150 cm x 170 cm
Threads, beads
Lace comprises two fundamental components: (a) the contour design and (b) the internal weave. This piece draws its foundation from A Four Petals’ Place—a work I crafted using traditional techniques between 2023 and 2024. It integrates the identical misalignment within both (a) and (b).
Additional experimentation is required to investigate how misalignment might be applied to (a) and (b) in more nuanced ways.
Multiple sizes
Ikat thread
Investigate the effects of material misalignment through experimentation. Employ the Bin dyeing technique—a method utilized across diverse cultural contexts, with particular reference to the author’s cultural heritage—to treat threads for lace production. Deviate from conventional practices of employing uniform thread colors or types by integrating varied threads and resist-dyed color variations. The objective is to evoke a perception of deliberate asymmetrical disarray rather than harmony when spatially composing the lace, mirroring organic patterns observed in everyday environments. Each lace piece is conceptualized as an autonomous entity, embodying its inherent natural dynamics within spatial arrangements.
Multiple sizes
Threads
A large-scale traditional needle lace work is typically assembled by stitching multiple smaller individual pieces with visible seams. I have consistently photographed the pieces prior to assembly, regarding this stage as an integral component of the creative process.
This technique was passed down to me by my grandmother, who in turn learned it from her own mother. Its origins, however, can be traced to Italian missionaries. In this piece, I explore a motif common to various cultures—here referred to by its Chinese name, Shidiwen (Persimmon Calyx Pattern).
254 cm × 203 cm
Silk, Ikat
The concept of 「裂」 found its continuation in this work, which took shape upon my initial arrival in Japan. It embodies a reflection on my position as a “midpoint”—a liminal space between China and the United States.
Multiple sizes
Threads, beads
In front of my grandparents' residence, there existed a paddy field where innumerable rapeseed blossoms flourished each spring. That particular golden hue remains the most profound object of my yearning. Every manifestation of yellow in my artistic endeavors originates from this recollection.
To replicate the textural quality of pollen, I have selected beads as my medium of expression.
Multiple sizes
Fiber
During the summer of 2023, I participated in a papermaking workshop in North Carolina. Utilizing residual paper scraps from my grandmother's lacemaking creations, these materials were transformed into either pulps or foundational bases for this series of lace artworks.
The selected elements and imagery in these works embody historical and cultural symbols representative of my hometown's local community, which is renowned throughout China for its lacemaking heritage.
406.4 cm × 254 cm
Silk, Ikat
The kanji 「裂」 originally denotes the silk remnants left after cutting, as well as the threads formed when fabric is torn by hand. The “pattern and color misalignments” arising from the interlacing of warp and weft threads during loom test runs can also be interpreted as a manifestation of 「裂」.
The inspiration for these patterns stems from ink drops—those accidental, frustrating blemishes often seen as marks of carelessness. However, when magnified, they command a striking presence, evoking the grandeur of landscapes. Their edges, softened through kasuri weaving techniques, mirror the blurry, indistinct boundaries between love and hate in human emotions.
94 cm × 145 cm
Silk, Ikat
While engaging in the intricate weaving process, I was reminded of a map of my hometown. The memories of my hometown are fluid, shifting like a stream—both vivid and indistinct, reminiscent of the blurred edges characteristic of ikat patterns. My relationship with my hometown is shaped by nuanced emotional interactions, wherein the boundary between familiarity and uncertainty converges. This boundary embodies what I term Flowing Ambivalence
Multiple sizes
Upon my initial arrival in Chicago in 2021, my physiological systems exhibited pronounced responses to the novel environment, manifesting as adaptive challenges. To systematically document these physiological fluctuations, I employed photographic methodologies to capture bodily reactions. These visual records were subsequently translated into textile forms utilizing a Jacquard loom, with the resulting fabric engineered into a triangular structure. The triangle—representing the most geometrically stable form—serves as a dual metaphor: both for structural stability and for the transmutation of documented physiological adaptations into a medium of familiarity. This artistic output metaphorically mirrors the progressive stabilization of my physical and psychological states during the initial settlement period in Chicago.
Multiple sizes
Threads
riverscichlids@gmail.com
Through techniques such as looping, crossing, gathering, and layering, her practice allows materials to convey narratives of labor, land, and the intergenerational movements of women. Her works often reveal traces of misalignment and repair, where memory, ecology, and cultural transitions converge in dynamic forms.
Qinnan (Rivers) holds an M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Fine Arts at Tokyo University of the Arts. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) and the University Art Museum in Tokyo, and has received support from the Ucross Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, CAMP, Sakata Orimono, and the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts.
Recently, she has been cultivating and processing plants and fibers with her family in Xiaoshan, while maintaining active collaboration with her multigenerational lace-making community.
PhD Candidate, Fine Arts specialized in Craft, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan
2021-2023
MFA in Fiber & Material Studies, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL, United States
2017-2020
BFA in Fiber, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Baltimore, MD, United States
Research Student Program in Craft, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan
2023
Correspondence course Certification (Online), Japan Handicraft Instructors’ Association, Tokyo, Japan
2023
Workshop in Papermaking, Penland School of Craft, Bakersville, NC, United States
2022
Workshop in Fiber, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME, United States
Studio Assistant for Diana Guerrero-Maciá, Chicago, IL, United States
2023
Studio Assistant for Kate Smith, Chicago, IL, United States
2023
Jacquard Assistant, Fiber and Material Studies Department, School of the Art Institute of Chicgao (SAIC), Chicago, IL, United States
2023
Teaching Assistant for Jacquard Class with Poppy DeltaDawn, School of the Art Intitute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL, United States
2023
Jacquard Assistant, Fiber and Material Studies Department, School of the Art Intitute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL, United States
2023
Research Assistant, Textile Resource Center, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL, United States
2023
Lab Monitor, Fiber and Material Studies Department, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL, United States
2021
Teaching Assistant for Advanced Woven Structure with Danielle Andress, School of the Art Intitute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL, United States
2021
Studio Assistant for artisan Fu Chunjiang, Xiaoshan Zhongyi Lace Company, Zhejiang, China
2020
Research volunteer for Project “Indigo Shade Map” with Rosa Chang, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Baltimore, MD, United States
2020
Teaching Assistant for History of Textile with Julie Geschwind, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Baltimore, MD, United States
(Solo) Thread’s Return along the Equinox, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL, United States
2025
On Lost and Absence, Art Institute of Chicago (AIC), Chicago, IL, United States
2025
The Dyeing and Weaving Exhibition, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan
2025
Art Venture Ehime Fes 2025, Art Venture Ehime Secretariat, Ehime, Japan
2025
(Solo) Between Patterns: The Language of Kasuri, Sakata Gallery, Fukuoka, Japan
2024
Gallery Opening and 2024 Counting Down Exhibition, Xiang Space, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China
2024
The Kanagawa Art Exhibition 2024, Kanagawa Prefectural Gallery, Kanagawa, Japan
2024
The Dyeing and Weaving Exhibition, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan
2024
The Fourth China Japan Fiber Art Exhibition, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo,Japan
2024
Elsewhere Dafu Store Opening Exhibit, DAFU Store, Tokyo, Japan
2023
(Solo) Tracing with the Thread - Lace on an Enclosed Tideland, SITE Gallery, Chicago, IL, United States
2023
Once: 2023 Annual Emerging Artist Exhibit, Cleve Carney Museum of Art, Glen Ellyn, IL, United states
2023
On Purple, London Art Collective Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2023
Unwinding / Unwound (Curator: Michelle Grabner, Chair of SAIC Painting Department), Research House for Asian Art, Chicago, IL, United States
2023
Graduate Exhibition II, SAIC Gallery, School of the Art Intitute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL, United States
2023
Creating Our Own Home, Gallery 1922, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL, United States
2022
Grand Rising: On Feeling and Interbeing, SAIC Wellness Center, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL, United States
2022
Graduate Exhibition, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Baltimore, MD, United States
2021
NextGen 8.0, VisArts Center, Baltimore, MD, United States
Artist Talk, Thread’s Return along the Equinox, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL, United States
2022
Artist Lecture, Flowing Ambivalence, Fiber and Materials Studies, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL, United States
2021
Artist Lecture, Xiaoshan huabian-Lace, Fiber and Materials Studies, School of the Art Intitute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL, United States
2021
Artist Panel, VisArts Center, Baltimore, MD, United States
Xiaoshan Huabian Workshop, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan
2024
Xiaoshan Huabian Workshop, Heritage Museum of Asian Art (HMAA), Chicago, IL, United States
2024
“Zha ran” Workshop, Heritage Museum of Asian Art (HMAA), Chicago, IL
2024
Xiaoshan Huabian Workshop, Fiber and Materials Studies Department, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL, United States
(Coming) Vermont Studio Center Residency with VSC Fellowship, Johnson, VT, United States
2026
(Coming) Winter Residency with Fellowship, Penland School of Craft, Bakersville, NC, United States
2025
Banff 2025 Fall Artist Residency with Banff Centre Award, Banff, CA, Canada
2025
ATHENA FUND 2025 Awardees, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL, United Stataes
2025
Kurume Kauri Residency, Sakata Orimono, Fukuoka, Japan
2025
Artist Residency with Fellowship, Ucross Foundation, Clearmont, WY, United States
2025
CAMP Open Grant, CAMP Residency, Aulus-les-Bains, France
2025
Takako Sano Student Scholarship, Glass Art Society, Seattle, WA, United States
2025
Workshop Financial Aid, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA, United States
Nominator, 2024 Brandford Elliott Award, Textile Society of America, Millersville, MD, United States
2024
Outstanding Award, Cleve Carney Museum of Art, Glen Ellyn, IL, United States
2024
Novak Pekins Full Scholarship, Penland School of Craft, Bakersville, NC, United States
2022
Clay Morrison Scholarship, School of the Art Intitute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL, United States
2020
Lenore G. Tawney Foundation Scholarship, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA),Baltimore, MD, United States
2019
International Outstanding Scholarship, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Baltimore, MD, United States
2019
Drawing Department Scholarship, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Baltimore, MD, United States
2017
Neil and Sayra Meyerhoff Scholarship, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Baltimore, MD, United States
“Unwinding / Unwound Exhibition Spotlight” by Anne Skaug & Delaina Doshi, October 20, 2023
“Discover five new Chicagoland artists” by Xiao daCunha, October 27, 2023
“SAIC’s Graduate Exhibition Offers a Primer on Chicago’s Best Emerging Artists” by By Joe Rosenthal, May 19, 2023
“Xiaoshan Huabian and its cultivating stitches'” by Muran, May 11, 2023
Last Updated 2026.01.15
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