About Minh Ta

In 2013 while traveling in Thailand, Minh saw driftwood horses and deers displaying during the Christmas time. He was fascinated by the beauty and artistic composure of these creations which sparked his interest to create something from pieces of driftwood.

Minh is a renaissance man. Minh discovered his artistic side late in life. After 11 years working for a biotech company as a biochemist, Minh moved to Monte Rio from San Francisco, California in 2013 to work on his nursing and massage therapy licenses. Living about 8 miles from the Sonoma Coast, Minh found his “treasures” of driftwood along the coast. He began to collect them as he took his dog Bradley for a run on the beach weekly. He saw the natural formations from the driftwood pieces and began to compose into art work as a hobby. Initially, he used hot glue stick and nails, modified some of the driftwood pieces, and resurrected them into “living” small animals like birds and turtles and abstract human figures. Some of his works had been shown several times at the library art and local galleries in Guerneville, CA in 2015 and 2016.

Minh has no formal artistic training, but is a self-thought artist. His work has evolved as he figured out better ways to connect the wood together from techniques to scales, and from abstract to more concrete pieces. Some of the works have been shown at the Occidental Center For the Arts, a local gallery. He has continued to collect more driftwood pieces and wanted to challenge himself with more complex work. in 2018, he became an emerging artist when he got an Honorable Mention award for his work “The Peacock” in 3-D category from The Fusion Art Into the Wild International Art Exhibition Competition. He continues to several awards for his works (see Award Winning Works. He desires to show his work to a large audience and meets other driftwood artists in the future. A friends once told him that he gave “dead woods” a new life. He wants to inspire more people to do more art work from driftwood pieces.

Here is the list of Minh’s winning awards

* The Merit Award for “A Rising Phoenix” from the Connections Exhibit from the Occidental Center
For the Art - 2018
* The Honorable Mention Award in the 3-D category for “The Peacock” from the first annual Into the
Wild International Art Exhibition from Fusion Art Palm Springs - 2018
* The 4th place in the 3-D category for “The Bald Eagle” from the “Nature” Art Exhibition from Light
Space and Time Online Gallery - 2018
* The Finalist in the 3-D category for “The Retire” from the 4th Annual Figures and Face International
Online Art Exhibition from Fusion Art - 2018
* The Finalist in the 3-D category for “Peace” from the 4th Leaves and Petals International Online Art
Exhibition from Fusion Art - 2018
* The 5th place in the 3D category for “The Turtle” from the 4th Annual Artist’s Choice Art Exhibition
Fusion Art and the 9th Annual “Animals” Art Exhibition from Light Space and Time Online Gallery -
2019
* The Honorable Award in the 3-D category for “Odalisque ” from the “Open” Art Exhibition from Light
Space and Time Online Gallery - 2019
* Judge Choice Award in the 3-D category for “Soulmates” from the “Planet Earth” Art Exhibition from
The Contemporary Art Gallery Online - 2019
* The Honorable Mention Award in the 3-D category for “Soulmates” from the “9th Nature Art
Exhibition” from Light Space and Time Online Gallery - 2019
* The Honorable Mention Award in the 3-D category for “Soulmates” from the 5th Annal Artist Choice
Exhibition from Fusion Art - 2020
* The Honorable Mention Award in the 3D category for “Balancing” from the 5th Animal Kingdom
Exhibition from Fusion Art - 2020

Minh's first piece of work, The Dancer. The woods had been modified to fit the desired outcome. What inspired him in this work is that the shape of the wood looks like a human body. The spread of the leg and the extension of the arms reflect a dance movement of a human figure into the air.