Cathy Lu (b. Miami, FL) creates ceramic based sculptures and installations that reference Chinese diasporic images, mythology, and experiences as a way to point out fallacies about race and gender in American culture. She draws attention to unacknowledged histories of immigration, hybridity, and assimilation in order to reimagine our past and present to create a more equitable future.
Lu received a BA and BFA from School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She is currently Assistant Professor of Ceramics at UC Berkeley. She has participated in artist-in-residence programs at Kohler Arts Center, Bemis Center for the Arts, Recology San Francisco, Greenwich House Pottery NYC, and the Archie Bray Foundation.
Her work has been exhibited widely: Berkeley Art Center, Chinese Culture Center, Jessica Silverman Gallery, Kadist, Kala Arts Center, Manetti Shrem Museum, Micki Meng Gallery, SFMOMA, Recology, Root Division, all in the Bay Area, CA; The Armory Show, New York, NY, Art Basel Hong Kong, Chengdu Biennial, Chengdu, China, Aldrich Art Museum, CT, Galerie du Monde, Hong Kong, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, MCA Denver, Prospect 6 New Orleans, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.. Lu was a 2019 Asian Cultural Council/Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation Fellow, and is a 2022 SFMOMA SECA Award winner.
Lu’s work has recently been included in the collection of the Asian Art Museum San Francisco, Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, Kadist, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, San Francisco Arts Commission Portsmouth Square public sculpture, SFMOMA, and private collections.
CURRICULUM VITAE CATHY LU
b. 1984, Miami, FL; lives and works in Richmond, CA
Education
MFA, Sculpture & Ceramics, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
BA, Chinese Language, Culture, and History, Tufts University, Medford, MA
BFA, Ceramics, School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, Boston, MA
Academic Positions
Assistant Professor of Ceramics, Department of Art Practice, University of California, Berkeley Professor of Ceramics, School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, Boston, MA
Selected Public Collections
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA
Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Kadist, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Arts Commission, Portsmouth Square Public Sculpture, San Francisco, CA
Selected Exhibitions
Qualia Contemporary Art, Palo Alto, CA
Chengdu Biennale, Chengdu Museum of Art, Chengdu, China
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
United States Embassy, Tbilisi, Georgia
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT
Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, University of California, Davis, CA
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA
Gallery 224, Ceramics Program, Office for the Arts at Harvard, Allston, MA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Kadist, San Francisco, CA
Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco, CA
Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, CA
American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA
Chinese Culture Center, San Francisco, CA
Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
Chico State University, Chico, CA
California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Root Division, San Francisco, CA
CURRICULUM VITAE CATHY LU
b. 1984, Miami, FL; lives and works in Richmond, CA
Selected Exhibitions (cont.)
Recology, San Francisco, CA
SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA
Pro Arts, Oakland, CA
Jingdezhen Contemporary International Ceramic Exhibition, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, China
Selected Awards and Fellowships
2022 SFMOMA SECA Art Award, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
2020 Emerging Artist Fellowship, National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts
2019 Individual Fellowship, Asian Cultural Council / Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation, New York, NY, Beijing, China
2018 Honorary Artist-in-Residence Award, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
2016 Eureka Fellowship Nominee, Fleishhacker Foundation, San Francisco, CA
2015 Individual Artist Grant Recipient, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, CA
2015 Ceramics Summer Study Fellowship, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO
Selected Residencies
2024 Artist in Residence, Ceramics Program, Office for the Arts at Harvard, Allston, MA
2022 Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts Residency, Omaha, NE
2021 Archie Bray Artist Residency, Helena, MT
2019 LPP+ Residency, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA
2018 Artist in Residence, Irving Street Projects, San Francisco, CA
2017 Artist in Residence, Recology, San Francisco, CA
2016 Ceramics Artist in Residence, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO
2014 Ceramics Artist-in-Residence and Teaching Fellow, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Interlochen, MI
2012 Artist in Residence, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
2010 Artist in Residence, Root Division, San Francisco, CA
QUALIA CONTEMPORARY ART
Praised by renowned art historian Alexander Nemerov as “a hidden gem in Silicon Valley,” Qualia Contemporary Art presents a diverse program of emerging and established artists working across a wide range of media and is dedicated to facilitating dialogue between Asian and international contemporary practices.
Since opening in Fall 2020, the gallery has mounted over 30 exhibitions: highlights from these presentations include the U.S. debuts of Pan Hsinhua, Lyu Peng, and Xu Hongming; local artists like Younhee Paik, Stella Zhang, Nick Dong, and Joe Ferriso; and internationally-recognized artists including Paul DeMarinis, Guillermo Galindo, Yang Jiechang, and Wang Tiande.
The gallery has also collaborated with leading Chinese artists such as Xu Bing, Wang Dongling, Gu Wenda, and Gu Gan, as well as with prominent scholars including Alexander Nemerov, Richard Vinograd, Ouyang Jianghe, and Xie Xiaoze.
