About the featured artists ANN PHONG received her MFA in painting from California State University, Fullerton in 1995, and has actively participated in more than 100 solo and group shows in galleries and museums. Her work has been exhibited in Los Angeles, to Houston, Vancouver, Bangkok, Karbi, Seoul, Chengdu and Taichung. Ann currently teaches art at California State University Pomona. Ann also serves as the board president of VAALA (Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association), a nonprofit organization to promote Vietnamese American artists who live outside Vietnam. Ann has been invited to speak at many high schools, colleges, universities, galleries and museums on the subject of her own work and the work of other Vietnamese American artists. Artist Statement Ocean water captivates me. In the water, I see my past. A long journey from one seashore in Vietnam to another in California. Through the fluid brushstrokes, I use art to reflect the feelings and thoughts of the people who have experienced up-and-down living situation in life, those who have to separate themselves from their family to go afar to look for a better future, and those who have struggled to assimilate into a new society. The formal elements of my work are all equally important. I use thick and thin layers of pigments, ambiguous and conflicting spatial arrangements to express the complexity of human life. Energetic marks making and soft lines juxtapose each other to enhance an overall dynamic outlook. When my work aligns with my feelings, the piece is done. Professional Contact Information www.annphongart.com ǀ annphong@cpp.edu List of ANN PHONG's works on display 1- Human and The Ocean - 2016 45" x 28" $2600 2- Lullaby - 2012 Acrylic 20" x 24" $1200
3- Looking at The Ocean From the Broken Boat - 2016 Acrylic 24" x 36" $2000 4- An Advice - 2008 36" x 60" $3000 5- Contemplation #2-2016 30" x 40" 6- Two Sides of the Pacific Ocean - 2015 Mixed media with acrylic 30" x 40" 7- Young and Old - 2016 30" x 40" 8 - Thinking About The Pacific Ocean - 2016 Mixed media on wood 48" x 32" $1800 9- Box of water II - 2011 40" x 30" $3000
10- Searching - 2005 48" x 24" 11- Seeds Germination - 2011 40 x 30 12- Ocean Heart - 2016 Mixed media 48" x 21" $2300 13- Crossing The Ocean - 2008 Acrylic 48" x 24" 14- Up-and-Down in Life - 2011 mixed media on canvas 36" x 48" $3000 15 - Feeling Free - 2016 14" x 14" $500
16- Stepping Out of the Past - 2016 14" x 14" $500 17- Solitude - 2015 20" x 16" $900 ***** TRINH MAI is an interdisciplinary, California-based artist whose work is driven by innovative narratives of storytelling, re-imagine personal memories, family roots, and spiritual connections. Since receiving her B.F.A. in Pictorial Art from San Jose State University and furthering her studies at UCLA, Trinh has exhibited nationally, showing in public and private collections internationally, and has exhibited with well-respected institutions such as the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and the Naples Museum of Art. She has served as Project Director for the Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association (VAALA), Master Teaching Artist for the Bowers Museum, and Course Developer for the Pacific Symphony. Currently, Trinh is a member of the Advisory Board for The Artist Odyssey (TAO), and the Visual Art Program within the Diasporic Vietnamese Artist Network. She currently holds a dual Artist-in-Residentship with the University of California Irvine s Vietnamese American Oral History Project and for Cal State Fullerton's Grand Central Art Center. Trinh has been invited to Stanford University to speak about her work, and her paintings and poetry have been published by Purdue University's Journal of Southeast Asian American Education & Advancement. Her work has been documented by TAO in the film called Honoring Life: The Work of Trinh Mai, which received the Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film at the 2016 Viet Film Festival. Artist Statement Drawn from intimate experiences of heartache and triumph, of struggle and perseverance, and of loss and fulfillment, my work excavates my roots through abstract and literal representations. As a second generation Vietnamese American, my art practice allows me a chance to seek connection to my predecessors, so that I can interpret these stories through my own ears, eyes and hands.
Professional Contact Information Trinhmai.com ǀ trinhmaistudios@gmail.com List of TRINH MAI s works on display When We Became Trees - 2014 Charcoal, gouache, and hand-stitching on paper, diptych 40 x 29 each panel $4200 And Her Face Was No Longer Downcast - 2013 Mixed media on paper 24 x 19" $3100 Boat Folks 2013 mixed media on paper 24 x 19" $3100 Lifted, 2014 Mixed media on acrylic, mylar, and paper 11 ½ x 11 ½ Inspired by photos taken in 1975 from the Bettmann/CORBIS archive, this piece is the first of an experimental series of three-dimensional paintings which honors the resilience of our Boat People. The boats are printed and cut from the scarf that I wore upon my head during my great-grandmother's funeral, a Vietnamese tradition to differentiate between the generations which stem from the deceased.
Arrival - 2014 Mixed media on acrylic, mylar, and paper 11 ½ x 11 ½ A myriad of tents awaits the arrival of Vietnamese immigrants while children gather to observe the sprouting of a new beginning. The tents are cut from the scarf that I wore upon my head during my great-grandmother's funeral, a Vietnamese tradition to differentiate between the generations which stem from the deceased. Sữa Xưa (Milk of Old) - 2012 Oil, acrylic, joss paper and hand stitching on canvas 48 x 36 $5200 Proceeding Bà Cố Phủ (Mẹ Của Mẹ Của Mẹ Của Mẹ Của Me, 2012), in both a genealogic and pictorial sense, this painting is drawn from photos of my mother and great-grandmother. Continuing to explore the idea of abundance, I considered milk and its symbolism. Milk is the first form of nourishment that is offered to a newborn child, and represents fertility and God s blessings. My great-grandmother, stoic and strong, prepares for the migration to the land of milk and honey. She holds my dear mother whose eyes fill with wonder and whose face beams toward a bright future. My mother willingly reaches out to catch her blessings. Mẹ Của Mẹ Của Mẹ Của Mẹ Của Me (My Mother s Mother s Mother s Mother) - 2012 Oil, acrylic, joss paper and hand stitching on canvas 48 x 36 $5100 This painting was inspired by a photo of my great-great-grandmother that I found impeccably preserved in my grandmother s photo album. While leafing through the pages of invaluable photos, I thought about how undocumented history risks being forgotten. As stories of old are passed down to the next generation, as photographs capture time and culture and space, as recipes are shared, as the youth learn to ask the important questions while the elders are still here to answer (and, as I have learned, they answer willingly and extensively), we can help perpetuate these very important details which effect the character that continues pacing through our veins from generations past. For this painting, I printed Bà Cố Phủ s portrait onto rice paper and sat her down in a chair for her to rest her weary feet. As she considers her life experiences, her countless accomplishments, and the memories of raising three children and
twenty-three grandchildren, the details of her fruitful life trickle down and gather abundantly at her feet. Traditionally, joss paper is burned in prayer for the ancestors, but here, I intend to preserve. Begins with Tea, 2013 Joss paper, grains, seeds, herbs, dried noodles in tea bags 4 1/2 x 1 3/4" each tea bag $2400 / set of 25 While my 85-year old grandmother sips her afternoon tea, she shares with me stories of old as childhood memories and cookie crumbs scatter before us upon her dining table. Since last year, I have been saving her tea bags and filling them with old photographs from our family archive. I have encapsulated these photos in Bà Ngoại's used tea bags to signify our time together during which these precious memories are relived. The contents consist of seeds, herbs, grains and noodles, which are used in traditional Vietnamese dishes, many of whose recipes were passed down to her by her mother. I've gathered these items from her pantry, along with seeds from the fruits found in her kitchen and plucked from her garden. Bà Ngoại (Grandmother) - 2015 Ink (fingerprints) on paper 19 x 24 $4200 In considering those who have touched me my life so deeply and have left their imprints, I sigh a deep breath of gratitude for my Grandmother. Her faithfulness, her thoughtfulness, her reverence for humanity, and the way she gave love so generously has moved me in such profound ways, that I have embraced these as life lessons to help me live a fulfilling life. In this way and in so many others, she lives on through me and has helped shaped my identity. My hands grazed her face softly and intimately as I created this portrait of her with my own fingerprints. The marks symbolize this identity that she had helped develop throughout my life while she was here with us, as well as the identity that her vivid memory continues contouring still.