Fairytale Castle

The concept for this exhibition was inspired by Heather Hamann’s “Fairytale Castle.” In Hamann’s own words “Everybody like(s) fairytales and it will make you feel joy, wonderful, love and hope.”

I selected works that I envisioned would live in this “Fairytale Castle” that Hamann has created materially and in her imagination. The works encompass joyful drawings and magical objects that could help transport a prince or princess to faraway places while they write their own fairytales.

Kieu Tran is a first-generation Vietnamese American artist based in Oakland, CA. Formerly a full-time software engineer with an art history degree from UCLA, she transitioned to a full-time artist in 2021. What started as creating functional works on the pottery wheel later progressed into a practice more focused on blurring the lines between abstract and figurative. She has explored ceramic, stone, wood and bronze.

Kieu's biomorphic ceramic sculptures serve as a mode of self-care, learning, and asserting her identity as a first-generation Asian American woman. Her work, aiming to give form to the human soul, explores themes of identity fluidity, societal pressures, and the universal human need for love and connection.

Tran has exhibited at the Bakersfield Museum of Art, Art Miami, Art Market SF, and various Bay Area galleries. Featured in Interior Design Magazine, Surface Magazine, Sight Unseen, EST Living, and Design Anthology Asia, her art resides in private collections worldwide.