Mengnan Qu
2021, 24K yellow gold, 18k green gold, 14k yellow gold, fine silver, sterling silver, copper, enamel, keraflex porcelain, nova scotia earthenware, antique porcelain piece, steel, 4×5.5x1cm, photo credit to Yu Xia
“My work focuses on real superstitions and absurd realities, and my perspective of the world. A storytelling can be understood differently from person to person. In the “Pick It Up” series, I come to an appreciation for the opportunity to reform the beauty of lost antique porcelain pieces. However, I do not want to cover the history and the beauty of these fragments, so I built ruin sites as the backgrounds of these treasures. In this project, I explored new materials on the enamel surface to building my personal narrative into the fragments of history.”
Mengnan Qu graduated from the BFA program at NSCAD University and completed her MFA degree at the State University of New York at New Paltz with a full-tuition scholarship. She is currently teaching in the NSCAD jewellery department. Mengnan has a perceptive, sensitive eye and mind. Her mixed cultural and educational background provides her with a unique outlook on the world. She reconsiders Western society through traditional Chinese culture and rethinks Chinese society by looking at it from an international perspective. Mengnan’s work has been exhibited and published in Europe, Asia and North America. She was selected by the National Art Foundation Residency of China. Mengnan was awarded the Enamelist Society Juror’s Choice Award and The Winner of Niche Award when she was still a student at NSCAD. Mengnan was also nominated for the Saul Bell Award, and was a Talente Award finalist at Munich Jewellery Week.
