Shiao-Ping Wang

Shiao-Ping Wang has an MFA degree in painting from Queens College, City University of New York. Her works exhibit internationally and in U.S. and are in numerous private and public collections. She had teaching positions in various colleges, including UNH. She received many awards and did residencies in US, France, Spain, Canada, and at Surf Point Foundation in Maine. Wang is represented by Barn Gallery in Ogunquit, Maine, and Furchgott Soudiffe Gallery in VT.

I use weaving and knotting pattern in paintings when I am drawn to the notion of association of bringing something into existence through the magic of our hands. I sense connection and engagement in weaving, and the weaving patterns seem like maps to growth and becoming. On these themes I have produced many paintings, and Love in the Milky Way is in a series based on an ancient Chinese love story about a young oxherd and a celestial weaver girl. 

The Story: The Oxherd and Weaver met on earth and fell in love, became a couple and had two children. However, after some time, the Weaver was called back to Heaven. Longing for a reunion, the Oxherd and the children attempted to go up to the sky to meet the Weaver, but the loved ones failed to cross the Milky Way to reach each other. The sadness of the lovers touched the sympathetic magpies, who then flock together to form a bridge for the couple to cross and finally meet. The Celestial Queen also became sympathetic and allowed the lovers to meet in the sky once a year, on the 7^th day of the 7^th month. 

First appeared in Chinese poems more than 2000 years ago, this story inspired various poems and legends in many Asian cultures. The Chinese continues to celebrate the 7^th day of the 7^th month every year, in the season where the stars of Oxherd and Weaver are the brightest. In the night sky, the Oxherd is the star Altair in the constellation Aquila, across the Milky Way from Weaver/Vega in the Lyra Constellation. These two stars and Deneb, in the constellation Cygnus, forms the Summer Triangle.