Solo Exhibition ‘From Here’ Features Vessels by Visual Arts Alum Vivian Chiu '19
In her latest solo exhibition From Here at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (Virginia MOCA), Visual Arts Alum Vivian Chiu '19 asks us to consider the vessel—an object designed both to contain and to transport. Her sculpture—often taking the form of vases and bowls—holds the viewer between contexts, materials, and geographies, capturing the ever-elusive certainty, the only one we really ever have: change.
Chiu was born in Los Angeles and emigrated to Hong Kong when she was three. Her family owns a paper manufacturing business and factory and she was inspired by the repetitive, labor-intensive methods she grew up around. She received her BFA in Furniture Design from the Rhode Island School of Design, her MFA in Sculpture from Columbia, and is now based in Richmond, VA. Much of her work is marked by longing for family who live far away, as she considers home both from an attitude of preservation and continual reshaping.
One element Chiu uses to express these thematic intentions is the material of the sculpture itself. In 2022 she was gifted historic wooden crates from renowned Wing On Wo & Co, the oldest continuously operating storefront in Manhattan’s Chinatown that has been importing traditional Chinese porcelain goods since 1890.
From Here exhibits four revolving vessels made using this wood, including Round Trip (2025), a gourd shaped vase inspired by 18th century Qianlong ceramics. Initially, Chiu’s piece may seem visually familiar, but on closer inspection becomes more complex. The outer-most layer of the vase contrasts the intricacy of traditional ceramic-making practice with rough, exposed crate wood, while the inner layer is painted with airplanes floating through Chinese auspicious clouds. Other revolving vessels in the exhibition feature different motifs that cross eras and cultures, such as smokestacks releasing auspicious clouds and Chinese peonies marked with placards used in Western-style botanical gardens.
Blurring the separation of generational history and the present, Chiu’s work often engages with rituals around food. From paintings of her favorite Chinese dishes on a lazy Susan (A Hundred Fortunes, 2025) to conjoined bowls made of crate wood filled with uncooked rice (Family Dinner, 2025), Chiu invokes community and care that extend across distance and time.
She also interprets specific periods of history through her hands-on engagement with the material. Bowl With Nails (2024) originated from Chiu pulling nails from the Wing On Wo & Co crates, thinking of the work to put the crates together in the first place. The piece also evokes the forced labor and racial discrimination faced by early Chinese immigrants to America. Moongate (2026), an immersive segment of the exhibition, acts as a tribute to a devastating fire in Hong Kong on November 26, 2025 that Chiu witnessed at a distance through social media live streams.
In an interview with Contemporary Craft after being awarded the 2025 Raphael Prize, Chiu explains the unique relationship between viewers and craftwork that inherently takes a long time to make: “you learn how to look slower...I think on both sides there’s more patience and understanding and compromise...which I think we can all use more of.”
Chiu has attended various residencies, including the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and the Museum for Art in Wood. She was awarded a 2020 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Craft/Sculpture, the 2023-24 VMFA Visual Arts Fellowship in Crafts, and was recently a third-place prize winner for the Virginia A. Groot Grant. Recent exhibitions include Family Dinner (2025) at John & Robyn Horn Gallery at the Penland School of Crafts, NC and Twisted (2026) at Chautauqua Visual Arts Gallery in Chautauqua, NY.
From Here will be at Virginia MOCA in Virginia Beach, VA until March 21, 2027. Join Chiu for Coffee and Conversation on March 4, 2027 from 10:30 am to 12 pm or a Double-Bevel Marquetry Master Class on March 6 or 7, 2027 from 10 am to 4 pm. Chiu’s next solo exhibition will open at Joan Derryberry Art Gallery at Tennessee Tech University on February 22, 2027.
