EAC Intern Ahmad Irons interviews artist Qianwen Yu, focusing on her exhibition, Woven Rhythms: Textiles, Music, Motion, on view at the EAC November 9 - December 16, 2024.
1. What themes or ideas are central to your work, and how did you come to explore them?
My work explores materiality, interdisciplinary connections, and the relationship between visual, tactile, and auditory experiences. While studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), I took classes in both digital jacquard weaving and floor loom weaving. The process of setting up the loom felt familiar to me—it reminded me of playing the electronic keyboard, which I studied for several years as a child.
Both weaving and playing the piano involve the synchronized use of the hands, feet, and eyes. In weaving, you use your hands to move the shuttle, your feet to press the treadles, and your eyes to follow the patterns being created. Similarly, playing piano requires coordinating hands to play the notes, feet to press the pedals and a rhythmic awareness of the music. This realization inspired me to explore the intersection of weaving patterns and music composition—seeing if it was possible to translate one medium into the other.
2. Can you describe your creative process? How do you approach starting a new project?
My creative process often builds upon previous projects. For instance, in Woven Symphony, I explored woven fabric as both a visual map and a musical score. I began by referencing weaving drafts from Carol Strickler’s 8-Shaft Patterns, selecting patterns like stars, hearts, trees, flowers, and figures. I transformed these weaving drafts into music by assigning numbers to the drawdown areas. The numbers were then read bottom-to-top—mirroring the physical act of weaving fabric from the bottom up. Using Logic Pro, I arranged these numbers into compositions, with each pattern expressed through a unique instrument.
The project Weaving Philip Glass’s Opening evolved as a contrast to Woven Symphony. Instead of translating weaving into music, I reversed the process by translating music into weaving. I focused on Philip Glass’s Opening from Glassworks, a minimalist composition known for its repetitive structure and subtle textural shifts. I mapped the rhythms and patterns of the music into a woven fabric, visually representing the repetitive beauty found in both mediums.
3. How do personal identity and lived experiences influence your art?
As a foreign female artist living in the United States, I often feel like an outsider—someone on the margins. This perspective shapes my creative voice and drives me to explore the boundaries of art. I’m drawn to experimental, unconventional work that reflects my interest in marginalized or overlooked artistic forms.
4. What role does experimentation or risk-taking play in your practice?
Experimentation is at the heart of my practice. Both the final look of the woven fabric and the resulting sound compositions are inherently unpredictable. I embrace the risk of not knowing exactly how a piece will turn out, allowing the process to guide me toward unexpected discoveries.
5. Can you describe the relationship between your work and the audience? Do you aim to provoke specific reactions or leave interpretation open-ended?
I prefer to leave my work open to interpretation. My goal is not to dictate a specific experience but to invite the audience to engage with the pieces on their own terms. By creating multisensory works—where weaving, sound, and movement intersect—I hope to make art more accessible and encourage viewers to discover their own meanings and connections.
Image Credit: Erica McKeehen
