Meet Phuong Pham. Ridiculously crafty, ridiculously talented, and just an amazing artist all around. She has been transplanted to Los Angeles by way of Philly and Baltimore. She has an MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking though now she has been mostly working on her drawing and fiber arts these days.
I've admired her from afar for many years, so I was really excited when she agreed to do an interview for Within Color and man, did she deliver.
Just looking at your website, I see you work with many medias. How did you get interested in all these different textiles? How did you get into book binding?
After graduate school, I continued printmaking and bookbinding as a way to explore the indie craft market and to meet fellow artists. Along the way, I was feeling over-saturated with books; however, I think artists always feel the need to be making things, regardless of their product/exhibition expectations. Although I no longer had access to a fully-equipped printmaking studio or bindery, I knew that I couldn't NOT make stuff, that my hand-skills would not be content to plateau. For lack of printmaking space and tools, (and for an abundance of creative fidgeting), fiber and drawing came naturally because I can still stitch, layer, and pace my ideas, even without elaborate equipment.
Whats one of your favorite projects you've done?
I have a special love for the food series I did with my colleague and bestie, Amanda D'Amico. We were at first apprehensive about mixing our different working styles together, but what came out of our collaboration was so fun, sometimes off-the-cuff, and incredibly liberating. I loved being able to use fancy technology to mark up unglamorous objects, and the project forced us to laugh at ourselves and be more experimental.
Now that I have landed on a completely opposite coast where everything is new to me, I'm embracing the leisure to experiment and explore my surroundings in Los Angeles. In between networking and the joys of navigating new terrain, I find myself settling in more by continuing to make things--which, right now, involves endlessly drawing and embroidering or wrapping up some sewing projects when my knuckles need a break. I recently discovered the fabric and flower districts downtown, which are equally as inspiring to me as tiny donut shops tucked into strip malls all over Hollywood. The plant life and residential architecture in this part of the country never cease to amaze me, and I love when plants that are totally alien to me are a part of everyday landscaping here.
Ultimately, in all of my work, I am drawn to relationships that are quietly incongruous. Subtle contrasts that blend into their environments--a traffic cone sitting on a palm tree, red and gold translucent lines on the shell of a dead bug, lovingly embroidered foods that are typically devoured not-so-gracefully.
All in all, Phuong is one BAMF. It blows my mind she is able to do all of these things and do them SO WELL.
P.S. If you enjoyed this artist feature, make sure you didn't miss out on our last interview here.
