Eng Tow 杜瑛 (Singaporean, b. 1947) is one of Singapore's most celebrated female artists of the 1980s, best known for her pioneering use of cloth and textile construction as an art medium. A graduate of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, she left for England to further her studies, completing a foundation year at Coventry College of Art before earning a first-class BA from Winchester School of Art in 1972 and an MFA from the Royal College of Art in 1974.
After several years working as a freelance textile designer in London, Tow returned to Singapore in 1981, where she expanded her practice into papermaking and printmaking, developing methodically constructed "cloth reliefs" and hand-cast paperworks that pull apart and layer materials like silk thread and shell. Her work reflects an intuitive, exploratory approach shaped by a deep connection with nature and the environment.
Since 1974, Tow's work has been shown in numerous group exhibitions and seven solo exhibitions across Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Australia, the UK, and beyond. Her honours include the New Craftsmen's Grant from the Crafts Council UK (1977), the British Crafts Award for Textiles (1978), and Fellowship Awards from the Asian Cultural Council/JDR III Fund and the Japan Foundation.
