Today we’d like to introduce you to Liyao Liao.
Hi Liyao, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Hi everyone! My name is Liyao, and I am an illustrator and craftsperson. I am a graduating student at ArtCenter College of Design and also a frequent vendor at various local art markets. I can paint, draw, sew, write comics, do pottery, and even make zines and books!
As you can see, I love all forms of art.
Like any other artist, I’ve always been interested in making things as a kid. I remember making paper animals and fake board games to play with my siblings. As I got older, the interest in art never waned. I discovered DeviantArt in my early teens and I was amazed that there were all these people out there, who are just like me, who are able to create art, gain an audience and potentially make a living. Being able to involve myself in online art communities allowed me to see that art as a career was a possibility. Throughout my school years, I’ve always taken time outside of classes to do art on the side. I had my mind set on one goal — to become a concept artist in the entertainment industry. For the longest time, all I was interested in was to become better and better at digital painting.
However, when I got into ArtCenter College of Design, I suddenly found myself exposed to a variety of artists who create all sorts of interesting things. My peers and teachers inspire me to see art in a more holistic way. I realised that I didn’t just want to box myself in as a digital painter. There’s so much more about art to learn in this world, and I have my whole life time to continue to learn and grow. I took ceramic and sewing classes, and started making comics on the side. I made friends who vend at art markets and who inspire me to explore the possibilities of crafting. Slowly, I began to learn from them, and that’s how I grew into a more holistic artist.
I’m grateful to be where I am today, surrounded by amazing artists and teachers who continue to inspire me. This is just the beginning of my journey, but I’m excited for my future and to continue to explore the endless possibilities of art.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I battled perfectionism for the longest time. I would always be bogged down by the desire to make the best version of my work, to the point where I had a hard time finishing my ideas.
But then, through observing how other successful creatives live their lives, I have come to realize that making good art is about just making it exist out there in the world. Once something exists, you can always make it better; but if it doesn’t even exist, then it will never be real. This became one of the most important principles of art making that I stand by.
I have also come to realise that the definition of “good” art can be very personal.
The other challenge I faced was creative burnout and feeling like I was trapped. As an art student, it is inevitable that I was inundated by the sheer amount of heavy workload and strict course requirements. Suddenly, I felt like my freedom was lost — I couldn’t make whatever I wanted. There was always the pressure that you had to be a certain type of artist in order to succeed.
Eventually, I found my way out of the burnout by going back to the reason why I wanted to do art in the first place as a child. Art was a free way of expressing myself. I had no restrictions in terms of time or medium. I drew and stopped whenever I wanted to. I also didn’t care about whether I was doing art on paper, folding a book, or making paper dolls. During my burnout, I decided I would start doing art just for the sake of it, just like child me would. I realised that I did not need to just paint digitally. If I had an idea for a polymer clay sculpture, there was no one stopping me from doing it. If the next day I wanted to crochet something for fun, I was free to do it. That was how I discovered the world of craft, and found back my passion in art in self-expression.
It is important to do art for yourself, and recognise that there is no such thing as a universal standard of evaluation for good or bad art. The best kind of art is always going to be the art that makes you feel satisfied and fulfilled.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I do art across multiple different mediums and disciplines. I believe that if I want to see more of something in the world, I should contribute to it first and foremost.
I abide by 4 main principles for my art:
1) Dispelling the dangerous binary of art vs craft
In the past year I’ve begun to appreciate the artistry that goes into craft. We are told that art is conceptual, expressive, intellectual, and non-functional. Craft, on the other hand, is dismissed and relegated to the realm of functionality, skill and repetition. This divide is a capitalist, classist and colonial construct that places an arbitrary hierarchy on creative labor, especially because traditionally, craftspeople are often women or workers from a lower social class.
I’ve been learning different crafting skills so that I can make more things by hand. It’s more sustainable and non-exploitative. I am tired of the alienation I feel when I see that we all own the same things, made by the invisible hands of exploited laborers in faraway lands.
Crafting imbues my life with meaning and purpose when I know that the things I own were lovingly crafted by me and unique in this world. Craft is a form of resistance against the capitalist notion of efficiency and productivity. By deliberately doing things “the hard way”, I am savoring time instead of saving time, and engaging with the world in a real way.
2) It is vital to be silly
Why are we so serious all the time? Why does art have to be about important issues and deep philosophical musings? This is another way in which the art world creates artificial hierarchies that gate-keep who gets to enjoy and make “real” or “good”art.
I want to make art that brings happiness to people, and which defies standards of what is considered “good” or “bad”. We need art that is fun, fulfilling, and communal. Lots of people enjoy stupid things. It is valid, and it is deeply human.
3) Loving our objects
Ancient artefacts are a huge source of inspiration for me, especially the way our ancestors liked to anthropomorphise their daily objects. It speaks of a deep universal human desire to connect more with and take care of the things we use.
I enjoy making anthropomorphic objects, from my ceramic vessels to the silly faces I draw on things. To put a face onto something is to give it life. And to give something life is to cherish it in a unique, personal way. It is to say — I don’t want to just use and discard an object. I want to take care of it, give it love, and in return it will help me in my life for a very long time, and I will create precious memories with it.
4) You make a public around your art
In my Comics and Zines class last summer, my professor Allison Dalton mentioned the phrase “making a public around your art”, and that has changed how I view art for forever.
It refers to the effect of seeing someone else’s art, and feeling inspired and empowered to make something of your own. And by doing that, you could inspire someone else, and hence an active community of artists and collaborators is created.
It is important to make art that has personal meaning to myself, because if I don’t do it, who will do it for me? And by sharing that art, I hope that someone else out there might see a piece of themselves in my art, and feel empowered to share something about themselves too.
What were you like growing up?
I grew up in a very unremarkable middle-class Chinese family. I’m the first and only artist in my family of any generation. Unlike many of my peers who may have been exposed to more art growing up due to their environment, I’ve always had to discover things by myself. It’s scary and sometimes alienating to be the only artist in the family, However, being exposed to a community of creatives here in ArtCenter allowed me to really learn from them, especially how to live as an artist. Because I do believe that art is not just an activity. It is a lifestyle.
I was also an eccentric child who was interested in things that other people weren’t interested in. Fantasy music, dragons and an obscure online game called Flight Rising consumed my attention. I read Lord of the Rings when I was 9 and it still is one of my ultimate favorite book series. I’m glad I found an online community of artists through DeviantArt and Flight Rising, who do share my interest in fantasy. In my daily life, I was embarrassed about these interests and hid them from my peers, because people then were more interested in pop culture and celebrities, which I didn’t understand.
Looking back, I wish my younger self was braver and more expressive in pursuing these interests. After coming to ArtCenter, I was surrounded by other eccentric artists who had their own niche interests. I realised that it was okay to be interested in things that other people weren’t interested in — this is what makes me special and valuable creatively.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.liyao.art
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liyao_art/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liyao-liao
