Photo Credit: Lin Wang
About Dongyi Wu
My works span across contemporary jewelry, body jewelry, fashion art, sculpture, and conceptual installation, and contemporary jewelry is the primary medium of my current artistic research. I treat jewelry as a tool to explore the relationship between human bodies and their surrounding spaces as well as a visual language that is delivered to others without real words.
I liken myself as a storyteller, who narrates stories that seem to be trivial and common but actually express strong and genuine emotions. For me, these stories feel like small but shining treasures forgotten by others. But, I, as a traveling person, as a junkman, as a storyteller, pick them up and transfer them into unique and refreshing wearable arts. I transfer personal experiences and intuitive feelings into images and then collect the information from the forms and colors of the images to transform them into jewelry work.
Moreover, I fascinate playing with a wide range of materials. I categorize materials according to their colors/shapes/texture and spend time exploring the connections between the selected materials and my personal experiences/preferences. In this case, all the materials that appear in my work speak of my personality and feelings. I transform and repurpose these alternative materials into wearable art, and give them special texture, distinct tactile, and new meaning during my creation.
Artist Bio
Dongyi Wu (she, her) was born and raised in China. She is a contemporary jewelry artist, who is currently working as an artist-in-residence at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN, USA. Dongyi received her Master's Degree in Metal and Jewelry Design from Rochester Institute of Technology in United States, and her Bachelor's Degree in Jewelry Art Design from Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in China, and her Dual Degree in Fashion and engineering from the same undergraduate school in China.
Dongyi has her works shown nationally and internationally, such as JOYA 2020 in Barcelona and Schmuck 2018 in Munich, and recently presented her sixth solo exhibition Shadows of the Daylight, Glimmer of the Nighttime at the Clamp Light Studios & Gallery, in San Antonio, TX. Dongyi was one of the winners of Preziosa Young 2020 in Italy, a finalist for the Lydon Emerging Artist Program (LEAP award) in the United States in 2019, and a finalist for the ENJOIA'T 2017 Contemporary Jewellery Award in Spain in 2017.
Education
Rochester Institute of Technology, MFA of Metals and Jewelry Design
Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, BA of Jewelry Art Design
Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, Dual degree of Fashion Design and Engineering
Selected Awards
2022 Sawed, Soldered, Constructed: The Work of the Houston Metal Arts Guild, Best in Show, Houston, TX, US
2021 Internal Expression Exhibition, Honorable Mention, US
2020 PREZIOSA YOUNG Design Competition 2020, Winner, Florence, Italy
2019 Lydon Emerging Artist Program (LEAP award) 2019/20, Finalist, Pittsburgh, PA, US
2017 ENJOIA’T 2017 Contemporary Jewellery Student Award, Finalist, Barcelona, Spain
2015 Tiffany & Co. Foundation Metals and Jewelry Design Endowed Scholarship 2015, US
Solo Exhibitions
2024 Shadows of the daylight, glimmer of the nighttime, Clamp Light Studios & Gallery, San Antonio, TX, US
2021 Passerby, A-Galerii, Tallinn, Estonia
2020 Where is the Abandoned Salmon Strip? Taidekeskus Itä Gallery, Lappeenranta, Finland.
2019 Daily Notes, Equinox Gallery, San Antonio, TX, United States.
2019 Lucid Dreams, Fort Worth Community Arts Center, Fort Worth, TX, United States.
2018 Wandering in deep deep dreams, Gallery R, Rochester, NY, United States.