Branching Out: An Interview with Olivia Luo. By Annette Wong

Examples of Olivia Luo’s visual work from the first-year Visual Arts program at SFU.

Olivia Luo is a multi-media artist who is currently taking second year visual art courses at Simon Fraser University. Although her course load at the moment seems to focus mostly on visual art, it appears that it is just a branch on a tree of possibilities rather than a stepping stone leading down one concurrent path.

“Before [entering the program], [I] was mostly [doing] traditional, like painting, drawing, …3D modelling, fashion design, comics…I tried a lot of things,” Olivia says with a laugh. “I’m still not settled, to be honest? I’m still exploring a lot of different mediums.”

 Some of Olivia’s earlier works before 2015

Despite her taking second year art courses, she has actually been around at SFU for four years. Her first two years consisted of various points of interest including Geography and International Studies. Although these areas of study seem somewhat scattered from each other, they appear to tie in with Olivia’s future plans: working in Japan.

“I realize[…]there’s a lot of good opportunities[…]for local artists,” Olivia explains. “[T]hey open galleries in[…]the suburbs nowadays, which is[…]a new trend that’s going on that I heard from my Japanese teacher. […] [M]aybe joining[…]a production of some sort[…]if they’re willing to hire people who like foreigners.” She pauses. “That’s why I’m also learning the language, too.”

Already, Olivia has been to Japan three times and does not hesitate to say, “I really wanna go back there.”

Some of Olivia’s most recent photographs from 2018

But before she goes abroad, Olivia is still curious in exploring completely different areas within SFU’s many art programs. Even in her second year, she is considering branching into theatre, both in the technical and performance aspect, enthusiastically mentioning her love of dance.

“My entire life [was just] very artsy in general. I love anything related to art. Music, dance, films[…]but[…]it’s so hard for me to settle for one.” She then clarifies that she’s always stuck to fine arts, but is interested in both contemporary and conceptual styles. In general, she also takes a liking to interdisciplinary courses.

“It’s really interesting to work with[…]people from different [disciplines],” Olivia comments. “I think I work really well in a team rather than by myself. […] I feel like I don’t know much, so I need to get out there.” 

More examples of Olivia’s most recent works from 2018.