Invited artist: BEILI LIU

Darn / Edge of the Sea #1

Found ocean plastic textile, hand darned with cotton thread.

Ocean plastic permeates all aspects of marine life and its environment, across vast oceans and distant shorelines. The Arctic is no exception. Among the pristine beauty of the landscape, remnants of human activities in the form of discarded and forgotten objects, plastic waste are abundant. Making use of found ocean plastic fiber, ropes and textiles, which are transformed by a simple act of darning--the densely sewn stitches that intend to mend and prolong the life of a garment, Darn / Edge of the Seais a series of soft sculptures that contemplates human actions, their impact on the environment, and our uncertain path forward facing the climate crisis.

BEILI LIU Beili Liu is a visual artist who creates site-responsive installations and performances that address themes of migration, cultural memory, labor, and social and environmental concerns. Liu exhibits internationally in locations including Norway, Finland, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Lithuania, China, Poland, Taiwan, and across the United States, with solo exhibitions at Hå Gamle Prestegard, Norwegian National Art and Culture Museum, Galerie An Der Pinakothek Der Moderne, Munich, Germany, Museo di Villa Bernasconi, Como, Italy, Chinese Culture Foundation, San Francisco, CA, and the Crow Museum of Asian Art, Dallas, TX, among others. Significant group exhibitions include the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., New Orleans Art Museum, LA, Artpace, San Antonio, TX, Asian Art Week, NYC, and internationally, Hamburg Art Week, Germany, MK Ciurlionis National Art Museum, Kaunas, Lithuania, Zhejiang Museum of Art, China, and Bunkier Sztuki Gallery, Kraków, Poland. Liu's artistic research has received support from numerous fellowships and awards including: Fulbright Arctic Chair Distinguished Scholar Award, Norway (2021-2022), Pollock Prize for Creativity (2022), Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant (2016), and National Endowment for the Arts Challenge America Grant through the Museum of Southeast Texas (2014). In 2018, Liu has been honored by the Texas Legislature as the Texas State Artist in 3D medium.Liu is the Leslie Waggener Professor in the College of Fine Arts, and a Regents' Outstanding Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin.