UA Little Rock Welcomes Dongyi Wu at Artist in Residence

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has welcomed Dongyi Wu, an internationally known contemporary jewelry artist, as the Windgate Artist-in-Residence for the fall semester.

Wu's exhibition, "Whisper of Nights," will be on display in the North and Focus Galleries in the Windgate Center of Art and Design from Nov. 11 to Dec. 6. Her work will be for sale during the School of Art and Design's Holiday Sale and Open House from 3-8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8. A reception will be held in Wu's honor from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, at the Windgate Center. The events are free and open to the public.

Wu received her bachelor's degree in jewelry art design from the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in China and her master's degree in metal and jewelry design from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Wu has participated in numerous residencies at institutions such as the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, the Baltimore Jewelry Center, Clamp Light Studios, the Penland School of Craft, and Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh.

Wu has won numerous awards and exhibited worldwide, including at New York Jewelry week, JCC Contemporary Jewelry Center in Shanghai, with the Society of North American Goldsmiths, the Preziosa Young as part of Florence Jewelry Week, the Craft Council of British Columbia in Vancouver, and during JOYA 2020 at the Crafts Museum in Barcelona, Spain.

Her jewelry practices have been greatly influenced by fashion. Wu incorporates garment-making skills and fashion elements into her jewelry works. She focused on exploring the relationship between human bodies and their surrounding spaces.

Wu will also serve as an artist-in-residence in November at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, where she will teach a workshop for adults on Nov. 9 and a workshop for teens on Nov. 10.

The Artist-in-Residence program at the UA Little Rock School of Art and Design is sponsored by the Windgate Foundation.