Nguyễn Thủy Tiên
Hat & Photo by Brianna Nguyen
Art is culture. It’s love that forms sculptures, tapestry that tells a story through each stitch, and landscapes that come to life from brush strokes. For the month of May, The Phantom will be celebrating AAPI artists of different backgrounds and different art forms. While it’s important to acknowledge the hardwork and dedication of artists, it’s just as important to recognize the struggles of being one. On May 6, 2022, I sat down with Brianna Nguyen to discuss what art means to her.
Hi, my name’s Tien Nguyen, and for the month of May, The Phantom will be covering Asian American and Pacific Islanders in media and here at BISFA. Today, I’m with Brianna Nguyen. Introduce yourself!
Hi, I’m Brianna Nguyen, and I am a Senior at Barbara Ingram School for the Arts, and I’m a visual artist!
Woohoo! So, what has your journey been as an artist?
It’s been really rough. Um, especially over, y’know, the past two years. It’s been really rough. During the whole -- well, it’s still happening to this day -- a lot of Asian hate crimes spiked because of the pandemic and all like that. Especially with visual art, a lot of the visual art that has been created has been centered around it. It’s really interesting.
Do you think that with COVID, it’s affected your learning here as a visual artist?
Oh, yeah, big time! Because a lot of it -- cause we did a lot of different learning, and with art it’s really hard to do learning, I guess, like, online? So a lot of it, we as students, had to teach ourselves, so it was really hard with that. Luckily, all my classes at the time were 3D, so I was able to teach myself pretty well.
So, explain what 3D art is then?
Well, what 3D is… it’s kinda complicated? You have, like, your ceramics ‘cause when you think of 3D, a lot of people are like, “Oh, sculptural?” but as of recently, I’ve been doing fiber stuff, so that’s one of the things. But over our lockdown and distance learning, I’ve done a lot of ceramic work. Y’know, it’s clay, pottery, all that type of stuff.
As I’m sitting here with Brianna right now, she’s currently crocheting --
Yeah…
-- she’s currently crocheting a cow, so would you like to explain this and what it’s for?
Oh! So, when is this -- I’m sponsoring my booth, uh, Saturday at the Cultural Trial in Hagerstown from 10 to 4PM, there’s gonna be a little festival thing. So, there’s gonna be food, vendors, and it goes all the way up to City Park.
Alright, we were not given any information on that, so would you like to explain what the festival will be?
So, the Cultural Trial is actually a really big, um, like, it’s just a giant trial of art and photographs and everything like that, and they just installed a new installation piece with butterflies. If you’ve seen it back there, it’s there. Um, yeah, a lot of student vendors are gonna be there -- a little extra, a little peek of that.
Cute! This interview will be coming out after that Saturday, so I’m sorry we couldn’t get the news out earlier. Circling back to what you mentioned earlier about the Asian hate crimes and just your experience as an artist… um, if you’re comfortable with answering this -- we can leave this out if you want to -- have you ever encountered an obstacle in your career as an artist and if so, how have you overcome that?
So, I think, as an artist -- okay, this happened especially in the younger years of being an artist, so we’re talking middle school, and you’re not really taken seriously I felt, or I wasn’t taken seriously because at the time, my instructor -- 6th grade, my instructor was a male -- a white male -- and he was very… I wouldn’t say prejudice but very biased on his students and everything like that, and I feel like that was an obstacle in itself. And I feel like, y’know, I dunno… recently it’s gotten better to where you’re taken more seriously, and those of different heritage are taken more seriously, so I think that’s a start.
Yeah! Coming to BISFA, after being in that middle school environment, has that changed and has that helped you flourish?
Yes, that has helped so so so much because here at BISFA, y’know, I feel like everyone’s more welcoming! It’s not just like… I feel like for me and my art educators there’s no real bias, and everyone is treated equally regardless of, like, where you came from, your background in art, et cetera et cetera, so I think that is very refreshing, and that’s something very nice about our school.
You mentioned background in art -- how has your style changed over time?
Oh! So, I never had a -- okay, I never had a style, and I always thought -- assumed -- art was only 2D art, and then, like, now all I do is 3D. I hate 2D art.
Why do you hate 2D art? What was that journey like, discovering your love for 3D art?
I’m a tactile person, so I like feeling things, I like putting things in place, and I feel like there’s more, I guess like, satisfaction when you take these items that are nothing at first, and then you put them together, and it’s something.
This’ll be a deeper question, but as Vietnamese Americans, it’s not otherworldly for us, the younger generation, to have Vietnamese parents who look down on the arts as a career or passion. I know personally mine aren’t too happy that I’m pursuing writing. The model minority myth influences the way Asian parents perceive success and what makes someone successful, and it typically doesn't include a career in the arts but rather fields like medicine or law. Can you speak to that at all?
Yeah, a hundred percent, so my I- I don’t know if my parents have talked to you about it but my cousin, she is a, um, pharmacist, and she makes a lot of money, and she studied a lot of med school. And then another cousin of mine, she’s gonna be an orthodontist, and, y’know, a lot of medical-based jobs that they want [me] to do. And, y’know, me being in visual arts and me telling [my parents] that I wanna pursue visual arts, um, specifically, like, uh- I wanna do fine arts for college, and then for a 4-year college, I wanna do fiber arts, and so in their minds the only type is art -- like physical, like visual arts -- they think of, like, “Oh, you’re working for Disney. That- that is where you’re going.”
And it’s- it’s not… it’s not that. It’s hard telling them that because they have that this thought in their mind and they have this idea that’s already there and because, like, they’re old-style, so they- they can’t really change, but I think, y’know, for newer parents of this generation, they’re more welcoming, which is really really nice, but yeah.
And I think that it’s hard to dismantle that idea when, like… especially for immigrant parents, they’ve been like --
They’ve had to work for it.
Yeah, exactly! They’ve had to work to get here, and to them… you’re not pursuing a career that will, like, automatically make you money, and that’s like failing, but that’s not the case obviously, and you’re proving that. Four years at BISFA, you’ve been proving that you’re a great artist, and you’re going to college and pursue this, and you’re going to be successful, and I’m very proud of you.
Awe, thank you!
So, how long have you been passionate about visual arts?
Oh, okayyy… So I guess that the four years here I’ve been getting more and more passionate because -- being completely honest -- I found out about BISFA 8th grade, 2 years before the deadline -- er, not 2 years, 2 months before the deadline, and so I really didn’t care, and I just wanted to go to BISFA because it was like… you were selected, so to feel special. But then, yeah, no, as soon as I got here and I actually talked to the teachers, understood like my instructors, I got passionate about actually doing visual arts, and yeah, that’s when the passion started. It’s not like -- it was a really gradual start, too.
Did you have any -- well, besides wanting to be selected -- did you have any motivation? Like, artist motivations? Or artists who motivated you?
Artists who motivated me… I don’t really know. I- I will say just, like, another thing that motivated me was my parental approval, which is one thing, but I dunno. For artistic motivation, I’m not quite sure. I don’t really look up to an artist unless it’s, like, for a specific style or project, and that’s when motivation’s involved, but besides that not really.
And earlier you mentioned fiber arts; what is fiber arts?
Fiber arts -- it’s a very broad range, so weaving, y’know, crocheting, tapestries, uh, even fashion is all fiber-related.
That’s beautiful! And so, to conclude this, what’re some lessons you’ve learned at BISFA? Whether it be part of your art or life in general?
I feel like for BISFA, to do your studies and really grow as a person, you need to push yourself to the limit. Even when you’re, like, feeling like you can’t do anything, you can’t just sit there and be, like, giving up, you- you have to keep going. Like the stairs, you can only go up!
Yes! It’s going to be terrible sometimes, but you’ll make it.
Exactly.
Exactly. Alright, thank you, Brianna!
No problem, Tien!
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