Ruffin Distinguished Visiting Artist Lecture: iris yirei hu and Paula Wilson

Please join us on Friday, January 30, 3:30-5:00pm in Campbell Hall 160 for a conversation with the UVA Department of Art's 2026 Ruffin Distinguished Artists-in-Residence, iris yirei hu and Paula Wilson, moderated by Elena Yu, Ruffin Gallery Program Manager. This visiting artist talk is presented in conjunction with hu and Wilson's Ruffin Gallery exhibition We Dream of Life, a 56-foot long textile installation born from the artists’ close friendship, shared dreams, and exploration of the natural world.

iris yirei hu is a multidisciplinary journey-based artist from Los Angeles who works across paintings, installations, intercultural collaborations, writing, and public art. In 2022, LA Metro commissioned iris to design a large-scale mosaic artwork for the future UCLA/Westwood Purple Line Metro Station slated to open for the 2028 Summer Olympics. She has exhibited at the Armory Center for the Arts (Pasadena, CA); Center for Arts, Research, and Alliances (New York, NY); Museum of Contemporary Art (Tucson, AZ); Plug In Institute for Contemporary Art (Winnipeg, MB, Canada); John Michael Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI); Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery; among many other venues. Notable awards and residencies include: UC San Diego Longenecker-Roth Artist-in-Residence (2025), John Michael Kohler Arts Center Arts/Industry Artist-in-Residence in Pottery (2025), Meztli Projects Cultural Worker Fellowship (2024), California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists (2022), Headlands Center for the Arts Artist-in-Residence (2022), California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship (2021), and Foundation for Contemporary Arts (2020 & 2018). 

Paula Wilson is a multidisciplinary artist based in Carrizozo, New Mexico, whose vibrant, layered, and often monumental works span painting, printmaking, collage, video, clothing, and installation. Recent solo exhibitions include the California African American Museum (Los Angeles, CA); The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery (Saratoga Springs, NY); and 55 Walker (New York, NY) alongside two-person exhibitions at the Joan Dignam Schmaltz Gallery at Colby College (Waterville, ME) and the Albuquerque Museum (Albuquerque, NM). Her honors include the Anonymous Was A Woman Grant (2025); Trellis Art Fund Stepping Stone Grant (2024-2025); Ree Kaneko Award from the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (2024); the Hodder Fund Grant from Princeton University (2020); and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant (2009); and the Happy and Bob Doran Artist-in-Residence at Yale University (2009). Her 2025 monograph, Paula Wilson: Toward the Sky’s Back Door, surveys nearly two decades of her practice. Wilson is the co-founder of the Carrizozo Artist-in-Residency program and MoMAZoZo. Wilson is a 2026 UVA Department of Art Ruffin Distinguished Artist-in-Residence.

This program is supported by the UVA Department of Art, the Peter B. and Adeline W. Ruffin Foundation, and an Arts Enhancement Grant from UVA Arts & the Office of the Provost & the Vice Provost for the Arts.