Hai Ying Wu (also known as Jason Wu) is a

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

best known for his

firefighter A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...

s. and his memorial commemorating the

Auto-Lite Strike The Toledo Auto-Lite strike was a strike by a federal labor union of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) against the Electric Auto-Lite company of Toledo, Ohio, from April 12 to June 3, 1934. The strike is notable for a five-day running ...

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

. A native of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, Wu received his degree in sculpture from the

Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SFAI) () is a public university, public fine arts university established in 1940 in the southwest City of Chongqing, China. It is one of the art academies in China and the only one in southwest China. History and reputa ...

, and became staff sculptor for the city of

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

on the Chengdu Public Arts Commission."School Offers Art Sessions." ''The Arlington Times.'' November 9, 1994.
/ref>
/ref> He worked primarily in public art and in the " socialist realist" genre.Paynter, Susan. "Artist Tributes to Firefighters Cause Sparks." ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer.'' May 17, 1996.
/ref> A large number of his public art works can be seen in Chengdu. He participated in the

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between t ...

, and was caught in the square when the Chinese military attacked the demonstrators. He emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

later that same year, and in time became a U.S. citizen. He worked in construction and as a dishwasher before enrolling in the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

School of Art. He graduated with a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

degree. For his master's thesis, he designed a

to 19th-century Chinese railroad workers which was later installed in a park in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

. As of 2007, he divided his time between his home in

Everett, Washington Everett (; ) is the county seat and most populous city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the Seattle metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett ...

, and China. Wu is best known for sculpting the Seattle Fallen Fire Fighters Memorial in Seattle's Pioneer Square. A design competition was held among all interested students in the UW School of Arts, and Wu's design was chosen. He has erected similar memorials throughout the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

. He also created the Auto-Lite Strike Memorial in Toledo, which commemorates the violent

United Auto Workers The United Auto Workers (UAW), fully named International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico) and sou ...

strike of 1934. His work for Compass Health in

, was his first sculpture to focus on children.

Public works

Among Wu's public works are:
"Crane and Turtle" located at North Shore Health Center, Bothell, Washington

"Emerging" in Renton, Washington

"The First Pitch" in Redmond, Washington

"Hide and Seek"
at Imagine Children's Museum Collection, Everett, Washington :*"Children Crossing a Stream" at Luther Children's Crisis Facility at Compass Health, Everett, Washington
"Migration" in Bend, Oregon
:*"Mushroom Lanterns” (four separate pieces), a collaboration with Michiko Tanaka, in Seattle, Washington
"Northglenn Veterans Memorial" in Northglenn, Colorado
ref>"Northglenn Chooses Sculptor." ''Rocky Mountain News.'' October 5, 2001.

:* ttps://www.glendaleaz.com/arts/InteractiveArtTour_1.cfm "Team Work" in Glendale, Arizona

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Hai Ying People from Everett, Washington Artists from Chengdu American sculptors Socialist realist artists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Chinese emigrants to the United States Sichuan Fine Arts Institute alumni University of Washington School of Art + Art History + Design alumni Chinese sculptors