Image Description: Walk Cycle of Shaina on a pink background

I made this walk cycle as a sample for my elementary art students!

Hello!

I’m shaina 呂明穎 (she/her), a queer Taiwanese-American artist interested in the intersection of art, education, and activism.

I like to create community art for social change, which means that my art happens in conversation with community members of places that I live, work, or play. Basically, my art is made through dialogue with other people. Sometimes I photograph protests, sometimes I paint murals in collaboration with youth, and sometimes I write and illustrate stories for a more just and liberated world.

I’m the author & illustrator of NOODLE & BAO (2024, HarperCollins Quill Tree).

When I’m not creating community art, I work with young artists and makers in the public school system. We design cool stickers, photograph our communities, make joyful comics, and imagine our radiant futures through art. See my teaching artist experience here!

I hold a B.A. from Wellesley College and a Ed.M. from Harvard Graduate School of Education, where I drew comics and ate Hot Cheetos under my desk studied Arts in Education.

& most important, I drink juice every day, and I am full of sugar.

Contact Me!

For publishing inquiries, contact (the very patient and knowledgeable) Wendi Gu (wgu@sjga.com) at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, and for all other inquiries (photography, public art, editorial illustrations, indie zines), please use the contact form below!

Indie Comic Anthologies

Author & Illustrator, Yeh-Yeh, Dirty Diamonds Issue 10: Death, 2020.
Artist, [ b a y s t a t e r o l l a z ], Strange Waters, Arledge Comics, 2020.
Artist, Run Hard!, Dates III: Adventure, Margins Publishing, 2019.
Artist, The Fisher and the Jeweler, Shout Out, TO Comix Press, 2019.
Artist, Unwanted, Heartwood, Power & Magic Press, 2019.
Artist, Between Worlds, Lilies Vol VI: Corpse Lily, Lilies Anthology, 2018.

Selected Press:

The Seekers, Ed. Harvard Ed Magazine
Local artist, author Shaina Lu talks art activism and pays homage to Chinatown activists in upcoming book, The Scope
Educators and Families Join Forces for Cambridge Somerville Asian Festival, The Scope
Shaina Lu Auctions Noodle and Bao, Bleeding Cool
Graphic Novel Announcement, Publishers Weekly
Project Community: Activism pushing forward against Asian hate, WCVB
MAPC Teams Up with Artists on COVID Communications, MAPC
Wah Lum Mural Honors 'Unity And Solidarity,” Wonderland
A Dragon Hugs the Corner: Wah Lum Academy Embraces Unity Amid a Pandemic, Neighborhood View
Malden Marks Juneteenth with Meaningful Celebration, Neighborhood View
Murals, Massages and Mandarin: Chinatown Uncovered, Boston Magazine
How Can Artists and Residents Work Together to Shape the Future of Rapidly Changing Chinatown? Asian Community Development Corporation

Galleries & Shows

  • “Inspired By…Artwork by Josiah Quincy Elementary School”, student art exhibition, Pao Arts Center, 2024

  • “Year of the Dragon”, group exhibition, Blue Triangle Gallery, 2024

  • ”Call and Response: Illustration in Uncertain Times”, group exhibition, Pao Arts Center 2023

  • ”Experience Chinatown Arts Festival”, Pao Arts Center, 2021

  • ”Queer + Trans Artists // On Love for Ourselves + Each Other”, group exhibition, The Meeting Point, 2015