Stephanie Syjuco facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Stephanie Syjuco
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| Born | 1974 (age 50–51) |
| Alma mater | San Francisco Art Institute (BFA) Stanford University (MFA) |
| Occupation | Visual artist, educator |
| Known for | Photography, sculpture, installation art |
| Awards | 2014 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation |
Stephanie Syjuco (born 1974) is a Filipino-American artist who creates art that makes you think. She is known for her work in photography, sculpture, and installation art. Installation art is a type of art where the artist creates a whole environment or space for people to experience.
Born in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, Syjuco moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States when she was a child. Today, she lives in Oakland, California, and is also a professor who teaches art at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Education and Teaching
Stephanie Syjuco studied art in college. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1995. Later, she received a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from the famous Stanford University in 2005.
Syjuco loves to teach and has shared her knowledge with students at many top art schools. Since 2013, she has been a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she teaches sculpture.
Art and Career
Syjuco's art explores big ideas about history, money, and how we see the world. She uses many different materials and methods, from handmade crafts to digital tools. She is interested in how things are made, who makes them, and what they are worth.
A lot of her recent work looks at how photographs have been used in American history. She questions stories that have left out certain groups of people, especially people of color. She wants her art to help us see a more complete and honest version of history.
Questioning Value in Art
One of Syjuco's most famous projects was called Copystand: An autonomous manufacturing zone. She set it up at a big art fair in London in 2009. At the fair, very expensive artworks were being sold. Syjuco and her friends made their own copies of some of these famous artworks.
They then sold their "copycat" versions for much lower prices. This project made people think about what makes art valuable. Is it the idea? The materials? Or the artist's name? It was a playful way to ask serious questions about art and money.
Major Exhibitions and Recognition
Syjuco's art has been shown in famous museums all over the world. These include the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
In 2019, she had a large solo exhibition called Rogue States at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. In 2024, her show After/Images opened in Seattle. This exhibition used photos and videos to explore the history of Filipinos and the effects of colonialism (when one country controls another).
She has won many awards for her work, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2014, which is a very important honor for artists. She was also featured on the PBS television show Art21: Art in the 21st Century, which highlights the most interesting artists working today.
Selected Exhibitions
Here are some of Syjuco's important art shows:
- 2024 Stephanie Syjuco: After/Images, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
- 2024 Dodge + Burn, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, California
- 2017 CITIZENS, Ryan Lee Gallery, New York, New York
- 2016 Neutral Calibration Studies (Ornament + Crime), Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, California
- 2011 Currents Series: Stephanie Syjuco: Pattern Migration, Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio
- 2009 1969, PS1, New York
- 2008 Perspectives Series 164: Total Fabrications, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Texas
