Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Basically, I’m gonna do an elevator speech for you guy inside a Chinese elevator because
the best way to introduce yourself is as quickly as possible and inside an elevator. I shouldn’t
be shy, especially as a foreigner in China you kind of feel like this sense of freedom
because no matter what I’m gonna be stared at so why not do whatever I want. I could
be purple and still be looked at. So okay my name is Joey Ellis or Joey Foster Ellis.
Actually my Chinese name is Joe-E, it means actually the I Ching in Chinese so when I
make reservations for dinner I am always saying Joe-E, table of 5, which basically means the
table of 5 for the I Ching which is a great thing to get any reservation because they’re
always like “Oh my God you must be important.” So anyway what my Chinese name actually means
is Joe. So Joe can mean week and I can mean easy so I’m somewhat of an easy week, and
every time when people are walking down the street and talking about Monday, it also means
Monday too, I’m like oh, “My name! My name!” So in Chinese because so many things
sound the same you basically have to say where that name comes from, what part of a word
does that make up. So—oh my God! We’re already on the 22nd , 23rd floor so we need
to go back down, and I need to continue talking. We’re having this amazing conversation in
the elevator. So in English I like to introduce my name to Chinese people. I like to say that
I’m Joey like the baby kangaroo, Foster like the beer, Ellis like the island. So basically
I was born in America but made in China. I’ve been in China for about 7 years. So basically
I got into art originally by wanting to become a chef, and then I got into ceramics and the
I realize that I—oh my God, we’re on the 1st floor again, okay lets go back up—so
basically I decided to make what you eat off of instead of what you eat. So I started my
life out about function, about things to use, and I think my work has always had that aspect
to it. Basically, what do I do? Well. China became this home for me, and I think I tried
to live the American dream there and I’m still doing it. But who knows? Oh! Let me
give you my business card, ok, because this is a little bit about what I do in my work.
It actually turns into a puzzle. Because in my opinion name cards should be more than
just name cards and puzzles should be more than just puzzles. It’s actually this ancient
Chinese puzzle and it’s made from 7 different parts, and actually from these 7 different
parts, and actually from these 7 different parts you can make 6.3 million different configurations—incredible!
I think it kind of shows in some sense you can do so much with so little and I think
a lot of the time with my work I try to do that. Oh wait I have one more thing. So sometimes
when I meet people I get them a present. This is made out of this old way Chinese people
learn characters. They have this big felt pad with all these different squares and basically
with these squares they put this tiny, little thin piece of paper over it and you can see
through and they write their characters within the lines, so within this—I think we might
actually get someone—and within this is a thing made out of clay in my studio just
recently. It’s a tiny little astronaut. I like to make small things, too. And what
I say to people is its sits on the edge of things, and basically I say put it in your
desk or put it some place because you should dream big, shoot for the stars. Kinda corny,
but hey we all need to hear it sometimes. Ok. That’s it and a pleasure meeting you
and I hope to meet you, some of you, at the show at the Smithsonian this summer. All right,
bye bye.