I am drawn to clay for both its malleability and durable strength and the limitless possibilities held by this humble material.
Choi, Naomi. “Stochastic Relief,” 2026. 9” x 9” x 19”. Porcelain, glaze, slip.
The concept of stochastic relief has to do with optimizing assistance strategies when natural disasters, emergency crisis, or some set of future conditions are irreducibly uncertain. One becomes intimately aware of such needs when living in Houston, TX.
Here I play with the idea of stochasticity using random, chance, and non-reproducible glaze applications to create surface design and relief on this hand-built vessel.
Choi, Naomi. “Nouveau Riche,” 2026. 9” x 9” 16”. Porcelain, glaze.
“Nouveau riche” is a term used to refer to the newly rich who often feel the need to publicly exhibit their wealth through conspicuous consumption to signal their purchasing power. The term gained widespread popularity during the Industrial Revolution in 19th C Europe when people with “new money” were contrasted from those with “old money” and mocked for allegedly lacking traditional social graces, refinement, and the "good taste" of the established upper classes who held generational wealth.
This hand-built vessel boasts an exaggerated silhouette and a surface treatment that signals excess and imitation. While the form mimics a grand imperial vase it appears unstable beneath wildly overlapping elements.
Choi, Naomi. “Whitewashed,” 2026. Porcelain, glaze. 9” x 9” 11”.
“Whitewashed” is a wheel-thrown porcelain vessel that explores the tension between structural erasure and the stubborn resilience of what lies beneath and survives defanging.
The lower half of the vessel consists of an unglazed porcelain surface punctuated by beads of white glaze while the top half of the vessel is cloaked in a downward cascading charcoal glaze. As the charcoal runs it flows directly over the white dots, some of which are completely engulfed, while others peek through distorted, blurred, and subdued by the weight of standardization.
Naomi Choi. “Ashes to Ashes,” 2026. Speckled stoneware, glaze, driftwood. 9” x 9” x 11”.
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust” is a saying adapted by the Church of England for the Book of Common Prayer in 1662 from Genesis 3:19. It reflects the idea of human mortality, that just as we came from dust, to the earth our physical bodies shall return.
A warm speckled clay body is used to represent earth, while the glaze application shows how a life, however ephemeral, always leaves a mark.
On exhibit as part of “Bayou Mud", Clay Houston’s member exhibition at The Silos at Sawyer Yards Sept 26-Oct 31.
Naomi Choi. “Memento Mori,” 2026. Stoneware, interior glaze, 5” x 7” x 14”.
“Memento mori” is a Latin phrase meaning “remember that you must die.” The reminder that life is ephemeral, temporary, and short is also a reminder to live fully, find meaning in the present, and to cultivate a generous spirit.
This hand-built vessel evokes the passage of time in its nod to an hourglass form. Three different stoneware clay bodies are used to show gradient and signifies constitutional change as a life accrues and perspectives shift through the sedimentation of events and experiences.
Naomi Choi, “Holding it Together,” 2026. Clay, glaze, engobe. 9”x4”x4”.
Collected from Clay Houston’s Summer Fundraiser silent auction on 8/29.
Naomi Choi, “You Can’t Go Home Again,” 2026, 2 pcs. Porcelain and glaze. Dimensions vary. Collected from The Ceramics Store of Houston Artist of the Month showcase.
Naomi Choi, “A Long Way Home,” 2025, 8”x 8”, stoneware, glaze, oxide wash.
Naomi Choi, “The Queen’s Gambit,” 2023, 5” x 4”. Collected.
Soda-fired porcelain and glaze. This piece was made by forging porcelain on the wheel and letting it undergo the intensely volatile environment of a soda-firing, which yields unpredictable transformation. This piece represents both the risks and sacrifices as well as the potential triumph when a woman must navigate and rise through a male-dominated field.
Naomi Choi, “Ontario Winter,” 2023, 7”x 4”. Inquire for price.
Soda-fired porcelain and glaze. The harsh quiet and stillness of an Ontario Winter is depicted utilizing a vase form as a canvas for glaze movement, reaction, and residue through soda-firing.
Naomi Choi, “Terra Firma,” 2025, 15” x 8”. Inquire for price.
Mid-fired Stoneware pedestal base with vase inlay. Terra Firma in Latin means “solid ground,” and is used in English to refer to dry land. Metaphorically, the term is used to appeal to a grasp on reality and the comfort of stability. In this sculpture, that promise collapses. The tipped vase sinks into its pedestal base, signaling a rupture between space and expected forms. The piece is borne from grappling with the contemporary condition marked by fractured truths, eroding institutions, and a widespread dislocation from shared reality.
Naomi Choi, “Have a Nice Day”, since 2026. Ceramic Guest Check dry erase boards/food-safe snack plate.
In 2020 I made the decision to walk away from my professional career and a salary. Ever since 2022 I started working for hourly wages, first as a yoga teacher then as a ceramics instructor beginning in 2023. I think about the waitstaff at the diners I used to frequent as a kid in NYC, and all sorts of people in the service industry with little to no job security, whether it’s our chosen industry or not, who are in the workforce but don’t get paid if a gig is cancelled, or they can’t turn up - whether it’s for a sick kid, illness, car breakdown, or countless other human reasons.
“Have a Nice Day” is my homage to all of us who continue to show up and make a living.
Naomi Choi, “Unbound,” since 2024. Ceramic Loose-Leaf. Dimensions vary.
I began making ceramic loose leaf pages as a way of processing parenthood in middle school. Something about composition notebooks and loose leaf paper evokes a sense of nostalgia, hope full of potential, and the paralysis of the blank page all at once. Cementing the idea of a disposable sheet of paper into something more permanent lets me to mark this time of fraught transitions.
Dry erase markers work really well on the surface, which makes these pieces practical in a further way, and not just for serving snacks on.
Clay shrinkage turns wide-ruled into college-ruled.
Naomi Choi, “Trial and Fortune,” since 2022. Ceramic fortune cookie glaze test pieces.
“Why do you make fortune cookies?”
On a practical level, my hand-built fortune cookies enable me to test my glaze application and mixtures. The shape—with its curves, creases, and open edges—lets me experiment with how a glaze will behave on a variety of surfaces. Success rates vary.
Although my ethnicity is Korean, I am drawn to the powerful way that this instantly recognizable object encapsulates assimilation and symbolizes what it can mean to be a hyphenated American. There is also the opportunity of playing with people’s deeply held, but unexamined, notions of the ephemeral vs. what is permanent. Our usual experience with a fortune cookie is a brief moment when we break it open, read the fortune, then toss it. The shape, the visceral experience of breaking the wafer, and even the moment where we contemplate the fortune’s “wisdom” are all fleeting.
Yet, the permanence of a ceramic replica that comes in a variety of glaze finishes gives rise to an entirely different experience. In place of taste, we can marvel at its unexpected and fanciful color and texture. When given as a gift, the fortune inside becomes a message from a friend or loved one that can be revisited over time—a message in a bottle, of sorts.
Interested in Lessons?
I offer private lessons as well as group classes at several studios around Houston.
Learn to hand-build or throw pottery on the wheel with me as I teach you how to shape and create your pieces by hand.
Photo Courtesy of Third Coast Clay
Where to find me
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Evelyn J. Rubenstein Jewish Community Center (ERJCC)
Semester Courses:
Intro to Ceramics
Beginner wheel
Adv/Int. hand-building
Adv/Int. wheel
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Four Circle Studios
- Private 2-hour wheel throwing lessons by appointment
- 6-week Wheel Throwing group classes
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The Meadows - Outpatient
- Shape + Release Workshop
- Monthly 90-min. mindfulness sessions
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Glassell Studio School
When I’m not teaching, you can find me working on my own pieces at the Glassell School of Art, the studio school of the Museum of Fine Art Houston (MFAH)
asana.ceramics sells hand-made functional and sculptural pieces that come in all shapes and sizes but each one is unique.
asana.ceramics can be found at seasonal markets and pop-ups around town.
Naomi is the maker behind asana.ceramics.
She brings art + commerce together in a way that she can live with.
Commissions
Interested in commissioning a special project with me?
Do you like my work?
Are you willing to meet my minimum project cost of $150?
Let’s see if we’re a good fit.
