Sisavanh Phouthavong

Artist Statement

My source material is autobiographical and stems directly from my personal experiences of being a mother, wife, teacher, citizen, and observer of an incredibly complex network of the everyday culture. My work is a hybrid of drawings, collages, paintings, photos, film, and sound based installations that can exist in the digital space, public space, and or the network of person-to-person exchange.

Currently, my artistic intent has been to create works in various sizes and mediums that speak about the psychology and taboo of the subject matter "Money" in U.S. society. Corporate scandals, bankruptcy, interest rates are some of the current events in the public sphere that affects and infects our daily lives. With brightly colored targets, I hope to lure the audience and to expose the ugliness of our current situation. I indirectly use such insects or animals like bees, mosquitoes, and hummingbirds to represent big corporations such as Enron and Merrill Lynch that stings, swarms, and sucks at the bright target "You and Your Money". My interest as an artist is not only to create, but also to inform and educate the public and to question the viewers' ambivalence to the situation at hand.

Bio

Sisavanh Phouthavong-Houghton is currently an Associate Professor of Art at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro where she teaches advanced level painting courses.  She was born in Vientiane Laos in 1976. At the age of four, her family emigrated from Thailand to Winfield, Kansas. She attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Painting in 1999. Sisavanh continued her education at Southern Illinois University of Carbondale where 2003 she received her Master of Fine Arts Degree in Painting and Drawing. She has exhibited her work in solo, juried, and invitational exhibitions throughout United States, Canada, and New Zealand.  Sisavanh resides in Woodbury, TN with her sculptor husband Jarrod Houghton, their two daughters Zoe and Ava, and two cats Mr. Peacock and Gwen.

Education        

2000-2003 M.F.A Painting, Southern Illinois University of Carbondale,  Carbondale, IL

1995-1999 B.F.A Painting, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

2008 Winter Workshop with Sherrie McGraw, LAAFA Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art, CA

2008 Summer Workshop with Ephraim Rubenstein, The Art Student League of New York, NY

2007 Summer Workshop with David Leffel, The Art Student League of New York, NY                                       

Solo Exhibitions

2007 Things That Suck, Joan Derryberry Art Gallery, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville,  TN

2004 Displacement, Union Groove Gallery, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL

2003 The Working Body, MFA Thesis Show, Surplus Gallery, Carbondale, IL

2002 Smell of Art Through Culture, Vergette Gallery, Carbondale, IL

2002 Dri-Bottoms, Vergette Gallery, Carbondale, IL

Selected Exhibitions

2009 Southern Identity, New Orleans University Gallery, University of New Orleans, LA

2009 Texas National 2009, Juror: Mel Chin, The Cole Art Center, Nacogdoches, TX

2008 Observation/Interaction, Tennessee Arts Commission Gallery, Nashville, TN

2007 Ideal, Tennessee Arts Commission Gallery, Nashville, TN

2007 Rat Race, Ivan Wilson Fine Arts Center, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY

2007 E-Volution 2, Dangenart Gallery, Nashville, TN

2007 Undercurrent, Vanderbilt University Law School, Curator: Lain York, Nashville, TN

2007 Group 62901, Well Street Art Company, Fairbanks, Alaska

2006 Evolution, Dangenart Gallery, Nashville TN

2006 20x20x20, LSU Union Art Gallery, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA

2005 Night of 1000 Drawings, Artists Space Gallery, New York, NY

2005 Traveling Exhibition:  Durango, Colorado; Museo de Collage, Mexico; New Plymouth Gallery, New Zealand

2004 7th Visual AIDS Postcards from the Edge Benefit Show, Brent Sikkema Gallery, New York, NY

2004 Local-Motive, The Barn Gallery, Murfreesboro, TN

2004 7th International Open Exhibition, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL2003                

2003 Mini-Print 8, Graduate Association of Painters and Printmakers, Vergette Gallery, Carbondale, IL

2002 Philadelphia Exchange, University Museum, SIUC, Carbondale, IL

Academic Awards and Grants

December 2008 Professional Development Support Grant, Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville, TN

December 2008 Faculty Development Grant, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN        

May 2008 Instructional Development Grant, Middle State University,   Murfreesboro, TN

July  2007 Professional Development Support Grant, Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville, TN

May 2007 Faculty Development Grant, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN

May 2006 Faculty Curriculum Development Grant, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN

June 2004 Faculty Research and Creative Activity Grant, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN

Fall 1997-Spring 1998 University of Kansas Art Dept. Scholarship, Lawrence, KS