Baiyangdesign

Artist Statement

Growing up in the traditional jewelry business owned by my family in China, my childhood was surrounded by beautiful stones and jewelry. When I was little, I traveled with my parents to many remote areas including Tibet and Xinjiang, where all manner of colorful, precious stones were found and unearthed. The way the walls of the caves emitted mysterious lights and colors of minerals and stones fascinated me. This primal attraction is forever a part of my memory. Collecting the broken pieces of damaged jewelry from the floor of my family’s workshop into a little treasure box, I always dreamed of creating my own.

Jewelry has always served as a way to express my ideas, memories, and experiences. My insight comes from childhood dreams, culture shock, or even societal issues. Choosing related materials and technical skills, these personal interests have developed into existential conversations. Silk, rice, newspaper, plastic, steel, gold, etc. are all utilized to create my work. The subjective relationship between my work and the body is part of this dichotomy, and jewelry acts as a medium to present my perspective to the wearer.

Biography

Baiyang Qiu was born into a jewelry business family in Taizhou, Jiangsu, China. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts in industrial design from Southeast University (Nanjing, China), she moved to Savannah to pursue her Master of Fine Arts in Metals and Jewelry from the Savannah College of Art and Design. As an emerging jewelry artist, she creates contemporary studio jewelry to communicate concepts surrounding her multicultural background. Baiyang has had her work exhibited during the 2008 SNAG Conference, and has been included in the Art of Jewelry: Plastic & Resin by Lark Publications. Her work has been juried as a finalist for the NICHE Awards in 2008 and 2009, and won 2009 NICHE Award in fine jewelry category.