About
Born and grew up in Guangzhou, a metropolitan city in southeast China, Xiaowei will never get used to the cold weather in Montreal, Canada.
Having been playing the violin since the age of 4, and was one of the 3 students admitted to Xinhai Music Conservatory with full-scholarship at the age of 12, Xiaowei was deeply drawn to the Western culture through music. Xiaowei also started painting at the age of 5, but didn’t receive any formal training in fine arts until 16 years later, due to her very heavy study load on top of her busy schedule of violin practice, orchestra rehearsal, concerts and performances.
Xiaowei also has a lot of interests in other fields besides music and art, and that’s why she was not very happy about learning only music most of the time at a conservatory. So after being a professional violinist for 3 years, Xiaowei went back to regular high school. However, the emphasis of math and science in the Chinese education system made Xiaowei suffer. So she made up her mind to go to the US to pursue her university education.
But Xiaowei’s American education wasn’t smooth either. At the beginning, she had to major in economics for her father. She spent her first American summer in New York City interning in a Fortune 100 company. Xiaowei found out that many successful businessmen and women did not necessarily come from an economics or business education background. She also found herself in New York’s museums and galleries most of her spare time. After that summer, Xiaowei switched her major to art. In her senior year at school, Xiaowei had the opportunity to study in Vienna, Autria for a semester. Being in the capital of music, it was a dream come true.
The path of pursuing art is not straight forward. After gradation, because of visa issues for all International students, Xiaowei had to take a job in one of the world’s largest business intelligence companies in Chicago, working with senior level executives from Fortune 500 companies. One year later, she was promoted in a management position but had to transfer to Canada, again due to the US’s tightened visa policy.
Now, Xiaowei is already a permanent resident in Canada. She no longer needs to do things just for the visa. But her experience working in the business world will also help her in the art world. After all, in a commercialized society, art becomes business as well.