Bio

Kung Dreyfus (Jie Xi) is an international cross-disciplinary artist, architectural ornament designer, teacher, and writer. Her art practice maps consciousness through large scale ink drawings, ritual activations of museums, spiritual reckonings with architectural ornament, and journeys through ancient language. She is the founder of Make Conscious, co-chair of Yale Women in Architecture, and co-founder of Longhaus. She holds multiple degrees, including a BA cum laude from Yale in Architecture and an MFA from California College of the Arts.

Jie Xi sees architectural ornament and spatial design as an energetic system rather than mere decoration. She revives the cosmos through ornament, reintegrating geometry, spatial harmonics, and geomantic intelligence into design. Every piece she creates, whether a performance piece, a tea set, or an architectural ornament, is not just an object: It is a portal into a deeper way of seeing and being.

Her work deconstructs spiritual materialism and extractive aesthetics, creating a sanctuary of meaning, depth, and purity. She doesn’t fear engagement with the world, moving through it with unapologetic clarity, forging an ancestral creative language that transcends conventional art, literature, and design.

Jessica Kung Dreyfus
Curriculum Vitae Highlights

Education
B.A. cum laude, Yale University, Architecture
M.F.A., California College of the Arts, Interdisciplinary

Select Museums/Exhibitions
LACMA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Slash Gallery, SF, The Battery, SF, Chinese Culture Center, SF, DeYoung Museum, SF, Fotile Gallery, Shanghai, Centrale Montemartini, Rome

Awards/Fellowships
Celeste Prize Finalist, Seymour Lustman Memorial Prize, Mellon Fund Recipient, Sudler Fund Recipient, National Merit Scholarship Finalist