Wei Hsueh

A Devotion to Art

— BFA Faculty —

When Wei Hsueh was a child of six, still living in her hometown of Taichung, Taiwan, she knew she wanted to be one of two things when she grew up: an artist, or a nun. “In some ways they share this common thing,” she says. “Their devotion.” Recently hired as a professor in PNCA’s photography department, Wei brings this devotion to her work both as artist and teacher. Her interest in religious ritual, as well as a fascination with pop culture (Dolly Parton is one of her personal heroes), infuses her creations — combinations of photography, installation and performance that draw on her rich background in theater production, filmmaking and Chinese landscape painting.

Wei left Taiwan in 1992 for Chicago, intending to study English for three months and then return to find a job in her native country. But once she was here, she says, “I found that America was really receptive of me.” Compared to Taiwan, which she describes as “very rigid in many ways — politically, socially, artistically even,” she found America open to different approaches to art. “I was never a conformist,” she says, “and I think because America is such a young country, there’s still room for differences.”

"Imperfections of the Flesh," 2005

She enrolled in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and began to study costume design. Attracted by “what I call the photographic problems or issues — certain things like originality [and] representation,” she changed her focus to photography and filmmaking, earning her BFA in 1995. She went on to earn an MFA in art photography from Syracuse University.

Wei’s work represents a continuous inquiry into, among other concepts, the notion of identity — nearly always, her own image is the subject of her work, as in 2005’s “Imperfections of the Flesh,” a series of life-sized scanned digital prints of the artist. Shown at the Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago, which represents Wei, these images are vulnerable, intimate, and simultaneously distant, somewhat like looking at fetal specimens encased in formaldehyde and glass. “I used the series as a metaphor,” says Wei, “that no matter how much or how hard I try to reveal myself, there is always a barrier between others and me.”

From "The Death Series," 2004

Wei began her teaching career at California State University, Chico, where she also served as the Area Head of the Photography Program. Skilled in a wide range of photographic techniques, she has taught color photography, digital image-making and pinhole photography, as well as black and white. Regardless of the medium, however, she hopes students learn about themselves in the process of making art, as she has. “I kind of use my art as a way that I solve my own problems,” she says.

In 2004, wanting more time for her own work, Wei moved on to Beloit College in Wisconsin, where she has taught for the past two years. Of her many moves, she says, “It’s almost like a spiritual journey. I make all these difficult situations for myself, to know myself more.” This spirit drives her art as well. Moving to PNCA represents the next step in her journey as an artist and teacher. “I want to work with students who are coming to school with no other excuse but to make art,” she says. “I want to work with professionals.”

BFA Majors

Communication Design
General Fine Arts
Illustration
Intermedia
Painting
Photography
Printmaking
Sculpture