COLUMBIA — From across the room, Sarah Nguyen’s artwork might look like a painting. But a closer look reveals something different.
The Columbia artist creates large-scale works of art by cutting intricate designs into paper, a process that can take weeks or even months to complete.
Her exhibition, “Elegant Edge: Reclaiming the Mythic Feminine,” is on display at Orr Street Studios through Oct. 31.
Nguyen said each work begins with research and sketches before she starts cutting. She lightly draws a composition on a large sheet of paper, rolls it up and works through it one section at a time.
A piece measuring approximately 4 feet by 7 feet can take about a month to complete, Nguyen said. She typically would work two to three hours a day, five days a week on a larger work.
Columbia artist Sarah Nguyen transforms hand-cut paper into intricate works of art inspired by ancient mythology.
Jared Archer, KOMU 8 Reporter
Despite the careful preparation, she said the cutting process leaves room for improvisation.
“I don’t really look at the whole piece as I’m doing it,” Nguyen said. “I’m just responding to the marks beforehand, and every cut you see is improvised.”
Nguyen’s interest in paper as an artistic medium developed during a residency in Japan, where she studied papermaking, traditional printmaking and folklore.
The experience inspired her to use paper as more than a surface for artwork. Instead, she began treating the material itself as a central part of the story.
“I think humans are storytelling animals, so we just resonate with stories,” Nguyen said.
That interest in storytelling is reflected in her latest exhibition, which reexamines female figures from ancient mythology.
The exhibition explores characters including Baba Yaga, Hecate, Demeter, the Sphinx and the Selkie. Nguyen uses imagery inspired by nature to reinterpret their stories through paper.
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She said female characters in mythology are often remembered differently from male heroes, particularly after experiencing hardship.
“I’m just interested in that, and reflecting it, and also celebrating these figures in a beautiful way,” Nguyen said. “In a way that even if they are looked at sort of in a monstrous way, that there is a lot of grace, and there’s just a lot of humanity with them.”
Rather than portraying these figures only as frightening or monstrous, Nguyen hopes viewers will consider their stories from another perspective.
She described her approach as “looking at these female stories in a way that isn’t antagonistic, looking at them with compassion and sympathy.”
Nguyen creates her artwork in a home studio rather than at Orr Street Studios, where she also serves as studio manager. She said her process begins with researching the myths and developing ideas before cutting the paper.
The finished pieces can look different depending on where they are displayed. Light passing through the paper creates shadows that add another dimension to the designs.
For visitors, the amount of work behind each piece can be just as meaningful as the finished result.
“There’s just something that I find so beautiful and powerful about knowing the amount of time that went into the art,” exhibition visitor Struby Struble said.
Nguyen said she enjoys hearing how people interpret her artwork, especially when they notice shapes or symbols she did not intentionally create.
She hopes the exhibition encourages visitors to spend time with the pieces rather than simply passing by them.
“Work in person rather than on your screen is something that does take time and a moment of reflection, and we don’t have that today,” Nguyen said.
“Elegant Edge: Reclaiming the Mythic Feminine” runs through Oct. 31 at Orr Street Studios, 106 Orr St. in Columbia.
The gallery’s regular hours are Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. Visitors can find additional exhibition information at Orr Street Studios’ website.