Ceramic artist and teacher Nhi Vo has an exhibit on view at ARTS at King Street Station Gallery, called Tết in Diaspora through March 28. “A ceramic tablescape depicts dishes that epitomize concepts of community, celebration, and resilience, and an ancestral altar honors those who have come before us,” reads the gallery description.
Vo was introduced to ceramics in 2015, but she also draws inspiration from her undergraduate studies in Comparative Literature at Occidental College.
Vo and I met on a late Monday afternoon at the Panama Hotel and Tea House in the Chinatown International District (CID). We started our conversation talking about what it was like finding a community in Seattle and moving from Los Angeles.
Nhi Vo: Finding my community here has been easier to build because most of my friends are transplants. The Asian and arts community were easier to find here than in LA. In LA, you have to travel and drive everywhere. Growing up there, I didn’t have many Vietnamese friends but being a part of Reclaim Clay Collective (RECC) in Seattle has taught me what it is like to be Asian-American and to celebrate my Vietnamese heritage.
Vietnamese was my first language and what I spoke at home. It wasn’t until 5th grade that English became my primary language. I don’t read or write Vietnamese but it is my goal to learn. Right now, I am really interested in Vietnamese colloquialisms. I learned recently, the word “bank” is no longer called nhà băng. So when I still speak, I sound like I am from a different era.
Tracey Fugami: My son and I saw your show together. We both immediately fell in love with the colors and recognizing many of the foods we have eaten before. My son particularly talked about the gold glaze on the banh mi and then it became a hide and seek, like where can you spot the gold in Nhi’s work. Can you say how that came about?
NV: The glaze on the banh mi started as an experiment. I didn’t like how the color on the bread came out and my partner actually recommended that I try using gold luster. I liked the results so then I added the gold to the durian as well. I liked how the gold added a cohesive visual element.
The banh mi is at the front of the room near the entryway because it is a point of accessibility. A lot of people know what banh mi is and I like the history behind it. The French brought over the bread, during colonization but the Vietnamese turned it into a culturally relevant sandwich. The Vietnamese baguette is distinct because of the incorporation of rice flour in the dough. This is what makes it crispy on the outside and fluffier on the inside. After putting gold on the banh mi, I decided to also luster the durian fruit. It took me about 20 hours to complete. I rolled out all of the spikes by hand.
TF: Yes! Like making noodles or dumplings!
NV: Yes, making the spikes is similar to food prep, very repetitive and almost meditative.
The bowls are done on the wheel and everything else on the table was handbuilt. The altar pieces were made on the wheel as well.
The altar is a big part of Vietnamese New Year. During that time you honor your ancestors and the gods. I deliberately did not put photos of my relatives since I wanted this to be for anyone honoring their ancestors. Typically you would light incense at the altar. That is how you communicate and transport messages to your ancestors. I wanted to make this for all of the people that have fought for our liberation and to honor previous generations.
TF: Earlier this week we were chatting about sci-fi/fantasy books and how it can be a great jumping off point for ideas and making art. I think fantasy can be a great gateway into seeing our world differently. Tell me a bit about your inspiration in retro-futurism:
NV: I remember watching the Twilight Zone and Star Trek as a kid. Some of the earlier work that I made was inspired by the basic form of UFOs.
As a kid, books and television were the first place that I became interested in fantasy and science fiction. I loved reading about magic and dragons. There is a level of connection and agency in magic. When making a potion you are pulling from nature and when doing a spell, you are channeling energy from the earth and moon and cosmic forces. It was so much fun to read! The book “Dealing with Dragons,” opened my eyes to feminism and non-binary identities.
These books and movies are able to critique contemporary times and provide a futuristic story that is interesting and relevant.
In relation to futurity, my artwork is not dystopian or utopian in concept. I do want to have hope in the future and I don’t want to fall into my own nihilism baseline. I want to hold onto that seed of hope. Things can change and I want my work to be a reminder that it is possible.
TF: Clay and ceramics has an interesting story and history in the way that it has been seen with a lens of perfection which then equates to beauty. Other art forms have this sense of idealism too but it feels like ceramics can be burdened by it.
NV: Clay is also a very enduring medium, it doesn’t decay like other mediums. You can still see the decoration and imagine the form even if it is broken. It has a sci-fi aspect, it is enduring, a relic of a culture.
TF: It is interesting to think of mass production pottery and how there are hundreds of cups and bowls that look exactly alike and how that replication can be seen as beauty. I think there is a connection to mass production ceramics and AI and the speed at which it appears to be made. I don’t think there are 50 banh mi in your studio right now?
NV: No, definitely not. I am not a production potter but admire people that can make 100 of the same thing. I can’t do more than 10 of the same object. I do wholesale items but I don’t want to burn out. People think that mugs can be 3 dollars because they are used to buying a factory made product. The time that it takes to master your skills and the costs of labor to make a mug should be at least 50 dollars. Some potters can make a mug in 20 minutes, to make it profitable in this profession, but how long did it take to get to that point? You wouldn’t expect your doctor to be paid less, you pay for their practice schooling and continued learning. This somehow doesn’t apply to art making.
Also, I don’t see the necessity for AI. The pros and cons don’t make sense. To me, you can defer to humans – your friends and community to help you out. AI is trying to replace a sense of community that we can build. I try not to be critical about emerging tech but at what costs and who benefits from it is what I wonder about.
TF: You mentioned your interest in ancient Greek art and philosophy, can you say more about how that influenced your art?
NV: I studied a lot about ancient Greek art and philosophers in college. My sculptures are drawn from the Platonic ideals of food and fruits. I didn’t use a lot of reference materials in making the sculptures on display. The foods are not supposed to be too perfect. I believe platonic ideals live in a different realm. There are different ideals that exist in the realm and in our world, we can only try to replicate them. It is like trying to freehand geometric shapes. The idea of a form exists, a precursor is how you relate to and understand things. It can be an imperfect circle and yet, you know it is a circle. The general shape of a tree or house can be drawn, it isn’t perfect but you just know what it is. That is how the idea forms the function. It is the commonality and relativity and the essence of what that thing is. I am trying to capture an essence rather than replicate something. I look at pictures to color match, but I create mostly from memory.
TF: That is amazing that the dishes that are part of your show are done through memory. Tell me about your artistic journey
NV: I have spent the last decade as a potter. I was really bad at it at the start. Pottery humbled me so hard as an art form. When RECC opened, I started handbuilding. I have only been handbuilding for the last 3 years. I am mostly self-taught, and didn’t know that I was supposed to compress slab tiles. I had no idea. I tried handbuilding in the beginning and things were not working out but I didn’t know why. I performed a lot of experiments during that time. In the last three years, I am able to get certain effects because I am not following the specific rules, except for maybe using slip and scoring. I do some crazy things when I’m using underglazes. I like breaking the rules.
TF: I see that in your work, in the colors and the forms that you are working with. What new projects are you working on now?
NV: I am working on a series of wall hanging daggers. Maybe it is a future show about my interpretation of thorns on roses and blackberries. I am thinking about self-defense and protection and how these are representations of that idea. The daggers are like a human’s spikes and how we can create technology as a way for self defense. Also, how do I mentally self defend myself?
My senior thesis was on Prometheus, and how it changed over time. He gave us fire and science, technology and art, and math. Prometheus thought of these as gifts. But in earlier myths, people considered it as a curse on humanity. If you see something as a curse you see it as a burden. If you see techné in this way, it is hard to see the future in it and a deeper understanding.It is no longer an oppression of the gods. You are free to create your existence.
For example, our culture and otherness is not a burden, it is a gift and should be approached in this way. It is awe-inspiring as opposed to a fear that people need to absorb. This is my resistance to being in proximity of white supremacy and the model minority. This is my call to resistance and liberation. I’m not trying to be digested and palatable, it isn’t my goal anymore. As a kid, I didn’t want to be made fun of so I just tried to fit in. Now I’m making my way in the community as an adult. I find that I am more free from those conflicts.
If my representation leads to liberation then that is great. We are told that representation matters but liberation is my priority. For example, having more POC cops, that is not liberatory. Diversity in inherently oppressive systems is not the answer to being free. While I am thankful to have a space provided by the city for this show, ICE is still infiltrating Seattle. And the surveillance cameras are a big issue in the CID. I think about that a lot.
TF: In your introduction to your show, you talk about food as physically necessary but also an ontological expression. “Recipe changes can be a form of acculturation.” Could you share more about your thoughts on this?
NV: Food is more than nourishment and is an important part of how it shows up in my community at RECC. I am being creatively and spiritually fed there. There are people at the studio that want and can imagine a better future. That gives me a lot of hope.
And I love sharing food, like the weekly hot pot we go to at RECC and being with friends is nourishing. Being served by your friends is so tender. It is really nice when someone wants me to have the first bite. I was an only child to a single Mom. She would show care by not eating the stuff that she knew I would want. She would save the things for me after the cooking was done.
I didn’t grow up knowing about table etiquette. I didn’t learn that everyone needs to get their food before eating, until I was 18.
TF: Yes, I go in between some rituals before eating at home with my family and also being so tired and hungry just diving into the food so we can get onto the dishes.
NV: Taking the time to slow down and honor what goes into making the dish, the lives that were sacrificed, the animals, and being served food is taken for granted. Food is such a big part of celebration and I wanted to celebrate my heritage and my journey to reclaiming my culture. I did have years of childhood and young adulthood that I was ashamed of my food, thinking it might be too stinky, too funky, too weird.
I started my food sculpture journey by making cakes, where I found moments of joy. It is really important when times are tough. I have this photo of me with a big smile on my face with a cake that my mom bought me. Cakes were really special for me growing up. I was so happy. I always associated them with good memories.
Tết in Diaspora is on view at ARTS at King Street Station Gallery through March 28.
