Today we’d like to introduce you to Tony Nguyen
Hi Tony, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Originally, I attended Cal State Long Beach as an illustration major. As a child I always wanted to grow up to be an inventor but by this point in my life I gave up on being one. This is the result of the lack of a Bachelor of “Inventing” degree. My passions shifted into the arts due to the many similarities between the inventor and the artist. They both create new tangible objects from their experimentations and thoughts. You may be wondering why I went to college as an illustration major instead of another art discipline. In my childhood the only art forms I was introduced to at an early age was local graffiti and cartoons. Graffiti was never an artistic medium in my adolescent, rather it was a way for gangs to mark their territory. On the contrary, cartoons were what I had considered as the prime example of the art. I watched Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes, Batman the Animated Series, all the 90’s Disney movies, and anime was on the rise at the time. I thought illustration was the all-in encompassing art. It was the only type of art I would need to learn to be an artist because it would open all the doors in the art world. I was so wrong. I knew I was wrong when I took Life Drawing class in college. This professor is a very talented man, but was sarcastic in nature and clearly had favorite students. He spoke differently to students that were not in his favor. He was more blunt and direct to us. I struggled in that class. It felt like a chore to show up every day only to feel like you were the weakest link in the room. During the final week of school, he had a one-on-one with every single student in the class so he can give advice. He was nice during our conversation but bluntly stated that if I wanted to advance in this major, I would need to be spending 1000 hours drawing hands and another 1000 drawing feet. If I wanted to be on the same level of my peers I needed to commit extensively to the program. Although he did not know it, he gave me a very valuable lesson, what you think you want isn’t necessarily the thing you need in life. I wanted to make art but sticking with what I thought was “art” was playing it too safe and safe doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll be happy. The semester after that class, I jumped ship and went into 3-D media art. I started to explore ceramics, wood, and finally chose a new home with metalsmithing. My first cut into a piece of copper with my own two hands gave me such confidence and vigor that it was like a gift from God telling me I was on the right path. Two semesters later I was accepted into the Bachelor of Fine Arts program for Metalsmithing and Jewelry. Being in the right art classes allowed a change to occur where I went from hating every minute of art to loving every minute instead. This professor changed the course of my life by telling me I could not draw well enough. Currently, I am an art lecturer at multiple colleges and a practicing 3-D artist with a solo show coming up next year in Whitter.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It was not a smooth journey to get to where I am now. An important lesson I learned along the way is to accept the fact that it does not get smoother. Rather, I grew to understand the appreciation for the journey rather than the destination when being an artist. The roadblocks I dealt with comes from my youth and my family. My life started in the city of Gardena, California. My family found a home in the ghetto part of Gardena when they immigrated. My brothers and I went to the underfunded schools for our K-12 education. After elementary, the education I received from sixth to twelfth grade was sub-par. The programs and opportunities for students to reach for their highest potentials were lacking. My peers used to joke that we weren’t attending school, rather we were finishing a prison term. The fencing around our school were tall with spiked tips so we could not “escape”. We had to cross metal detectors before entering campus due to weapons being smuggled in. Gang violence was rampart, drug deals were happening during class, and our test scores are ranked among the lowest in the nation. I never appreciated school because it felt useless and it made me feel useless to society. Only when I entered college did I understand what a real education was and how meaningful it could be for the individual. However, I had major pushback from my parents for my choice of getting an art degree. My parents are Vietnamese immigrants that fled from the aftermath of the Vietnam war. Being an artist or making art as a living was never a consideration in our household. Like many other Asian household, getting a “proper education” was considered the only out way of poverty. Art was a hobby for them, a phase that I would mature out of. My parents wanted my three brothers and I to be lawyers, doctors, and engineers. Even as my parents and extended family kept feeding me this notion of getting a rich job will lead to a happy life, I could not see myself doing anything other than art. It was difficult for a long time to not have my parents’ full support. I wanted to make them proud for the man I was becoming but they weren’t. This hurt me for a long time after graduating with my BFA. However, after my MFA program, I made art dedicated to my parents with a letter in Vietnamese on why I chose art all those years ago. I chose art because I wanted to honor and respect my parents’ goal of fleeing a war-torn country. The simple goal for their sons to have the freedom to become whoever they wanted to become in life. I chose my path with the freedom they gifted me and my parents finally understood and accepted.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My formal education is in jewelry and metalsmithing but I will dabble into any artform that interests me. This can include making jewelry to podcasts to writing short stories to 3-D printing toys. The term renaissance man or Jack of all trades has always resonated with me so I try to learn everything that tickles my fancy. This allows me to tap into multiple artforms at any given time to help me create whatever I have in my head at the moment. Techniques and medium aside my art must follow one rule, it must tell a story. I love telling stories both verbally and visually. I was never really a reader so the stories that stuck with me were always ones being performed through spoken word or through crafted objects. Being able to share the stories I have gathered throughout my life with others through my art is what I am most proud of. Recently, my latest focus is designing and making toy caricatures of people on the 3-D printers. These toys embody the spirit of the people that I have gotten to know and care for throughout the years. I want to share their stories with others. This body of work will be a dedication to how the people in our lives plant a seed of goodness within us that will stay with us and start to grow. They chose to nurture us the best they can due to the fact they also had seeds from their loved ones passed on to them.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
My advice is to look for a mentor in everyone. I have had mentors not in my field of study, mentors that were younger than me, my classmates and peers. I think the thought of finding a mentor that is in a veteran in your career, looks and talks the way you do, or be what you aspire to be in the future is limiting. I’ll tell you a story about Marty, one of my mentors. Marty was the preparator for the Department of Art at my school. He is an artist in his own right but I did not know this when I first met him. The man I met was the laid back, surfer dude of a preparator in charge of setting up the gallery shows around campus. Fast forward a bit, Marty and I became friends and he gave me advice whenever I seek him out. Not all of it was about art, some of it was how to navigate the world of dealing with crazy co-workers, some of it was relationships advice, and some of it was encouragement to keep on keeping on. Marty and I are different. He is an older Caucasian man that grew up in a different time era. His experiences and his skills are not like mine. Our careers are different. However, he became one of my many mentors. He told me something that sticks with me to this day, “Behind every young guy there is an old man rooting him on and wishing him nothing but success. Our time has come and gone and now it’s your time so we want to see you succeed.” I would like to modify Marty’s advice a bit. Young or old, man or woman, you will find someone willing to share advice and their guidance because they believe in you if you just stopped to listen. I try to listen more than I speak, this is why I have so many great mentors. Lastly, consider the people that you disagree with or dislike philosophically as mentors. They will teach you the most valuable lesson, to not become like them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tonyisanartist.com
- Instagram: @tonyisanartist
Image Credits
Jonathan Monroy, Celine Spinola
