Mei Chen Makes Art Accessible, One Hand at a Time
By Rachel Erwin, Columnist
Mei Chen refers to herself as the “bifecta”: bisexual, bilingual, and bipolar.
This Northeastern graduate-turned-artist spends her days crafting little clay hands, which customers can buy to display or wear as jewelry. However, starting her own art business was not always her plan. If you had asked Chen a few years ago, she would not have considered herself an artist.
“I actually didn't take art classes growing up,” Chen said. “I still don't know how to paint and draw, which is kind of funny, but as I got older, I started getting my hands on different types of creative stuff.”
Photo provided by Mei Chen
Photo provided by Mei Chen
When deciding what she was going to study in college, her mother’s opinions had a pronounced influence. She wanted Chen to have a stable income and a comfortable life, so she pushed Chen to study pharmacy. Chen convinced her mother that she would be better off studying marketing.
“The funny thing is that I'm really bad at science,” Chen said. “I convinced her to let me do marketing because I was like ‘Please just let me, I will fail.’”
Photo provided by Mei Chen
In college, Chen started to explore her artistic side. She minored in graphic design and began needle felting, which is a technique involving stabbing wool with a sharp needle. Her goal was to experiment with polymer clay, but that was much more expensive.
“I've never been so broke in my life. I think I had $100 in my bank account,” Chen said. “I did not have money, but I wanted to explore new things.”
Then, a second grade teacher she had met while working as a nail technician enlisted Chen’s help to make some woodland creatures to fill her classroom. She took creative liberties with each — some wore scarves, others held Starbucks cups, and they all had big butts. Once she earned money from this project, she was able to purchase polymer clay.
At first, Chen made miniature cakes, ice cream cones, and other desserts out of the clay. Slowly though, she became frustrated that people were calling her work “cute”.
“They didn't mean it to be patronizing, but it kind of was patronizing. BI felt like if I was a dude and I showed someone, they would be like, ‘Oh, the dexterity,’” Chen said. “They were like, ‘It's small and cute and dainty,’ and I was like, ‘No it's art, you know?’”
Chen landed on the concept of hands after seeing another artist’s work with creepy looking hand sculptures. It was difficult, and Chen was not immediately adept at it. After taking a year off from sculpting to address her mental health, she posted a picture of her hands, and many of her friends asked for commissions. Now, her small business, The Meitriarchy, has 82 sales on Etsy, along with other custom commission requests. Her designs range from middle fingers earrings to hands holding vibrators and love letters, and they come in a wide variety of skin tones.
Photo provided by Mei Chen
Chen’s ultimate mission is to make art that is accessible to all, especially to those in the LGBTQ+ community, people of color, and disabled people, while offering an alternative to the elitist environments she sees around her.
“When I was growing up, I didn't feel like I was allowed to go to museums,” Chen said. “I felt like I didn't get it. I felt like there was something there that I wasn't understanding and it basically seems like museums are only for rich white people.”
Chen also uses her art to support causes that are important to her. Until April 28, 10% of the sales from her store will go towards the Asian Mental Health Collective, an organization that aims to normalize conversations about mental health in the Asian community.
In addition to her Etsy, Chen also has a YouTube channel, where you can watch her make the hands while talking about random true crime stories — another passion of hers. The videos are not tutorials, Chen explained. They are meant to mimic makeup artists who post videos of them putting on makeup while having casual chats, rather than showing viewers how to do it.
Looking ahead, Chen dreams of moving to Berlin and attending art school.
“I want to be around people that are passionate about the same things that I'm passionate about, so that has been my goal,” Chen said. “I'm not going to do just hands forever, but this is where the marketing degree comes in. You need to find a niche.”
So, why the bifecta? Chen says it’s the most concise and meaningful way to describe herself.
“Being bisexual and being a queer person of color that's also sometimes very mentally ill has completely colored every decision I've ever made,” Chen said. “Everything that I could say always links back to those three things, which is why I'm so adamant about putting them in there.”
Photo provided by Mei Chen
Photo provided by Mei Chen
