Hi. My name is Iona Liu. I’m a 1st year PhD student in Art Education.
I was born and raised in China and spent 2 years in Ohio and 8 years in Chicago learning and practicing visual arts. I used computer programming and painting to explore spirituality and femininity. I went to SAIC for undergrad, and UChicago for grad. In my graduate thesis, I analyze female ghosts from Chinese ghost tales with an emphasis on three images in which female ghosts are manifested: beauty, corpse, and skeleton. I enjoy the cultural heritage of death and femininity from China very much.
After that, I stepped into my 25th year, and I realized my obligation as a member of society to participate in socially productive activities. In other words, I needed to get a job. At first, I aspired to support myself by making and selling art; then I aspired to work in an art-related position, learning in the art industry while supporting my art; and finally, I aspired to have a J O B by itself.
I'm not trying to whine about the low employment rates and annual salaries of arts graduates. Rather, I want to illustrate a shift in thinking after coming out of the ivory tower. In the past, I thought I could not live without art; after joining the workforce, the mind of art production exited from my routine without me even noticing. After peeling off my artist’s skin and letting go of my muse’s hands, I saw the magic of art from a different perspective: 1. art is not a product of strong demand in a society's supply and demand, and 2. it is as old and dynamic as the economy and trade itself.
I shall elaborate this magic with my work experience. I worked as a client manager in a financial guarantee company. Because of my art background, I was assigned to visual design-related companies and private educational institutions. I witnessed the tragedy of companies failing to pay their debts and summarized the reasons behind their bankruptcies as a side interest/concern.
In addition, I worked for an artist who defined building renovation, art education, and community operation as his art practice. I created databases and archives for his artworks, and I witnessed his magic of building an art community in a tough neighborhood, which was widely acclaimed. But I also saw a potential pitfall in running his business. I won't gossip too much in here.
In my opinion, art as a product is an ideological manifestation. But it should not be purely ideological that it does not care about a sustainable economy, which involves artists, collectors, educational institutions, and companies. Currently, I don't have much theoretical knowledge of art education or advanced knowledge of eco'nomics, but I am fortunate enough to get a glimpse of the art business ecosystem, even if it is a corner that hides the struggles of many art practitioners.
I hope to spend years filling the gaps in my current knowledge and delving deeper into topics related to my interests. At the same time, I don't want to give up on my past interests and the piles of ghost stories in my database. I hope to learn more about statistics, use UIUC's quantitative research resources, and pour large amounts of ghost tales into data analysis models to produce results that satisfy, at least, me.
Thank you.
在我过往的学业生涯中我使用代码和视觉艺术的结合探讨玄学、灵性、女性气质。在我研究生的毕业论文里，我摘选了部分中国鬼故事中女鬼的形象，论述了女鬼在故事中的三种显化方式：美人、尸体、骷髅，以探讨女性气质与死亡的中国文化遗产。在那之后，我步入了25岁，我意识到自己作为社会中的一份子有参加社会生产活动的义务：我该找一份工作了。一开始，我渴望靠制作与售卖艺术来养活自己；后来，我渴望在艺术相关的行业工作，一边学习艺术行业的知识，一边养活我的艺术；再后来，我渴望一份工作。
我并非要指出行业的不景气，艺术生毕业就业率低，艺术行业薪资低等社会问题。而是想要阐述一种从象牙塔走出来后的思维转换。过去，我认为不能创作艺术我无法活下去；参加工作后，艺术制作从我的routine中跳着轻快的芭蕾舞退出了。剥离了艺术家的画皮，放开了艺术的双手后，我从不一样的角度看到了艺术的魔力：1.艺术在社会供需中并非强需求产品，2.但它却如同经济贸易本身一样具有古老的历史且常青长存。
毕业后我曾在融资担保行业担任见习客户经理。由于我的艺术背景，我主要关注艺术设计相关的公司，在此我看到了艺术与经济活动的各种案例。见证了艺术类企业无法偿还贷款的悲剧、也时刻琢磨企业破产背后的原因。
另外，我在一位将社区改造作为艺术实践的艺术家手底下工作了一年。我为他大大小小的艺术品制作数据库和表格，见证了他作为艺术家打造社区的魔力，但也看到了他在企业运营中的隐患。
艺术作为一种产品是意识形态的体现。但它不应纯粹是意识形态，而不关心可持续的经济，这涉及艺术家、收藏家、教育工作者、媒体和公众。目前，我不具备艺术教育的理论知识，以及经济学进阶的知识，但我却很幸运地得以亲眼在业界一窥艺术在经济活动中的一角，即使这一角隐藏着许多艺术从业者挣扎的身影。我希望能够在接下来的一年里补充目前的知识漏洞，并在剩下的几年内深入研究，为相关议题添砖加瓦。同时，我也不希望放弃我的女鬼之旅，我希望能学习更多统计学的知识，使用uiuc的量化研究资源，将大量的文本倒入数据分析模型中，产出令自己满意的结果。
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