art.
“Clay has the unique ability to cross the boundaries between functionality, art, craft, class, and culture, and because of this, it is a vital medium to hold stories about humankind,” she says. “I understand clay to be an archive for the stories of humans.”
The vessels often take on figurative proportions, standing tall on plinths and exhibiting saturated hues, bold patterns, and tactile textures. Some of the pieces crumple, especially toward the top, as if hit with something or caving under some invisible weight.
Installation view at Southern Guild, Cape Town. Photo courtesy of Southern Guild
The artist’s vessels tread the boundary between form and function and delve into another craft often associated with women’s labor: weaving. She describes how everything from the sheets we sleep on to the carpets we tread across to the clothes on our back can be “extrapolated to speak more broadly about domesticity, women’s work, and racialized spaces in Zimbabwe and the Global South.” She adds:
Weaving can be used as a wider metaphor for social cohesion—or lack thereof. This predicament is significant in Zimbabwe but is apparent the world over, where women’s work is undervalued.
Next year, Summers embarks on a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, for a residency at Ceramica Suro, where she will learn from local ceramic artists, glassblowers, and weavers. And this October, you’ll be able to see her work at London’s 1-54, a fair dedicated to contemporary African art, which runs from October 16 to 19. Explore more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
“Woven Tales Stand Tall” (2022). Photo by Deniz Guzel
Detail of “Woven Tales Stand Tall.” Photo by Deniz Guzel
“By the Pricking of My Thumbs” (2025), glazed stoneware, 39.4 x 27.6 x 27.8 inches. Photo by Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps
“Working Class Femininity” (2023), glazed stoneware, 41 x 19.8 x 19.8 inches. Photo by Deniz Guzel
“Weaver’s Woe” (2024,), glazed stoneware, 22.4 x 19.7 x 19.7 inches. Photo by Deniz Guzel
“Of Woof and Woe” (2024), glazed stoneware, 43.3 x 25.3 x 25.3 inches. Photo by Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps
Xanthe Summers in her studio
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150 Shares169 Views
in Art
Xanthe Somers Weaves Themes of Labor and Visibility in Bold Ceramic Vessels
by Aurelia Butler 7 August 2025, 16:00
“The Weary Weaver” (2024), glazed stoneware, 39.4 x 28.4 x 28.4 incjes. Photo by Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps. All images courtesy of Xanthe Summers, shared with permission
Xanthe Somers Weaves Themes of Labor and Visibility in Bold Ceramic Vessels
August 7, 2025
ArtCraftSocial Issues
Kate Mothes
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“Clay is an incredible medium to hold narrative,” says Xanthe Somers, who turns to the medium as a way to explore themes around domesticity, craft, and so-called “women’s work” like cleaning, mending, working with textiles, and caregiving. When it comes to clay, she says, “I think mostly I am invigorated by its ability to hold—to hold water, to hold function, to give shape, to carry stories, and to carry meaning.”
Currently based in London, Somers grew up in Zimbabwe, where she observed inequities within the social structure that mirror many places around the world, especially in terms of gendered labor within the domestic sphere that often goes largely unseen and unacknowledged.
“Common Threads” (2025), glazed stoneware, 23.6 x 21.7 x 21.7 inches
She explains that “many homes have cleaners and gardeners who exist within this ‘invisible’ framework: caring for children, cooking their meals, and sometimes traveling for hours—and their work is underpaid, undervalued, and considered unskilled.”
Somers taps into ceramics, especially the archetypal vessel motif, to join the ever-evolving continuum of the medium. Throughout millennia and across myriad distinct cultures, the earthen material has found endless applications in the home, industry, and art.
“Clay has the unique ability to cross the boundaries between functionality, art, craft, class, and culture, and because of this, it is a vital medium to hold stories about humankind,” she says. “I understand clay to be an archive for the stories of humans.”
The vessels often take on figurative proportions, standing tall on plinths and exhibiting saturated hues, bold patterns, and tactile textures. Some of the pieces crumple, especially toward the top, as if hit with something or caving under some invisible weight.
Installation view at Southern Guild, Cape Town. Photo courtesy of Southern Guild
The artist’s vessels tread the boundary between form and function and delve into another craft often associated with women’s labor: weaving. She describes how everything from the sheets we sleep on to the carpets we tread across to the clothes on our back can be “extrapolated to speak more broadly about domesticity, women’s work, and racialized spaces in Zimbabwe and the Global South.” She adds:
Weaving can be used as a wider metaphor for social cohesion—or lack thereof. This predicament is significant in Zimbabwe but is apparent the world over, where women’s work is undervalued.
Next year, Somers embarks on a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, for a residency at Ceramica Suro, where she will learn from local ceramic artists, glassblowers, and weavers. And this October, you’ll be able to see her work at London’s 1-54, a fair dedicated to contemporary African art, which runs from October 16 to 19. Explore more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
“Woven Tales Stand Tall” (2022). Photo by Deniz Guzel
Detail of “Woven Tales Stand Tall.” Photo by Deniz Guzel
“By the Pricking of My Thumbs” (2025), glazed stoneware, 39.4 x 27.6 x 27.8 inches. Photo by Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps
“Working Class Femininity” (2023), glazed stoneware, 41 x 19.8 x 19.8 inches. Photo by Deniz Guzel
“Weaver’s Woe” (2024,), glazed stoneware, 22.4 x 19.7 x 19.7 inches. Photo by Deniz Guzel
“Of Woof and Woe” (2024), glazed stoneware, 43.3 x 25.3 x 25.3 inches. Photo by Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps
Xanthe Summers in her studio
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.
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Christina Bothwell Taps into Dream Worlds in Surreal Glass and Ceramic Sculptures
by Aurelia Butler 4 August 2025, 15:10
All images courtesy of Christina Bothwell and Heller Gallery, shared with permission
Christina Bothwell Taps into Dream Worlds in Surreal Glass and Ceramic Sculptures
August 4, 2025
ArtCraft
Kate Mothes
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Youthful and mysterious figures emerge from glass and ceramic in the uncanny sculptures of Christina Bothwell (previously). Animals and children form the artist’s primary focus, often embellished with painted florals, nestled in shells, or encapsulated within bird cages. Her husband and collaborator, Robert Bender, often adds wood elements like deer antlers or spider-esque legs. Tender and also occasionally unsettling, the pieces hint at the surreal stuff of dreams, memories, and the spirit world.
Bothwell’s solo exhibition, Screen Memories, just opened at UrbanGlass’s Robert Lehman Gallery. Presented by Heller Gallery, the show brings together a wide selection of new and recent pieces and continues through September 12 in New York City. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
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Kirsty Elson’s Spirited Creatures Breathe New Life into Weathered Driftwood
by Aurelia Butler 1 August 2025, 18:46
All images courtesy of Kirsty Elson, shared with permission
Kirsty Elson’s Spirited Creatures Breathe New Life into Weathered Driftwood
August 1, 2025
ArtCraft
Grace Ebert
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Wander into Kirsty Elson’s Cornwall studio, and you’ll likely greet a menagerie of creatures alongside scraps of driftwood and rusted bits of metal. Scouring local beaches and embankments, the artist (previously) has an impeccable ability to envision a piglet’s ear or a dog’s snout from a weathered hunk of timber. Once in her studio, quirky characters emerge from scratched and worn materials, their lively personalities shining through the signs of age.
Elson sells some of her sculptures on her website, and you can follow her work on Instagram.
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Zim&Zou’s ’80s-Inspired Paper Cassettes and Boombox Radiate with Color
by Aurelia Butler 28 July 2025, 13:40
All images courtesy of Zim&Zou, shared with permission
Zim&Zou’s ’80s-Inspired Paper Cassettes and Boombox Radiate with Color
July 28, 2025
ArtCraftDesign
Kate Mothes
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From layered pieces of paper, Zim&Zou recently created a series of patterned cassette tapes and a vibrant portable stereo. Known for their elaborate, large-scale installations, the artists scaled down in size—but not color—for this playful throwback.
Zim&Zou have recently collaborated with the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris to design an interactive family play area, and a workshop invites visitors to compose a water lily out of paper in reference to Claude Monet’s expansive Water Lilies paintings, which feature in the museum’s collection. See more on Zim&Zou’s website, Behance, and Instagram.
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Whittled Wood Sculptures by Brett Stenson Conjure Curiosity and Longing
by Aurelia Butler 24 July 2025, 13:51
All images courtesy of Brett Stenson, shared with permission
Whittled Wood Sculptures by Brett Stenson Conjure Curiosity and Longing
July 24, 2025
ArtCraft
Kate Mothes
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When Portland-based artist Brett Stenson was studying illustration in college, he hung out with a few industrial designers with whom he pored over how things were made. “We spent a lot of late nights watching 3D modeling tutorials, geeking out over sculpted clay figures, and rewatching the Wētā Workshop DVD about building The Lord of the Rings sets,” he tells Colossal. Stenson was especially fascinated by the world of vinyl toys and wished he knew how to make his own, even though the learning curve felt steep.
The artist’s interests began to shift as he considered more approachable mediums to achieve what he wanted to make. “Even then, wood always felt like the material I connected with most,” he says. “I was drawn to antique and vintage objects—things that felt like they had been made by hand, with warmth and intention. Vinyl, as cool as it was, never quite resonated in the same way.”
In 2018, Stenson signed up for a workshop at Wildcraft, a studio school based in Portland, to learn how to make Norse carved-wood Christmas ornaments. “Suddenly, I could see the endless possibilities—if I could sketch it, I could carve it,” the artist says. “The tools, the process, even the idea of becoming one of those old guys who wanders around a woodworking store all day—it all felt deeply romantic and aligned with who I wanted to grow into.”
Stenson started with a simple knife and began whittling away at hunks of timber, only to find that he quickly needed to upgrade to better tools so that the process didn’t take forever. He also introduced clay modeling, composing animals, figures, and other objects in a more malleable material before committing to wood. Focused on whittling bears and other woodland creatures, which often carry freshly plucked fish or flowers, he emphasizes emotional perception through animals—the sweet slyness of a fox or a charming bear proud of its fresh catch.
“Lately, my obsession with carving bears has started to shift,” Stenson says. “I find myself more interested in exploring the human side of my work.” Since the recent loss of his dog, he’s been exploring a theme that, at least at first, seems unrelated, but outdated technology like retro televisions, satellites, old computers, and disused telecom gear play into what he describes as “a kind of futile attempt to communicate with him again.” He adds that he’s interested in how there “all these tools we built to connect with one another, and yet the afterlife remains out of reach.”
Stenson is also the Senior Art Director of Young Jerks, a branding and packaging design studio based in Brooklyn. See more work on his website and Instagram, and find screen prints for sale in his shop.
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Craft

Latest story

Cheng-Tsung Feng’s “Sailing Castle” Cruises Through 400 Years of Taiwanese History

More stories

In ‘Crewel Intentions,’ Danielle Clough Delves into the Nostalgic World of 1970s Magazines

In ‘Bourdon Street Chippy,’ Lucy Sparrow Celebrates a British Culinary Institution in Felt

Christina Bothwell Taps into Dream Worlds in Surreal Glass and Ceramic Sculptures

Kirsty Elson’s Spirited Creatures Breathe New Life into Weathered Driftwood

Zim&Zou’s ’80s-Inspired Paper Cassettes and Boombox Radiate with Color

Whittled Wood Sculptures by Brett Stenson Conjure Curiosity and Longing

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