Practice Makes Perfect: How Elaine Nguyen Made an Art Practice in the Bay Area
Installation view of Dream Recital, courtesy of CAMi Gallery
Dream Recital, at CAMi Gallery, is crisp and seemingly effortless. Towering Prussian Blue cyanotypes, a method that uses ultraviolet light-sensitive chemicals, immerse viewers in memory and abandon. The images may appear impromptu, but that illusion depends on a rigorous preparedness. Artist Elaine Nguyen's career operates in much the same way. Artists like Nguyen know that having an art practice today takes more than making a compelling pièce de résistance. Dream Recital is the product of building relationships, marketing savvy, and fiscal infrastructure as much as it is the result of studio time. In that sense, Elaine Nguyen exemplifies the contemporary artist's role in the Bay Area and how it has expanded today.
Image courtesy of Elaine Nguyen
Each watery composition in Dream Recital portals the distance between where an artist begins and where they hope to arrive. Nguyen says, “Early on, no one wants to see the artwork, so you have to be scrappy.” Applying incessantly to open calls, often without knowing where those applications could lead, can be discouraging. “You ask yourself, what am I doing?” she reflected. Before curators and gallerists began filling her inbox with requests, Nguyen spent years doing tedious administrative tasks like scouring the internet for grants and perfecting her resume and website. Eventually her persistence would transform her encounters. Applications once met with rejection became invitations to participate in exhibitions on the level for whom her younger self had only the highest hopes.
Today, visibility is a crucial element to master. “I never liked Instagram at all,” Nguyen admitted. "But being public-facing is part of the job." This is at odds with her quiet contemplative style. Crafting her public-facing presence extends beyond social media to an interest in documentation. When CAMi Gallery photographed Dream Recital, Nguyen was dissatisfied with the results. “Cyanotypes can be difficult to photograph,” she explained. “I wanted to create images that were truer to the artwork’s color in real life.” Ultimately, she rephotographed the exhibition herself. She didn’t compromise the way she would be perceived long-term. Preserving a moment is not only a concern within Nguyen’s practice; it also describes the conditions through which her creativity circulates.
During her undergraduate studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), she blossomed within Baltimore’s thriving scene of local artist-run spaces. For her Master of Fine Arts, she attended the University of California, Davis. Because the program was fully funded, she took two years off work and devoted herself to the studio. Those years reshaped her trajectory. Beatriz Cortez guided her to better articulate her message. After graduating, she received an educational fellowship at Root Division, a San Francisco arts nonprofit. "I think Root Division was a really soft landing,” Nguyen said. “I’m from San Jose; San Francisco was a place I knew, but it was also unfamiliar, so Root Division launched me into everything and introduced me to the world here. Being backed by an institution is important,” she said. “It doesn't have to be a college, but it could be a place like Root Division.”
“Through my work, I am able to make money and still be in the art world as well. No matter what, I am able to contribute to the arts," she explained. Nguyen teaches drawing and painting and manages educational programming at a major San Francisco music organization. As a hybrid studio practitioner and academic administrator, Nguyen is fully interwoven in a creative network. Dream Recital marks another significant step in her professional life. A solo exhibition at a commercial gallery signals recognition from the commercial art world. After soaking in ultraviolet rays and staining the surface with fiery sunlicks, the cyanotype produces an image fully formed and ready for admiration. Like her cyanotypes, Nguyen is ready to step into the next stage of her career.
Visitors entering CAMi Gallery see expansive fields of quiet beauty. Cyanotype is a medium shaped by chance, time, and persistence, reflecting Nguyen’s own path as an artist. What visitors don't see are the years of labor and undying conviction of self-worth. Dream Recital isn't simply a showcase of art—it's a receipt for an experience compounded over time.
