July 5 – July 24, 2019

RECEPTION: Friday, July 12, 2019 @ 6 PM – 9 PM

Artist Statement: Dongyi Wu was born and raised in China. After completing her undergraduate education at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in Beijing, China, Dongyi Wu came to Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY) to work on her Master’s Degree in Metals and Jewelry Design. After that, she continually worked as a studio residency in RIT. Now she is currently living in San Antonio and working as an artist resident and faculty instructor at Southwest School of Arts in San Antonio, TX.

Dongyi Wu is often influenced by psychology and literary works. She has pursued the essence of the phenomenon hidden behind appearance. In her works, it is always an essential part to explore types of emotions since she believes the emotions can show the real motivation for doing things. “Lucid Dreams” is her second solo exhibition, which feature her recent wearable artworks, body jewelry, sculptures, several of which are awarding-winning. “Lucid Dreams” continues focusing on expressing emotions by exploring stories took place in daily life and night dreams. Wu has focused on exploring night dreams from 2015. She believes that people have various images that arise in their dreams caused by daily experiences, personal matters, and sensations experienced in our lives. All images or ideas that occur in dreams are recreated, and real emotions are able to appear clearly.

Emotions in dreams tend to be real and clear, and people’s sensitivity to them promotes the clarity of genuine emotion. Such as her series sculptural works named “Dreams” and “Continuous dreams,” she wants to express the anxiety concealed by daily life by exploring people’s dreams. However, from 2017, Wu was not limited to the expression of dreamy images. She found the power of small scenes in daily lives, which those scenes appear to have little meaning, but actually have the power to reveal hidden emotions. Combining the stories from day and night, “Lucid Dreams” could be presented the emotions buried deep in people’s minds. Wu has her works shown worldwide, including the United States, China, and Europe. Her last solo show “wandering in deep deep dreams” was held at Gallery R, in Rochester, NY in 2018. Wu was finalists for the Lydon Emerging

Artist Program (LEAP) in 2019 and ENJOIA’T 2017 Contemporary Jewellery Award in 2017. Wu was chosen to speak at the 48th annual Society of North American Goldsmiths conference in Chicago as an Early Career Artist in 2019. Wu’s artworks also have been featured in many publications, and the latest publication showed her piece is the Autor Magazine #6 The Beauty, published in Bucharest, Romania.

Links: Instagram: @dongyi.w

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100006219256115