"Impact: Secret War on Laos Series" Acrylic on Canvas, 6ft x 5ft, 2018
**Permanent collection at the Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN Sisavanh Phouthavong is one of the first professional Lao American visual artists and educators of her generation. Over 5,400 Lao refugees resettled in Kansas in the aftermath of the Laotian Civil War that ended in 1975. Through her powerful acrylic work, she confronts the challenges of bicultural memory and documentation. She considers notions of the abstract and the concrete for those who must remember both their inner and external histories in a diaspora framed by secrecy and loss. Her work probes what is shared, what is felt, and what must remain deeply personal among the lessons passed on to the next generation as it heals and rebuilds. Courtesy of Bryan Thao Worra: Laotian Poet, writer As a refugee, the process of connecting and disconnecting with a place or community are abstracted ideas of migration as an immigrant. The collage and painting process is unpredictable and is an ongoing dialogue about assimilating and relocating into another culture and space. The work capture and embrace architecture and built environment in its state of flux. Teetering between realism and abstraction, I fold space and time to connect with the fleeting world. To achieve a kaleidoscopic effect, I employ multiple viewpoints, rhythmic fragmentations, and strong color contrast to fuse both the contemporary and historical landscape elements into one. |
Upcoming Shows:
November 1-29, 2019: Rumors of Necessity, three person Exhibition, Tipton Gallery, ETSU (Eastern Tennessee State University), curated by Alejandro Acierto: Assistant Professor of Digital Art/Media Vanderbilt University. Summer 2020: I will be part of an upcoming MMA (Minnesota Museum of Art) creative projects for Southeast Asian diaspora/Lao Diaspora Storytelling Project by Little Laos on the Prairie: Founder Chanda Phaengdara Potter www.theseadproject.org and http://littlelaosontheprairie.org November, 2020: Solo Show: Tinney Contemporary Gallery, Nashville, TN Recent Events: May 2019: Very excited that "Aftermath" Won Best Painting Award at ArtFields, Lake City, SC https://www.artfieldssc.org/competition/ February 9, 2019: Encaustic Demonstration MTSU Art & Design Open House 11:30-2PM, Room 233, Murfreesboro, TN April 26-May 4, 2019: "Aftermath" will be installed at ArtFields, Lake City, SC Spring 19: Artist Lecture for MTSU Anthropology Professor, William Leggett Immigrant/Refugee Class February 21, 2019: First Spark, 10 minute Educator Lecturer to art educators and exchange ideas at 6PM: Frist Museum of Art, Nashville, TN January 28, 2019: "Aftermath" will be on the upcoming cover of the online journal Lantern Review and "Secret War on Laos: UXO" will be featured in October. January 06, 2019: "Secret War on Laos: UXO" and my portfolio will be featured in Aquifer: Florida Review online. https://floridareview.cah.ucf.edu/article/the-secret-war-on-laos-uxo/ https://floridareview.cah.ucf.edu/ _______________________________________________________ December 3, 2018: Won a Collage Creative Expression Award, Collage Journal, Vol. 28, Middle Tennessee State University November 15, 2018: Artist Talk 6PM, Hunter Invitational Exhibition at the Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga,TN. November 3, 2018: Encaustic Demonstration MTSU Art & Design Open House 12-2:30, Room 233, Murfreesboro, TN November 2-December 16, 2018: Exhibition Reception: 530-730 Nov. 9th. Artist Talk Nov. 10th. Solo Show at Christian Brothers University, Beverly + Sam Ross Gallery, Memphis, TN *The show will correspond with a larger national project For Freedoms: https://www.forfreedoms.org/50-state-initiative.html Exhibition Reception Nov. 9th 530-730 and Artist Talk Nov. 10th. November 1, 2018: Artist Lecture for MTSU Anthropology Professor, William Leggett Southeast Asian Class Oct. 31, 2018: Radio Interview by Darel Snodgrass from WKNO 91.1 NPR For the Mid-South. It will be on air Friday 11.2.18 at 9AM on http://www.wknofm.org Oct. 27, 2018: Watercolor Workshop/Demonstration at MTSU, Todd Building, Room 232 from 1-3PM Oct. 23, 2018: Visiting Artist Educator and Presenter of the topic "Why Art?" for Father Ryan's High School (3D Teacher Michael Mitchell and 2D Teacher John Durand) Oct. 20, 2018: Artist/educator/presenter for the Artist Educator Series (led by Kris Bespalec-Davis, Manager of School and Teacher Programs) at the Hunter Museum of Art Oct. 17, 2018: Led a workshop with Erin Anfinson, Paint and Sip the Stars at Arrington Winery, STEAM MTSU Event, 6:30-8PM Oct. 13, 2018: Part of the Creative Team/panel for SEAD (Southeast Asian Diaspora) workshop lead by Chanida Phaengdara Potter as part of the Legacies of War LaoNow2018: Fashion, Film, and Food, NYC Sept 1st-Dec 1st 2018: Dab Art, where the painting Secret War on Laos: UXO will be part of their upcoming CLICKBATE Political Art Publication and on-line exhibition from Sept 1st-Dec 1st. Printed publications will be released on Oct. 1st. The book will be added to the permanent catalog in the LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) Balch Art Research Library. The chief curator and co-owner of H-Gallery Yessica Torres helped juried over 1200 submission. September 6 – October 5, 2018: Benefit Exhibition: Bridgette Mayer Gallery Reception: Friday, September 7th 5:00pm-9:00pm Online Preview 10"x10" Painting: September 1-3rd Location: 990 Spring Garden St. Philadelphia, PA 19123 (The Rail Park on Spring Garden St.) July 24, 2018: "Looking at Art: Chaos and Awe", Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN, 6PM-730PM, (Learn to look at works of art through the lens of materials and artistic processes. Led by artist and associate professor of art at Middle Tennessee State University Sisavanh Phouthavong, participants will learn derive meaning from mark-making and create their own sketches in response to the works in Chaos and Awe.) Sept. 20th-Dec. 30th 2018: I have just been invited to be part of the Hunter Invitational Exhibition at the Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga,TN. Very excited indeed and l can't wait to start working on new works for the show. Fall 2018: I will be part of an upcoming Fall 2018 creative projects for Southeast Asian diaspora/Lao Diaspora Storytelling Project by Little Laos on the Prairie: Founder Chanda Phaengdara Potter www.theseadproject.org and http://littlelaosontheprairie.org March 5, 2018-August 26, 2018: Reception April 5th, 4-6PM Flying Solo Exhibit, Arts in the Airport, Nashville BNA, I will be installing a 18 feet x 6 feet painting at the left ticket lobby South Area. https://www.flynashville.com/arts-and-music/exhibits/Pages/Sisavanh-Phouthavong-Houghton---Secret-War-in-Laos%2c-UXO.aspx January 30th-March 31st 2018: Reception and Artist Panel at 530PM on Thursday Feb. 22. Exhibition titled: The Power of Color at Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, Mississippi, showing with two amazing artists Kevin Cole and Carl Joe Williams January 20, 2018: Donated two small framed collages to Winter Gala to benefit Legacies of War and Friends Without A Border, Olmsted Lodge at Highland Park, Rochester, NY 7-11PM You may bid on the pieces at this website: https://www.laounyawintergala.com January 5, 2018: Framed collages /paintings are on displayed for a year at the law firm of Nelson Mullins, Nashville, TN --------------------------------------------------------- Nov. 19, 2017: UXO: Laos will be published in the next issue of The Pinch Journal: a bi-annual literary journal produced entirely by the students of the University of Memphis MFA Program and English Department. Nov. 2, 2017: Gina Logue and I continued our conversation about Art+Life+Refugee+Immigrants= issues of the world on MT Conversations, a MTSU TV forum that focuses on bringing attention to research & projects. ________________________________________________________ |