SHIYUAN XU
SHERRY LEEDY CONTEMPORARY ART
“Slowed Growth takes place during the pandemic. Everything is slowed down during this time, from a country’s economy to individual’s daily activity. Yet, the natural world keeps going, slow and steady. Slowed Growth references the evolving motion of the living organisms, and it also references my making process, bit by bit, layer by layer, and one firing after another to complete a single object. It is time consuming but therapeutic. “
-Shiyuan Xu
SHIYUAN XU: Slowed Growth
November 6, 2020 - January 23, 2021
Shiyuan Xu’s fantastic sculptures, hand-built with porcelain paperclay, are inspired by scientific research into microscopic phenomena. These phenomena range from single-celled organisms in the ocean to diverse plant seeds on land, to cells that are the building blocks of all life. She sees the structure of these micro life forms as having been determined by growth and response to internal and external forces, leaving a record of movement in time and space.
Shiyuan’s forms are built by hand and glazed in an unconventional way. The materials she uses allow her to push the boundaries of fragility and strength, simplicity and complexity, order and chaos. She meticulously weaves thin skeletal lines into a harmonious volume. Shiyuan says of this process, “The regular and irregular structures and layers also contain the memory of my sensations. They are in many ways like living organisms, reflections of my own life path, and an abstraction of the complexity and delicacy of life itself.”
Shiyuan Xu is currently an Artist in Residence at the Lilstreet Art Center, Chicago, IL. She holds an MFA from Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ and a BA from the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, P.R. China. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT; Korea Ceramic Foundation, Incheon, South Korea; San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, TX and The National Museum of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Vena #4 2019
Porcelain paperclay, glaze
22” x 9.5” x 17”
Porcelain paperclay, glaze
Blue Vein #9 2020
15.5” x 7” x 16.5”
Porcelain paperclay, glaze
Vena #7 2020
20” x 13” x 9.5”
Porcelain paperclay, glaze
Blue Vein #12 2020
17” x 11” x 12'
2020
Porcelain paperclay, glaze
Untitled
14” x 10” x 8”
Porcelain paperclay, glaze
Vena #3 2019
20” x 11” x 11”
Untitled 2018
Poreclain paperclay, glaze
12” x 8” x 9”
Porcelain paperclay, glaze
Vena #10 2020
13.5” x 12” x 8.5”
Porcelain paperclay, glaze
x 8.5” x 15.5”
Blue Vein #11 2020
16”
Porcelain paperclay, glaze
16.5” x 8.5” x 15”
Vena #2 2019
EDUCATION
2013-2016 Master of Fine Arts, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.
2008-2012 Bachelor of Arts, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, P.R China.
SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2020 Slowed Growth, Sherry Leedy Contemporary, Kansas City, MO. (Upcoming) Undergrowth, (Two Person Show with Illustrator Alex Boersma), Lillstreet Art Center, Chicago, IL.
2019 Slow Growth, Lillstreet Art Center, Chicago, IL.
2018 Envisioning Invisibility, Lawrence Arts Center, Lawrence, KS.
2017 Obscure Traces, Mary Matteson-Parrish Art Gallery, Conroe, TX.
Experiments in Form & Fiction (Two Person Show with Photographer Liz Hickok), Capsule Gallery, Houston, TX.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 EX-tend EX-cess, Center for the Arts Gallery, Towson University, Maryland, MD.
Transformations of the Self, Cincinnati, OH.
Pour Spill Drip Stain, Strohl Art Center, Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, NY.
2020 Americano Invitational, ClayAKAR, Iowa City, IA.
Focus/20, with Ting-Ying Gallery, De sign Center, Chelsea Harbour, London, UK.
Collect 2020, with Ting-Ying Gallery, Somerset House, London, UK.
Connection- International Ceramics Cultural Exchange Exhibition, Hong Kong Cultural Center Exhibi tion Gallery, Hong Kong.
2019 Korean International Ceramic Biennale 2019
Three Paths, Academic Nominated Exhibition of China’s Contemporary Crafts, Craft Museum of China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China.
Particle & Wave- Paperclay Illuminated, Traveling Exhibition through 2021, ASU Art Museum Ceramics Research Center, Tempe, AZ; Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO; Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Logan, UT; The Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA; The Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT; Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho.
2018 The 11th Chinese Contemporary Young Ceramic Art Biennale, Art Museum of China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China.
IV. International Ceramics Triennial UNICUM 2018, The National Museum of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slove nia.
22nd San Angelo National Ceramic Competition, San Angelo Museum of Fine Art, San Angelo, TX.
In Residence, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX.
Here and Now, Hiroshige Gallery, Tokyo, Japan.
2017 The Zanesville Prize for Contemporary Ceramics, Seiler’s Gallery, Zanesville, OH.
Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale 2017, Incheon, South Korea.
Nature: Surface, Form, Content, The Clay Studio of Missoula, Missoula, MT.
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT.
Korea Ceramic Foundation, Incheon, South Korea.
San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, TX.
The National Museum of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
AWARDS/GRANTS/SCHOARSHIPS
2020 CERF+ Emergency Assistance Grant, CERF+, Montpelier, VT.
Artist Relief Grant.
2019 National Workshop Scholarship, Arrowmont School of Craft, Gatlinburg, TN.
2018 Merit Award, Workhouse Clay International, Workhouse Arts Center, Lorton, VA.
Best of Show, Contemporary Clay 2018, Western Colorado Center for the Arts, Grand Junction, CO.
Merit Award, 22nd San Angelo National Ceramic Competition, San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, TX.
2017 Aninstantia Grant, Aninstantia Foundation, Pleasanton, CA.
Director’s Choice Award, Unwedged, Pottery Northwest, Seattle, WA.
Emerging Artist, Ceramics Monthly Magazine, Westerville, OH.
Honorable Mention, Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale, Icheon, South Korea.
Best in Show, Ceramic Innovations, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA.
Juror’s Merit Award, The Clay Studio of Missoula, MT.
2016 Rudy Autio Fund for Creative Initiatives, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT.
Sage Summer Scholarship, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT.
GPSA Individual Travel Grant, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.