Cathy Lu

Pronouns: she/her
July 13 to August 26, 2022

Cathy Lu is a California-based artist who explores experiences of immigration and cultural hybridity from an Asian American point of view. Lu creates sculptures and installations that often draw from traditional Chinese imagery and objects to problematize what it means to be both Asian and American without being fully accepted by either culture. She currently teaches ceramics at California College of the Arts.

Lu earned an MFA from San Francisco Art Institute in sculpture and ceramics, and a BFA in ceramics and a BA in Chinese language, history, and culture from Tufts University. Lu has shown her work at the American Museum of Ceramic Art (Pomona, CA; 2020), Front Gallery (New Orleans, LA; 2019), A-B Projects (Los Angeles, CA; 2019), and Irving Street Projects (San Francisco, CA; CA; 2018), among others. Lu has held residencies at Bemis (Omaha, NE; 2021), LPP+ at Minnesota Street Project (San Francisco, CA; 2019), and Anderson Ranch Arts Center (Snowmass Village, CO; 2016).

During her fellowship, Lu worked on a project called American Dream Pillows, inspired by pillows made during the Tang dynasty that were believed to be able to influence both the dreams and the future of the user. She will create ceramic pillows that meditate on Asian American experiences, specifically the tension between the American dream and the lived experience.

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