SISSI WHO?
Dr. Sissi Liu is a painter (under the brush name of Lusi Erling 鹿寺迩灵), composer, jewelry designer, and design and performance scholar. As a composer-lyricist and dramaturg, her work has been seen at the Carnegie Hall, Joe's Pub, the Juilliard School, Times Square Alliance, etc. Dr. Liu is a Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) certified designer. Her scholarly articles appear in leading peer-reviewed journals such as Theatre Topics and Performance Research. She holds a PhD in Theatre and Performance from The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and a Doctoral Certificate in Interactive Technology and Pedagogy (a.k.a. Digital Studies). She has taught at CUNY colleges and given lectures at Brown University. Dr. Liu was a 2023-2024 Visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ. Her book, Designturgy: The Drama of Design, will be published by Bloomsbury. Her paintings have been acquired by private collectors in the US.
An artist and scholar with an unflagging spirit of inquiry, Sissi is excited by, and draws connections among, wide ranging disciplines from rocket science to fragrance chemistry of trees to Song Dynasty Chinese paintings and ceramics.
She fights for the human race, and is compassionate toward those who cannot fight for themselves: the four-legged, the one-legged, the legless. She donates a percentage of all proceeds from the sale of her work to wildlife and plantation conservation.
She has volunteered for non-governmental organizations to end world poverty and for schools serving children with disabilities.
Sissi likes to plant hidden little seeds of love for all of those that read, view, or listen to her work. She believes that a song, a book, or a painting could change a person's life. She is a queer Asian.