Xiaojing Yan is a Canadian artist whose work embraces the combination of her Chinese roots and education at Nanjing Arts Institute (B.F.A., 2000) with higher education at George Brown College in Toronto (2004) and an M.F.A. in sculpture at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (2007). Her unique point of view brings together the past and the present, encompasses culture and nature, art and science. Yan is a recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the 2014 Outstanding Young Alumni Award from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Project Grants from the Canadian Council for the Arts, the Chalmers Arts Fellowship, Mid-career Grants from Ontario Arts Council, and many more. Most recently, she has had solo shows at Maison Hermès, Shanghai, China, Art Gallery of Northumberland, Cobourg, ON, Canada, Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, BC, Canada and Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, China, Varley Art Gallery, Markham, ON, Canada. Yan has also completed public art projects and commissions in Canada and China including her 2018 installation Cloudscape at the Royal Ontario Museum and 2019 Window display "Into the Dream" for Maison Hermès. It’s my pleasure to learn more about the unique ethos behind her art and her intimate relationship with reishi mushroom, also known as lingzhi.
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EPISODE RESOURCES:
Ep. 138: Paleontology & Prototaxites - Mysteries of the Gigantic, Paleozoic Fungus (feat. Dr. Kevin Boyce)
Ep. 137: Artistry, Biophilia Beauty & Finding Equilibrium (feat. Jon Ching)
Ep. 136: Biotechnology, Mycelium Materials & The "Art, Science, Society Triad" (feat. Prof. Vera Meyer)
Ep. 135: Wine Forest Wild Foods - Origins and Evolution of America's Wild Mushroom Business (feat. Connie Green)
Ep. 134: Life in Amber - 50-Million-Year-Old Cordyceps & Other Fossilized Fungi (feat. George Poinar Jr. PhD)
Ep. 133: Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge - Ethnobotany and Ecological Wisdom of Indigenous Peoples (feat. Prof. Nancy Turner)
Ep. 132: Community Assembly, Plant-Fungal Associations and Mycorrhizal Ecologies (feat. Dr. Kabir Peay)
Ep. 131: Temptress Truffles, Fruiting Bodies Collective & Compassionate Upliftment (feat. Elan Hagens)
Ep. 130: Fungal Systematics, Mushroom Ancestry & Recognizing Patterns (feat. Dr. Andrew Wilson)
Ep. 129: Regenerative Soil Microscopy: the Book, Course & Database (feat. Matt Powers)
Ep. 128: NYC Mycology, Greenwood Cemetery & DIY DNA Sequencing (feat. Sigrid Jakub)
Ep. 127: Culinary Mushroom Magic & Commercial Foraging Anarchy (feat. Graham Steinruck)
Ep. 126: The Art in Mushroom Cultivation & Embracing the Unknowable (feat. Sam Shoemaker)
Ep. 125: Community Assembly & Fungi that Live in Flower Nectar (feat. Prof. Tadashi Fukami)
Ep. 124: Ali the Fungi Guy - Mushrooms, Joy & Wellbeing (feat. Ali McKernan)
Ep. 123: Mushlabs - Fermentation, Fungi & Foods of the Future (feat. Dr. Mazen Rizk)
Ep. 122: Church of the People for Creator Mother Earth - Authentic, Indigenous, Psychedelic Ceremony (feat. Shane Norte)
Ep. 121: Flora & Fungi Adventures - Campfire Magic, Truffle Tango & the Pursuit of Pleasure (feat. Maria Finn)
Ep. 120: Lichenology - Biodiversity and Evolution of Fungal, Algal Symbiosis (feat. Matthew Nelsen PhD)
Ep. 119: Garden State Mushrooms - Pioneering Cultivation of Beefsteak Mushrooms (feat. Jacob Alvarez)
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