War Dance
April 2025
Ebony, Mahogany, Hemp, Hair From Head of Joyce, Spalted Tamarind, Padauk, Maple, 389 Hours


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Relevant Texts to “War Dance”

Chiang, T. (2019). Exhalation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate
The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling
The Great Silence
Omphalos

Kimmerer, R. W. (2015). Braiding sweetgrass. Milkweed Editions.
Roy, A. (1997). The God of Small Things. Vintage Canada
Le guin, Ursula. (1985). Always Coming Home. Harper Perennial ed., Harper & Row, 2023.
Kesner, L. (1995). Likeness of No One: (Re)presenting the First Emperor’s Army. College Art Association.




(the) Goods
April 2025
Blown Jars, Padauk, Osage Orange, Ebony, Maple, Mahogany

An accumulative collection of residue from sculptural projects...


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Relevant Texts to “(the) Goods ”

Miller, M. (2018). Circe. Little, Brown and Company.
Le guin, Ursula. (1985). Always Coming Home. Harper Perennial ed., Harper & Row, 2023.




Plume
December 2024
Ebony, Hemp, Hair from Head of Joyce, 106 hours

Conduit of War Dance


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Relevant Texts to “Plume”

Chiang, T. (2019). Exhalation. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate
The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling
The Great Silence
Omphalos

Kimmerer, R. W. (2015). Braiding sweetgrass. Milkweed Editions.
Roy, A. (1997). The God of Small Things. Vintage Canada.



Witness
November 2024
Ebony, Padauk, Hemp, Glass, Walnut, 115 hours


I see you.


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Relevant Texts to “Witness”

Roy, A. (1997). The God of Small Things. Vintage Canada.
Palahniuk,  C.  (2005).  Haunted.  Vintage.
Powers, R. (2018). The Overstory. W. W. Norton & Company.
Dostoevsky, F. translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. (2021). Notes from Underground. Vintage Classics
Euripides. Medea
S
ophocles. Oedipus Tyrannus



Prayer II
May 2024
Mahogany-obsidian, Ebony, Hemp, Padauk, 81 hours


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Relevant Texts to “Prayer II”

Miller, M. (2018). Circe. Little, Brown and Company.
Roy, A. (1997). The God of Small Things. Vintage Canada.
Dostoevsky, F. Frank, J. (1987). Crime and Punishment. Bantam Dell.
Palahniuk,  C.  (2005).  Haunted.  Vintage.


Little Works





Other Works


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About

Bio
Joyce Shi is an interdisciplinary artist exploring ritual and seduction through sculptures made of wood, glass, and stone. She graduated from RISD with a BFA degree in Glass. Her work is informed by her multi-cultural identity, as well as her interest in transformation, craft, and alchemy. She is currently based in Vancouver, BC.



Statement

My practice is informed by Ritual, both as a making process and as a theme of exploration. I’ve always found myself lingering in the archaeology sections of museums, especially around the ambiguous objects labeled under ‘ritual.’ I like to imagine their use. I picture Ritual in its most intense form— a Ceremony, a Performance in which rules of the mundane bend and distort into new ones. 

Within Ritual, objects are no longer confined solely within their functionalities: A spear used in warfare becomes a companion in dance; Its sharp end— once casted in bronze for durability — now a jade stone, carved and polished to perfection; Its shaft, weathered down by combat, now bejeweled in a mosaic of precious stones; Yet the spear remains deadlier than ever, in all its beauty and luxury. It performs war like a memory. It twirls in the hands of its wielder as it would on a battlefield, it cuts through thick plumes of sandalwood smoke as it would cut through flesh. In Ritual, no blood is spilled in vain.

 




Contact

email me: studiojoyceshi@gmail.com
@j0ycesh1

© 2025 Joyce shi. All Rights Reserved