Artwork copyright Sumi Wu. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Artwork copyright Sumi Wu. Photo courtesy of the artist (detail).

Artwork copyright Sumi Wu. Photo courtesy of the artist (detail).

Artwork copyright Sumi Wu. Photo courtesy of the artist (detail).

Artwork copyright Sumi Wu. Photo courtesy of the artist (detail).

Artwork copyright Sumi Wu. Photo courtesy of the artist (detail).

Artwork copyright Sumi Wu. Photo courtesy of the artist (detail).

Artwork copyright Sumi Wu. Photo courtesy of the artist (detail).

Urgent Messages, 2007

Sumi Wu
(American, born 1967)

Location: Clark College, Vancouver

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

For the Urgent Messages artwork, artist Sumi Wu created a steel structure shaped like a circuit board. It is the framework for fused glass forms based on plant, animal, and nerve cells. She blends technology and biology to ask how these fields are similar, and how they intersect, now and in the future. Wu notes that "I see a parallel in electronics and biology. On the microscopic level, complex processes occur that we cannot see or directly experience, yet they determine the shape of our daily lives."

Urgent Messages and its partner artwork "Sky Machine" were created for buildings at Clark College where Wu herself learned to weld. The artworks reflect the technical nature of the subjects studied in the Applied Arts building complex.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Clark College.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Portland, Oregon-based artist Sumi Wu is a sculptor, welder, potter, costume designer, theater set designer, and dancer. Her artworks often focus on ideas about science and technology.

Sumi Wu grew up on a farm in Eastern Washington and in Los Alamos, New Mexico. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Japanese Studies from Stanford University in California, after starting in the physics department. She went on to study pottery, sculpture, and drawing at the University of Alaska and welding at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington.