As a little girl in Taiwan, Jan-Ru Wan grew up expressing herself not by speaking but through making things. Creating art and working with material allowed her to connect her feelings to the world around her.
Wan found her calling as a student in the University of Chicago’s visual arts program, in which she discovered that some artists do not color within the page or draw in straight lines. She began creating large, three-dimensional installations using upcycled and found objects and materials that she hopes speak volumes without using words.
Host Frank Stasio talks with Wan about her path to becoming an artist and the way she reimagines material to connect spirituality, religion and art. Wan’s current exhibition, “Observing the Inner Voice” is on view at theGaddy-Hamrick Weems Gallery at Meredith College in Raleigh until March 5, 2019.