Thoa Nguyen is a Seattle-based oil painter with a strong influence from the Impressionist tradition. A celebration of light, atmosphere, and mood, her emerging work conveys a sense of movement and energy. Born in Vietnam, Nguyen came to the United States as a refugee during the fall of 1975. After earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in Denver, Colorado, she took a long hiatus from her art to embark on a successful business career. Recently retired, she has dedicated herself to painting again, and has experienced an immediate public response including exhibitions, sales, and commissions.
Nguyen’s return to painting has been an experimental journey rooted in intuition. Drawing inspiration from both urban and natural vistas, her process is highly spontaneous—when she connects deeply with a subject, she paints quickly, translating her thoughts and emotions directly onto the canvas. More recently, she has been moving towards abstraction, as she finds the tenets of abstract expressionism both exhilarating and liberating.