Du Chau

Fordham Award In Visual Arts Recipient
Pathology Technical Coordinator, Methodist Dallas
Adjunct Ceramics Instructor, Brookhaven College

Du Chau’s heart is in his work as a pathology technical coordinator
at Methodist Dallas Medical Center. But his soul is in his art, and
that’s what he tries to convey to his students as an adjunct ceramic instructor at Brookhaven College.

Du earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry before he began taking ceramics classes at Brookhaven College in the 1990s and receiving Cecil Wallace Fordham Memorial Award in Visual Arts from the DCCCD Foundation.

“The art instructors at Brookhaven made the biggest impact on me when I was a student,” he says. “Teaching is their passion and their life. They were and still are great role models for me.”

He went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in fine arts at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. And for the past 18 years as full-time pathology technical coordinator at Methodist Dallas Medical Center, he has conducted lab tests to help doctors track diseases on patients to make the right decision for treatment.

“It’s so strange; my art degree actually helped my medical work,” says Du. “In art, you have a lot of conceptual questions about what makes things work and why. Science is so precise, and you have no margin for error because your mistakes may affect a patient’s life.

“Art has helped me to ask more questions as a scientist,” says Du, whose ceramic work in varied techniques has been shown in several galleries. “Besides, art is just so satisfying to the soul.”

He also believes that his two diverse worlds give him balance. “Health care work can be so intense, and art provides a way to release that intensity,” he says. “By continuing to work artistically, I can fill up my cup so that in my daily scientific work, I’m able to give more.”

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“Art has helped me to ask more
questions as a scientist.”

- DU CHAU