artist profile: ka wai shiu

Ka Wai Shiu was born in 1964 and was one of
the first artists at the Creativity Explored studio
in San Francisco—a nonprofit visual arts center where artists with developmental disabilities create, exhibit and sell art.

Shiu creates elaborate, detailed drawings and paintings—often complicated natural environments populated by many figures, or very specific stories ranging from the path of a Chinese New Year parade to an epic voyage of ships across the sea.

She sometimes integrates text into the two-dimensional space using many languages—including Cantonese, her first language—to narrate or give clues to the scenes she depicts.

To spend one minute with Ka Wai Shiu in the Creativity Explored studio, go here.