Richmond artist Leting Cai opens studio during Eastside Culture Crawl, creating works from steel and wool

The Story

Richmond multidisciplinary artist Leting Cai, who works across sculpture, fibre, textile and metal installation, will open her studio to the public as part of the 30th annual Eastside Culture Crawl.

Cai will present her work at August Studio, a shared space for about 15 artists at 1320 East Pender St., during the event running Thursday, Nov. 19 through Sunday, Nov. 22.

According to the Eastside Arts Society, Cai is one of 85 new artists joining more than 500 artists participating in the annual crawl, in which artists open studios, workrooms and other creative spaces to give visitors a glimpse into their process.

Originally from Shanghai, Cai studied anthropology before switching to fine arts at the University of Victoria. She moved to Richmond in 2021.

Cai said her work often begins with transforming materials such as steel and wool, and she focuses on how process can shift perceptions of an object by adding culture, meaning and the physical labour involved in making.

Her three main processes include felting, crocheting and welding. She said steel often carries associations with strength and industrial production, while wool is linked with softness, warmth and domesticity, and that her work pulls materials out of those usual contexts to build new ideas.

Cai will create blue and white porcelain with wool and also build Chinese scholar’s rocks out of stainless steel as part of her studio presentation.

She said she wants the work to help challenge gender and cultural stereotypes and to explore how craft connects to fine art, noting that techniques like sewing, weaving and crocheting have historically been associated with domestic labour and often performed by women.

Cai said moving to Richmond has shaped her approach by reflecting “different cultural transitions,” where people maintain connections to their backgrounds while also “adapting and creating something new here.”

She said she attended the Eastside Culture Crawl about six years ago as a visual arts student in Victoria and decided she was ready to open her own studio this year to connect with a wider audience.