Artist of the Issue: Vivian Wang

Wang discovered her passion for art in elementary school. She recalls, “When I was little, I was always intrigued by the colorful picture books we read as part of class in elementary school,” she. Even at a young age, Wang utilized her creative instinct to build narratives: “I became fascinated with the many ways storytelling and art overlapped, and, in my free time when I was little, I would draw little comic strips or scenes on the back of my homework or in my  sketchbook.” Wang also attributes her understanding of technical art to her early endeavors. She says, “By working with all sorts of different mediums and techniques, I also became interested in the more technical aspects of art.” Wang stresses that her artistic journey has not been linear. “A big misconception that many people have is that the artistic journey follows a smooth, ascending line and that you’re always going up and up day by day,” she says. “The reality is that it’s more sporadic, and a large part of my artistic journey was just discovering a certain medium or style that I liked and sticking with it, which meant a lot of experimentation and finding ways to combat creative blocks along the way.” Wang says that she further developed her personal artistic style through her Studio Art 3 class, which emphasized completing small, medium, and large pieces. Family emerged as a central motif. According to Wang, “For my theme, I decided to choose home and family, since in many Chinese households like mine, family means everything, and I wanted my art to reflect on the ideals that play such an influential role in shaping my life.” Asked to reflect on a project she was particularly proud of, Wang points to the creation of one of her pieces on display in the Keator Gallery. “It’s a large, three-dimensional piece that features a series of canvases with a piece of material connecting all of them,” she says. The description of Wang’s piece reads as follows: “Chinese silk scarves have always been a family heirloom; they’ve been passed down generations, first from my grandmother in China, then to my mother, who ended up giving hers to me after moving to America. I wanted to use a silk-like material and the action of it draping down a series of canvases to display the cultural connections that tie each generation of my family together.”