About

Qi Zhang is a ceramic artist based in Chicago, working from a studio in the Cornelia Arts Building. He began working with clay about ten years ago through classes at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and later at Lillstreet Art Center. He started on the wheel and with hand building, and a few years ago found his focus in slip casting. Each piece now begins as a 3D model that he prints, turns into a plaster mold and casts in clay.

Zhang is also a social science researcher, working to improve education systems through research evidence. Both practices grow from an interest in social change. His research asks how systems can improve, and his sculptures ask how identity holds up as the world around it shifts.