2022 So Far

It’s been a while and I am happy to share with you several good news since my last post. 

The first piece of good news is that I still make balloons. Yes, I still do. The whole cycle of making, breaking, succeeding/failing has been going steadily. It doesn’t happen as quickly as it used to, but it happens. In the last year I started to take some custom orders again; not too many but enough to remind me custom orders come with a strict commitment to deadlines. I was still looking for an answer for all the hairline cracks I frequently have with my balloons. This problem had been happening in no pattern – making it impossible for me to understand why (especially – when I was not professionally trained in ceramic). It was also one of the reasons why I took custom orders slowly. But after two years of looking for the answer in many different ways, last week was the first time I felt like I had found closure. 

Meanwhile, I also improve my process of making balloons, and now I can make them a bit faster. It is also thanks to the weather; in the winter – it is usually ~60F in my studio and I’ve learned that that is the perfect temperature for making balloons. There is hope in me that I can make more, at a higher success rate. But of course – whenever there is new hope, there is also another factor that is going to change (like the weather!) and hence affecting my work. But I am so used to that now that I would just speak this out loud and if it happens I will worry about and deal with it later. 

Another piece of good news is that end of 2021 I got featured on Vietcetera – a new, fast-growing lifestyle content outlet/website about Vietnamese and for Vietnamese. One step at a time on the marketing front! You can read the full article here. 

My work was also in a gallery for the first time. The smiley balloon caught the attention of the owner of A Sometimes Gallery – a small, new gallery in Portland; and she asked if I’d like to have it at a show opening on World Smiley Day – Oct 1st. I did not care much whether the piece would get sold. The idea of showing it to more people to see, to enjoy – sounded better to me. And there my work was in a gallery for the first time. Fortunately, some bigger gallery owners did like my work at this show (I guess that’s how they found new work and new artists) and they invited me to show my work at their galleries in 2022. In the past few months, I have not worked on many custom orders. Instead, I focused on improving my technical skills, experimenting, and refining my work. I contacted some other artists to explore new possibilities for my balloons. Throughout this period of time, I get to understand more about myself, and feel more confident. As I just finished all the work for my first show, now I have a few moments to think about what I’ve been through. I have learned so many lessons, and I feel grateful to so many people. Many times I want to write down all these thoughts, and experiences, but I always feel extremely tired at the end of the day working and taking care of the family. I guess one thing I want to improve next is to take notes more and share more. 

That’s all for now. I will see you maybe next week with more stories about the opening of my show 🙂