Artist Spotlight

In addition to the exhibition showing in the Seattle Municipal Tower, the Ethnic Heritage Art Gallery wants to highlight the works of artists on our roster and in the community with our Artist Spotlight.

Fiona K. Lau


Artist Headshot

About the Artist

Fiona K. Lau was born in British Hong Kong and immigrated to Canada as a child. She started taking art classes as a chemistry graduate student at the University of California, Davis. After living in Nigeria for two years, she moved to Seattle in 2013 and joined the Kang-O'Higgins atelier and Studio Arts Intensive program at the Gage Academy, with a concentration on painting and drawing.

Fiona is interested in the cross-pollination between Eastern and Western approaches to visual representation. Her work explores themes of displacement, otherness, and métissage. Sifting from images collected from different places and times, the drawing/painting process questions memories and culture through time, form, and space. Fiona has participated in exhibitions in Atlanta, New York, Seattle, and Japan. She has attended residencies at the Ox-Bow School of Art & Artists’ Residency, the Vermont Studio Center, and AiR Yamanashi, Japan.

Vist the Artist's Website

Selected Works by Fiona K. Lau

This painting was based on a found image, which reminded me of the Japanese battle standard from the Sengoku period with a phrase originated from Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” which resonated with my approach to painting.
Chinese landscape painting and philosophy have a deep influence on my relationship to nature, its imagery, and its representation. This work was a response to questions on land, culture, and ownership.
This painting explores forms and modes of representation by varying materiality and mark-making.
Made during the pandemic, this painting was an exploration of emotion and hope during a fraught time.
I was interested in the treatment of space and time. Different experiences were stacked in separate layers, compressing both elements.
This painting is part of a series inspired by the disorientation felt in the fragmented urban space in Japan, which juxtaposes the country's deep-rooted connection to the natural world.
I was struck by the image of my little nephew, who was a toddler at the time, hugging a plush shark to sleep. It seems wonderfully impossible.
This painting was completely unplanned. I was interested in how a mark or a form leads to another. This call-and-response way of working is both exhilarating and nerve-wracking.
This painting was inspired by Asian folk tales about the moon, with references to Hokusai’s ukiyo-e of waterfalls.
I took a lot of walks in my Seattle neighbourhood. This painting was inspired by a chaotic front yard overlooking Lake Washington. I was interested in the mishmash of objects in the lush garden and the way painting can transform relationships between form and space.
This painting was based on a found image, which reminded me of the Japanese battle standard from the Sengoku period with a phrase originated from Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” which resonated with my approach to painting.
Chinese landscape painting and philosophy have a deep influence on my relationship to nature, its imagery, and its representation. This work was a response to questions on land, culture, and ownership.
This painting explores forms and modes of representation by varying materiality and mark-making.
Made during the pandemic, this painting was an exploration of emotion and hope during a fraught time.
I was interested in the treatment of space and time. Different experiences were stacked in separate layers, compressing both elements.
This painting is part of a series inspired by the disorientation felt in the fragmented urban space in Japan, which juxtaposes the country's deep-rooted connection to the natural world.
I was struck by the image of my little nephew, who was a toddler at the time, hugging a plush shark to sleep. It seems wonderfully impossible.
This painting was completely unplanned. I was interested in how a mark or a form leads to another. This call-and-response way of working is both exhilarating and nerve-wracking.
This painting was inspired by Asian folk tales about the moon, with references to Hokusai’s ukiyo-e of waterfalls.
I took a lot of walks in my Seattle neighbourhood. This painting was inspired by a chaotic front yard overlooking Lake Washington. I was interested in the mishmash of objects in the lush garden and the way painting can transform relationships between form and space.

Interested in Joining the Artists Roster