Thuy-Van Vu

Thuy-Van Vu is a painter of Vietnamese heritage who grew up in Arizona and has lived mostly in Seattle since 2000. Vu’s parents were refugees who came to the U.S. in 1975. She received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA from the University of Texas in Austin. Vu has exhibited in numerous U.S. cities and her work is included in the collections of the City of Seattle, King County, and the Tacoma Art Museum.

Vu’s paintings have been informed by an ongoing interest in personal, cultural, and historical artifacts–objects that can make the past more tangible yet also serve as reminders of what has been lost (or left out). Recently, she has been thinking of her paintings as similar to rocks that one might collect at a beach, things to behold that might not share enough details of their origin but are hopefully interesting enough in other ways to warrant their keeping.