My work is concerned with reengaging my child within. I tell him stories with the intent of charming and impressing him—I need him to translate for me—reconnect me to the magical undercurrent of the world that I’ve lost touch with.

Things are not what they seem—there are secret passages. I leave clues behind, exploring the experience of discovery. When the understanding of a space or object is suddenly overturned by the detection of something extraordinary, it causes pause, and one might feel a special sense of ownership over that experience.

Through many moves to different cities and countries, my work has morphed to reflect the undertone of the place I’m in. I carry the old influences with me and they continue to mount on top of one another, adding new shades of complexity. It is a jumble that I sift and sort through—like a mixtape dreamscape.

Noel O’Connell was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1999, with majors in art, anthropology, and Southeast Asian studies. During and after his university studies he spent three years in Thailand studying Thai painting and in 2000, received a Fulbright Grant to study temple mural restoration.

In 2001 he moved to Chicago and worked in Chinese/Thai antique restoration while continuing to make ceramics at Lil Street Art Center.

In 2004 Noel moved to China and helped start the company, Mei Design Co., making custom-manufactured porcelain art. After three years, he returned to the US to pursue an MFA in ceramics at Rhode Island School of Design, which he completed in spring 2009.

He has participated in artist residencies at Guldagergaard Ceramic Research Center in Denmark, Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, and La Ceiba Grafica in Mexico.