Watkinson School, Hartford, CT — GPA 93.03
About
Ariel Qiu is a multidisciplinary artist and curator working across painting and mixed media, raised between Shanghai and Tokyo. Her practice moves between cultures and materials, attentive to impermanence, negative space, and the quiet thresholds between what is and what is not.
Her curatorial work explores the "void" not as emptiness but as an active space where meaning, form, and perception are made — informed by Japanese aesthetics such as wabi-sabi and mono no aware, and by a continued dialogue with classical Chinese material and form.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
2022–2026
July 2025
Summer Humanities Institute, Stanford University
June 2024
Pre-College Program, Introduction to Art Appreciation, Columbia University
June 2023
Pre-College Program, Luxury and Fashion, Sotheby’s Art Institute
Solo Exhibitions
2023
“Tradition Reimagined”, Shanghai
Curated and created all artworks for a solo exhibition blending traditional Chinese aesthetics with contemporary art, featuring mixed-media works that explore cultural inheritance and modern reinterpretation.
Group Exhibitions
2024
MOCA CT Regional Student Exhibition — “Humans & Nature”, Museum of Contemporary Art, CT
Presented Goes Around, Comes Around, a reflective environmental artwork expressing the cyclical connection between humans and nature — juxtaposing darkness and vibrant greens to symbolize destruction and renewal.
Curatorial Experience
2023
Hennessy V.S.O.P “Enter the Show!” pop-up exhibition — “Fruits of Tomorrow”, Shanghai
Assisted in curating and assembling a large-scale fruit-themed installation for Hennessy V.S.O.P’s pop-up gallery, contributing to design concepts and physically constructing the display on-site.
Publications
2025
Blue Marble Review, Issue 37 — artwork: “I’m unique, just like everybody else”; “Tech stress”
2025
Celebrating Art, January 2025 — artwork: “Sin”
Awards
2024
National Silver Medal and Regional Gold Key for “Breeze”, The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
2022
Best Potential Award, Fifth Global Art Creation Competition
Work Experience
2022–Present
Artist Xuelei Mao, Assistant, Shanghai
Assisted in the design and on-site construction of large-scale eco-conscious art installations for Guerlain and Hennessy, integrating recycled and 3D-printed materials to promote sustainability.
Applied interdisciplinary skills in design, fabrication, and event coordination, demonstrating adaptability in professional creative settings.
BORIS x LUXCIOUS Collaboration, Artist / Ambassador, Shanghai
Designed and illustrated the children’s label for BORIS x LUXCIOUS, combining hand-painted imagery with modern branding to evoke playfulness and natural balance; oversaw production to ensure visual clarity and material quality.
June 2024
Harvard CAMLab — Chinese Art Media Lab, Intern, Boston, MA
Wrote and translated content for CAMLab’s social media platforms (Instagram & RedNote), highlighting East Asian art and digital curation projects.
Designed branded cultural products for CAMLab’s outreach and membership initiatives; proposed layout and usability improvements for the lab’s website to enhance user experience.
Skills
Painting (oil, acrylic, watercolor)
Printmaking (lithography, etching, screen-printing, engraving)
Digital (Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Final Cut Pro, Procreate)
Sculpture (clay, wood, Chinese seal cutting)
Installation art, spray paint, plasticine carving