The Art League Gallery
Exhibition Dates: October 26, 2024 – January 5, 2025
First Friday Reception: November 1, 2024 from 5:00 – 8:00 pm
Rev. Martin Lam Nguyen, C.S.C., serves as an Associate Professor of painting and drawing in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design at the University of Notre Dame. Father Martin arrived in the U.S. in 1979 as a refugee from Vietnam. He entered the Candidate Program of the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1982, made his First Profession of Vows in 1985, Final Profession of Vows in 1988, and was ordained in 1989. He also served at St. Francis Xavier Parish, Burbank, CA 1988-1990. He has a B.A. from the University of Portland (1982), M.Div from the University of Notre Dame (1988), and M.F.A. from the University of California at Berkeley (1995). He also completed a Special Student Program at Yale School of Art (1991-1993). He has been on the faculty of the Department of Art, Art History and Design of Notre Dame since 1995.
For his solo exhibition in The Art League Gallery at SBMA, Father Martin presents the viewer with larger than life size paintings and photo-collages: “In this exhibition I present two worship sites, both interior and exterior. Instead of familiar images often produced by one single perspective, here the viewers are invited to look slowly and attentively for a new, fresh encounter. Each corner, each detail guides our looking. Here instead of the usual looking from outside which produces a complete, ‘perfect’ image, we now look from inside, not unlike the other side of a tapestry or an embroidered piece. It offers an apparent ‘imperfect’, appealing version of our looking. “
In addition to his work with undergraduate and graduate students at University of Notre Dame, Fr. Martin teaches watercolor, painting and drawing classes at the Westville Correctional Center as a part of the Moreau Center Initiative. Humanity Illuminated is a group exhibition in both the Crowley Community Gallery and The Project Room space that features artwork by Moreau College students who are incarcerated at Westville Correctional Facility in Northern Indiana.
