| Folk Arts - Master Artist - Que Tran
Que Tran is an artist, social worker, and volunteer living in Seattle, Washington. Alongside her knowledge of Vietnamese culture, Tran uses her skills in these areas to assist youth, the elderly, new immigrants and other groups in need. Tran does this by offering lessons and demonstrations on paper cutting and folding arts, food carving, and floristry. Her work in these forms is marked by an ability to produce deft, intricate folds, cuts, and arrangements with paper, fruit, and flowers. Through these demonstrations, individuals are able to participate in arts familiar to the Vietnamese while reaching out to a broader community. In the Seattle-area, Tran has volunteered with the Foster Grandparent Program, the Intergenerational Innovations Program (for Seattle Public Schools), and the Refugee Women’s Alliance. She holds several degrees and certifications in social work and the arts, including a degree in Floristry and Landscape Design.
In 2006 Tran received a Folk Arts Apprenticeship grant and worked with Ngan Thi My Ta and Amy Duong. Together they produced folded crafts in Tran’s style, often themed around holidays such as the Lunar New Year. They displayed their works and organized a demonstration on paper folding techniques and food carving at the Woodall Studio in Seattle. One notable product of this apprenticeship is the flying dragon Duong created with over two thousand pieces of folded paper.
As the recipient of a 2008 Apprenticeship award, Tran will teach apprentice Huong Do Thanh food carving, origami, and other paper crafts. Tran first met her apprentice through Helping Link, a non-profit organization that provides resources for Vietnamese-Americans to help them integrate into American society while maintaining and celebrating their Vietnamese heritage. Tran and Thanh will show their work and demonstrate paper folding techniques at Helping Link’s display at the Seattle Center for the Lunar New Year Festival in 2009.
Tran was awarded another apprenticeship grant in 2009 to teach Minh Huynh Tho. Tran and Tho will be working with paper cutting, food carving, and paper food decorating. Tho will continue working with this art after the apprenticeship by teaching others who are willing to learn and by helping her community by making the decorations for holiday parties. Tran chose to teach Tho because she is an artist who is willing to learn and to teach others what she has learned. They have plans to display their art at the International Fair in Seattle during spring or summer of 2010. | |||
