Duat Vu exhibit on display at Cottey through Feb. 4

Entering the PEO Foundation gallery, viewers face brightly colored paintings by Springfield, Mo., artist Duat Vu. Titled "Immigrants: An Arch of Experience, Vu's exhibit will remain on display through Feb. 4.

Nevada Daily Mail

Springfield, Mo., artist Duat Vu's exhibit, "Immigrants: An Arch of Experience" is now on display in the PEO Foundation Art Gallery at Cottey College.

Vu holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of Connecticut and has taught art in a variety of venues throughout the past several years, most recently as assistant professor at Southwest Missouri State University, which recently changed its name to Missouri State University.

Vu is a first generation Vietnamese immigrant, whose family was part of the wave of boat people that escaped Vietnam in 1979. Vu reports that the trip was a near death experience for him as a 7-year-old refugee. Growing up in Toronto, Canada, Vu never felt truly Western, nor fully Vietnamese, despite his very traditional family.

Vu's work expresses the "conflicting emotions of this life experience, the feelings of isolation and displacement as a result of dual cultural influences, and the ups and downs of assimilation for a first generation immigrant, and last, but not least, is an attempt to make sense of the lasting psychological effects of the Vietnam War. It was the war of my childhood whose generational tragedy still reverberates and underlines my outlook on human existence," Vu said in an artist's statement.

Viewers described the works as "emotional and inspiring," "interesting and provocative," and "simply, delightfully enigmatic, yet crystal clear in some ways.

One viewer noted that some of the works are reminiscent of local artists Ron Mann and Helen White, Vietnam veterans who have also used art as a way of trying to communicate and make sense of the lasting impact the Vietnam war has had on American veterans.

"Immigrants: An Arch of Experience" will remain on display through Feb. 4 and is free to the public.

The gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mondays through Fridays and later on the nights of performances. The gallery is located inside the Haidee and Allen Wild Center for the Arts.