At the height of the
Vietnam War in 1967, I began my life journey in Saigon. My mom, uncle and aunt
were musicians and teachers, so I grew up in a home filled with music. After
school, my siblings and I would sit around playing music, telling stories, and
drawing comics, sometimes underneath the dark staircase which doubled as a bomb
shelter. I was mesmerized by Uncle Kien's vivid tales of a curious boy who
traveled far and wide. Kien drew pictures to illustrate the boy's adventures:
crossing plains, navigating rice paddies, climbing mountains, fighting beasts,
and eventually becoming a warrior and peacemaker. I dreamed of travelling the
world like this boy, armed with my brushes and paint.
And then, when I was seven, the
war ended. The communist regime tore my family apart and my dad spent three
years in the “education camp.” After
being released from the prison, he escaped Vietnam by boat, and eventually made
it to the U.S. as a refugee in 1978. My twin brother, Home, followed soon
thereafter.
Growing up amid the pain of
separation and abandonment, my coping mechanism was to escape into drawing with
my worn pencils and scratch papers.
I missed my uncle's artistic
imagination immensely so I took over his role, continuing to draw and tell
stories to my younger siblings. During junior high school, I traded sketches of
characters from legends and kung fu movies in exchange for ice cream and food
from classmates.
As time passed, my
childhood hobby became a serious profession. Defying parental pressure to enter
a financially stable career like medicine or engineering, I applied to the art
university after finishing high school. Even though I scored the highest on the
entrance exam, my admission was denied because of my dad’s past political
affiliation. Disillusioned and disappointed with the system, I sought another
way to educate myself.
Over the next three years,
I traveled Vietnam on foot, inventively living out Uncle Kien’s stories. From
village to village, I stayed at the homes of friends and strangers alike. A
nomad, I painted portraits and landscapes for my benefactors in exchange for
their food and kindness. I learned to be
ready for any change, and all the while advanced my artistic craft through
experimentation and determination.
My family was
separated for eleven years. After what
seemed like an impossible journey at the time, we were finally reunited when
the rest of my family and I immigrated to the U.S. in 1991.
I
spent the next several years in Los Angeles trying to assimilate in to the U.S.,
learning English, and working odd jobs. I felt depressed, isolated, and
invisible to the point of suicide. Working seven days a week, money was good,
but my life was sad. Drawing every night - at least a few sketches on a pad no
matter how tired I was - was the only thing keeping me afloat. But even then,
what good was money or art without a community to share it with?
 |
| Self-portrait. Oil on Canvas. 30”x 40” |
I recognized
similar despair and the need for connection in my fellow refugees. This drove my brother, Home, and I to start
the first Vietnamese American theater company. Club O'Noodles received awards
and acclaim for its performance art
focused on helping refugees who had been traumatized by war and its aftermath.
I worked as a lighting director, stage designer, and performer. The work
generated healing for others as well as ourselves, but it did not generate
enough income to pay the bills, and the troupe dissolved after a few years.
In
1999, I returned to Vietnam in search of the root of my childhood dreams:
drawing and painting. On my journey
home, I encountered a spiritual practice which transformed the way I see the
world and the way I create today.
Armed with this confidence that
art would be my guide, I unrolled a ten-meter canvas and struggled with the
overwhelming sensation that the canvas was as blank as I was. What should I
paint? How would I begin? Finally, after many agonizing days staring at this
canvas, I began drawing the most basic shapes on this blank slate –
circles.
For three months, eight hours a
day, six days a week, I religiously painted this infinite shape in a peaceful,
repetitious, and meditative manner. I felt unstoppable. I became focused and
saw circles everywhere I looked. One day I invited the neighborhood children
to come see my art studio. I encouraged them to paint their own circles along
the same ten-meter canvas on which I worked. More and more children came by my studio in the following days and did the same thing. We talked about how this motion
exists in everyday life - through the movements of our bodies when we dance,
through the rotation of the Earth around the Sun, and through the cycles of
water. They too began to see circles everywhere they looked. This was my AHA moment.
I
had discovered not only a new way of making art, but a new way to build the community I always yearned for ... a community of
playfulness, creativity, compassion, and teamwork. I felt connected. I felt
loved. I felt alive. Circle Painting was born. Having also discovered my love of teaching art, I returned to school at
CSU Long Beach and received my MA in Art Education.
Since 2007, with the blessing and
unceasing love and support from my wife, Tammy, my family and friends, I’ve
devoted all of my time and energy to expanding and refining the Circle Painting
process. Our Circle Painting work has transformed
hundreds of empty walls and canvases and stretched the artistic muscles of tens
of thousands of people from all backgrounds and cultures to produce an artistic
unity around the world in countries as widespread as Singapore, Vietnam, China,
Australia, Denmark, Israel, and many, many states in the USA!
The first major break for Circle
Painting was when I was invited work with the Southeast Asian Service
Leadership Network (SEALNET), and the ASEAN Secretariat at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Singapore, to highlight the community service efforts of
ASEAN youth at ASEAN’s 40th anniversary. SEALNET had community service projects
in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Cambodia where I conducted
Circle Painting workshops in each of those countries.
In the end, five enormous
Circe Paintings were created, each painted by people from all walks of life
across ASEAN and the world ‐ from kids on the street to university students.
These five paintings were displayed during the celebration ceremonies at
Raffles City, Singapore, and PM Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore and other ASEAN
ambassadors added their own artistic expressions to the paintings. The artistic
expression became a literal as well as metaphorical representation of community
and collaboration among nations.
Most recently, I spent a month in
Hong Kong and Macau leading four back-to-back training workshops for teachers
and social workers, combining painting and mindfulness practices for
underserved communities. I am honored to
partner with the Center For Community Cultural Development (CCCD) and POLA (a
Japan cosmetic firm) to organize the first Circle Painting Arts Festival at
Hong Kong Polytechnic University where hundreds of artists, students and the
public were involved in three days of interactive and participatory art making.
It’s another dream come true!
One
of my most memorable and profound experiences working with children was at the
Cancer Hospital in Vietnam. This
mural project vividly transformed the pediatric unit of the hospital through
the creativity and hard work of approximately two hundred patients, staff, and
volunteers. I learned the story of a boy who calls himself “SuperEGGman.” He
was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer. He had lost his eyesight. When he
heard that there was painting going on outside his room, he asked to
participate. At first, the nurse didn’t let him, thinking that he wouldn’t be
able to. When I heard about this from a volunteer, I insisted we wheel
SuperEGGman into the room. As soon as the paint touched his fingers, he was
like a fish in water again, painting, laughing, and happy. When asked why, he
said he didn’t want to be taken away from the painting, he said it was the
happiest day of his life. A couple of days later, he passed away. I learned
that art might not cure cancer, but it can surely offer a dose of joy and
happiness for the patients.
This
year, I had several opportunities to travel to Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore,
and Vietnam to lead numerous
local and international community programs that brought so much joys and
creativity to myself and thousands of lives.
 |
| Installation of paper plates created by students at Taipei American School |
In collaboration with United
Nations WOMEN, CCIHP, CSAGA, and the Youth Union, I spearheaded the "Strong
Hands to End Violence Against Women and Girls" event that involved over
two hundred families and five hundred local college students to join hands and
hearts to spread the powerful message of love, equality, and non-violence
toward women and girls. Subsequently, the artworks were showcased at the
Women’s Museum in Hanoi, Vietnam.
 |
| Straw Hats Installation at Women Museum, Hanoi |
I am also fortunate to have an
opportunity to teach many art engagement programs for diverse senior
communities such as "Treasures Project" at the Bowers Museum;
"The Art for The Visual Impaired " at Braille Institute Regional
Center, Orange County and Singapore; "Culture Heritage Month for
Vietnamese American Adoptees" at Catalyst Foundation, "My Active and
Healthy Life Mural" and at School for the Hearing Impaired. We were also able to create numerous murals in
several schools and organizations.
Recently, I formulated another collaborative drawing project called S.T.E.A.M.
Drawing. The initial idea of this
project was generated from my experience of drawings from a childhood game
called “Please Draw Me”. I encourage participants to use symbols, motifs, and images from subjects
such as science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) to activate our
observational skills, develop their drawing skills, expand our visual vocabulary,
encourage collaboration, and create artwork that empowers all.
 |
| S.T.E.A.M. Drawing from Mission Viejo Arts Alive Festival, Ink on canvas, 5'x7'The drawings are displayed at CSU Fullerton Campus |
Circle
Painting has transformed my life and I
invite you to sit down and draw a circle, maybe draw and paint several circles.
Better yet, watch my videos below and come join me at a Circle Painting event!.
Together we can paint away our stress, isolation, depression and creative
obstacles. Together, we can connect, create, and celebrate and share my mantra, “Art for All, and All
for Art!”
This is week 51 of Artists Tell TheirStories. Thank you for reading and sharing Hiep’s story today. To connect with
Hiep and see more of his work, please visit the following links:
Videos:
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