When I discovered the work of artist Shu-Ju Wang (from Portland, Oregon) on Google Plus, I thought: wow, I would really love to hear her talk about her art. So I asked her, and she said yes. Don't forget to go to her website when you've read this so you can see more of her beautiful prints and artist's books.
Philip Hartigan: What medium/media do you chiefly use, and why?
Shu-Ju Wang: I work mainly with gouache on paper. In the last couple of years, I've been mounting the paper on boards and finishing the pieces with acrylic so that they can hang without glass.
I find gouache to be an incredibly versatile medium -- it's reworkable and can be mixed to be more transparent or more opaque. It's also important to me that I don't use toxic cleaners or create plastic waste (unused, dried up acrylic paint). The historic aspect of the medium also plays into my work, as I'm very influenced by Medieval manuscripts, East Asian, Central Asian, Mughal and Islamic art, and gouache is the medium used. Formulation might have changed over the years, but the basic idea of 'opaque watercolor' remains.
PH: What piece are you currently working on?
SJW: I'm working on a series of diptychs called Red Bean Paste & Apple Pie. It's part of a series of projects about immigration that address public & private issues of immigration.
PH: What creative surprises are happening in the current work?
SJW: The most recent surprise is that I can physically hurt myself by painting. I injured my painting hand due to the long hours and continuous days of painting. So now I have instituted some routines that will prevent that from happening again. As for creative surprises, there are little ones and big ones. Little ones -- finding different color combinations that work so well, and why hadn't I thought of that before. Or if I had thought of it before, how did I forget? Little surprises go on like that. Big ones -- I'm always surprised at how difficult the work is.
PH: What other artistic medium (or non-artistic activity) feeds your creative process?
SJW: I'm also a book artist. I don't typically work on books in parallel with painting, so while I'm working on this series of diptychs, the books are on hiatus. I finished a book last September before starting Red Bean Paste and Apple Pie, and I have another book in the planning stage to be started when I'm finished with the paintings. I find that there are ideas that I want to pursue that work better in the book format or in the painting format, and I love that I can do both.
I also garden. I do an hour or two everyday. I have 1/4 of an acre and it's all garden that I've put in over the last 20 years. Lots of trees, shrubs and some veggies. I don't do a lot of flowers (other than blooming shrubs), and I don't do annuals (except for veggies). I mean, what's the point, really?!
PH: What's the first ever piece of art you remember making?
SJW: Depends on what you mean by that. I spent A LOT of hours making really meticulously planned out structures with my blocks. I was maybe 3 or 4. After that, the next significant thing I remember was being the class representative for an art competition. I was maybe in the 2nd grade (non-US readers: about 7 years old). I didn't win. My drawing was an oil pastel about a field trip to the Royal Crown bottling plant (this was in Taiwan).
PH: Finally, and you can answer this in any way that's meaningful to you: why are you an artist?
SJW: I want to make things that make people ponder, like puzzles that people have to put together. I've always been a visual and hands-on person. It's not so far from the block structures I spent hours making. I could've been a gardener, too, I mean by profession. That is also not too far from the blocks. As an artist, I create work so that people have to think.
If you liked this interview, and you'd like to keep up to date with the series, why not Subscribe, or sign-up via Google Connect, using one of the options over on the right? Thanks, and keep creating.
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Bamboo Mountain, Potato Hill 2012 Gouache & acrylic on paper, mounted on
birch panels 12"x24
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Philip Hartigan: What medium/media do you chiefly use, and why?
Shu-Ju Wang: I work mainly with gouache on paper. In the last couple of years, I've been mounting the paper on boards and finishing the pieces with acrylic so that they can hang without glass.
I find gouache to be an incredibly versatile medium -- it's reworkable and can be mixed to be more transparent or more opaque. It's also important to me that I don't use toxic cleaners or create plastic waste (unused, dried up acrylic paint). The historic aspect of the medium also plays into my work, as I'm very influenced by Medieval manuscripts, East Asian, Central Asian, Mughal and Islamic art, and gouache is the medium used. Formulation might have changed over the years, but the basic idea of 'opaque watercolor' remains.
PH: What piece are you currently working on?
SJW: I'm working on a series of diptychs called Red Bean Paste & Apple Pie. It's part of a series of projects about immigration that address public & private issues of immigration.
 |
Snack Attack! 2012 Gouache & acrylic on paper, mounted
on birch panels 12"x24"
|
PH: What creative surprises are happening in the current work?
SJW: The most recent surprise is that I can physically hurt myself by painting. I injured my painting hand due to the long hours and continuous days of painting. So now I have instituted some routines that will prevent that from happening again. As for creative surprises, there are little ones and big ones. Little ones -- finding different color combinations that work so well, and why hadn't I thought of that before. Or if I had thought of it before, how did I forget? Little surprises go on like that. Big ones -- I'm always surprised at how difficult the work is.
PH: What other artistic medium (or non-artistic activity) feeds your creative process?
SJW: I'm also a book artist. I don't typically work on books in parallel with painting, so while I'm working on this series of diptychs, the books are on hiatus. I finished a book last September before starting Red Bean Paste and Apple Pie, and I have another book in the planning stage to be started when I'm finished with the paintings. I find that there are ideas that I want to pursue that work better in the book format or in the painting format, and I love that I can do both.
I also garden. I do an hour or two everyday. I have 1/4 of an acre and it's all garden that I've put in over the last 20 years. Lots of trees, shrubs and some veggies. I don't do a lot of flowers (other than blooming shrubs), and I don't do annuals (except for veggies). I mean, what's the point, really?!
 |
| Her Love of Green Vegetables Reaches Mythical Proportions 2012 Gouache & acrylic on paper, mounted on birch panels 12"x24" |
PH: What's the first ever piece of art you remember making?
SJW: Depends on what you mean by that. I spent A LOT of hours making really meticulously planned out structures with my blocks. I was maybe 3 or 4. After that, the next significant thing I remember was being the class representative for an art competition. I was maybe in the 2nd grade (non-US readers: about 7 years old). I didn't win. My drawing was an oil pastel about a field trip to the Royal Crown bottling plant (this was in Taiwan).
PH: Finally, and you can answer this in any way that's meaningful to you: why are you an artist?
SJW: I want to make things that make people ponder, like puzzles that people have to put together. I've always been a visual and hands-on person. It's not so far from the block structures I spent hours making. I could've been a gardener, too, I mean by profession. That is also not too far from the blocks. As an artist, I create work so that people have to think.
If you liked this interview, and you'd like to keep up to date with the series, why not Subscribe, or sign-up via Google Connect, using one of the options over on the right? Thanks, and keep creating.