Find Self, Then Find Direction
Robyn Thompson-Duong (@robynthompsonduong)
I remember always knowing I would be an artist, but I didn't know what that would look like. By the time I was a junior in high school, I was looking into college art programs. I remember the butterflies swirling when I told my mother. I think I chose advertising design to soften the blow, when in fact, I wanted to paint. I don't remember where or from whom I heard that being an artist would mean certain struggle and poverty, but it was definitely something I believed and for too long allowed to affect the (safe) choices I made. Once in college, I didn't see many people who looked like me and that affirmed my belief that traveling the path of an artist would be a difficult road. When I graduated in 2002, I had a choice between a job at a small magazine with very little pay but great experience potential or a job at a large insurance company for good pay and benefits. I played it safe. I loathed that job. A few years later, I found out I have Lupus, which changed my life in so many ways, one of which was rethinking my career path. I went back to school to earn an M.Ed. to teach art for over 12 years. For too long, I dreamed about teaching less and creating more, but life, as it does, got in the way. I needed the health insurance due to my chronic illness, which has made it near impossible to quit my W2, union benefits job. Now as a 40+ wife and mom of two, I am again rethinking my career path and finally getting to do what I think I was always meant to.
CONTROLLING MY OWN NARRATIVE
I am still working on overcoming imposter syndrome and just second guessing myself. It is a journey that I think many people are on - to have more confidence in themselves to go out and reach for those dreams that have been put aside for whatever reasons. I’m currently a Creative Entrepreneur Fellow through the Arts and Business Council of Boston and my cohort has some of the same issues and concerns as myself. So in a way, it is comforting that I’m not the only one thinking about these things. I think that what changed for me was putting myself out there more by entering more juried shows, applying for grants, residencies, and fellowships. When I saw that I was selected for some of those things, it confirmed for me that I could actually do this. Also working with a mentor who I truly admire has helped get me out of my shell. I feel a sense of relief and excitement thinking about the future and my prospects now that I am focusing on what I am passionate about. I paint because I have to. It is who I am and what I need to do to feel whole. I have never felt more like myself.
“Don’t let perfection be the enemy of productivity” – Robyn Thompson-Duong
About The Artist
Magical realism, beauty and love of color, Robyn Thompson Duong’s work evokes pride in black culture and the spirit of femininity. Drawing inspiration from art history and challenging the societal perceptions and stereotypes of Black femininity and beauty, Robyn depicts women of color as Mother Goddess, grand, graceful, and beautiful. Robyn’s work seeks to reappropriate the Black female image and what it means to be a woman of color.
Primarily a figurative artist, Robyn Thompson Duong works in acrylics at her New England art studio. As a black woman raised in the suburbs of Boston and often being the only person of color growing up, Robyn knows the importance of representation and seeing one’s self in the images and people around you, hence her work depicting women of color as the main subjects of her paintings. Robyn Studied visual art at Syracuse University earning a BFA in 2002. She later went on to earn an MEd from Lesley University. Combining her passion for art with her love of teaching, Robyn has been an artist educator in both private and public institutions. Robyn was named the Museum of Fine Arts Emerging Artist Fellow for 2020, Art and Business Council’s Creative Entrepreneur Fellow for 2021, and Mass MOCA residency fellow for 2021.