Today we’d like to introduce you to Du Chau.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Du. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I was born in Vietnam and came to the United States in 1981. I pursued a medical career in Pathology and have been a Pathology Technical Coordinator at Methodist Dallas Medical Center in Dallas since 1994.
I began taking ceramics classes at Brookhaven College in the 1990s and was given a Cecil Wallace Fordham Memorial Award in Visual Arts from the DCCCD Foundation. I took a sabbatical from my Methodist Hospital job to pursue both a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts degree at New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. I continue to work for Methodist while I was getting my degree. I went back to work full time at Methodist after I received my Bachelor’s and Masters. I am also an adjunct Professor of Ceramics at Brookhaven College.
It is interesting to me that my art degree actually helps my medical work in that art has helped me to ask more questions as a scientist. I deeply value my work in science but believe that my work as an artist has enhanced a different part of my identity. My career in the arts has grown significantly in the past few years. I have exhibited widely in the United States and am represented in Dallas by the Liliana Bloch Gallery.
I received a 2017 NCECA International Residency Award which gave me the opportunity to work at the Curaumilla Arts Center in Chile. In 2016 I was awarded a residency from the C.R.E.T.A. Foundation in Rome, Italy.
Recently, I went to Nigeria as a visiting scholar at the University of Port Harcourt and the Olabisi Onabanjo University. It was an amazing experience working with the students and faculty members. Everyone is hardworking and enthusiastic. I truly believe that cultural exchanges of ideas and methods are critical to the evolution of individual artists.
Has it been a smooth road?
I love my job as a scientist. I am also passionate about being an artist. It has been a smooth road. My struggle is wanting to do everything well and do everything well is never easy.
Tell us more about your art.
My current artworks evoke earlier childhood memories in Vietnam as well as repetitive daily activities involving knowledge and contemplation. I am passionate about duplicating forms. This process reveals my fascination with clay replication with subtle variations. A constant permutation is the core of my creative process.
I am most excited about a community project I recently organized. I organized two recent exhibitions of Nigerian and Texas artists. On a recent trip to Nigeria, I transported ceramic art by eleven Texas artists in my luggage to Nigeria. At the conclusion of the Nigerian exhibition, the eleven ceramic works by Texas artists were added to the permanent Museum Complex Collection at the University of Port Harcourt. On my return trip to Texas, I carried the Nigerian art to Dallas for the exhibit at the South Dallas Cultural Center. Eleven Nigerian artworks will be added to the Dallas African American Museum Collection after the exhibition. This is an amazing exchange between artists of different cultures, working across the globe from one another. I am thrilled that I saw this project come to fruition.
What were you like growing up? Personality-wise, interest wise, etc.
I have very few memories of my childhood. As a refugee, I grew up seeing chaos, despair and suffering. Due to the war, I was unable to finish the first grade when I was in Vietnam. When I came to the United States, I immediately started seventh grade. Learning English was not easy, but I am glad that I have moved forward.
I helped my mother with daily errands when I was a child and ended up being the cook for the family. Cooking is not much different than making art. The process is very similar. Interestingly, art imitates life and perhaps vice versa.
Contact Info:
- Address: 13999 Goldmark Drive
Dallas, Texas 75240 - Website: www.duchauwebsite.com
- Phone: 9722410235
- Email: duchau@mhd.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/du_chau_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chauduqc
Image Credit:
Susan Edgley
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