Discover the vibrant and richly textured art of 12 Midwestern Hmong artists as they retrace cultural traditions, identity and histories through works focused on plants and nature. Paintings, illustrations, ceramics, textiles, and interactive installation works on view will exemplify the varied and nuanced narratives of contemporary Hmong artists.
A Word from Guest Curator Christina Vang
When I experience Hmong Art, I am reminded that our oldest ancestor is the land. From hieroglyphic representations of flora and fauna, hemp-woven textiles and indigo-dyed clothing to bamboo wind instruments, Hmong culture is the land, and the land is our culture. We are also deeply rooted in agriculture, with a long history of growing traditional foods, medicines and materials in our ancestral mountainous homelands.
To reflect on this deep connection to plants and nature, we invite the community to a special harvest ceremony at the opening reception of Verdant Remedies on Saturday, Aug. 9. A kwv txhiaj (song poetry) dedication to plants will be performed by Houa Moua. Zongxee Lee, curator of the “Seeds of Knowledge & Healing” Hmong Garden Gallery at the Arboretum, will lead a mini-harvest and garden tour. The harvested plants will be used in an interactive art installation in the MacMillan Auditorium as guests arrive at the Reedy Gallery. Find details on the back page.
For me, the works of these artists evoke a sense of belonging — belonging to the world and this place, a sense of belonging despite the centuries of statelessness and displacement experienced by my people. I hope others will have a similar takeaway and be prompted to examine their histories and connections to plants and nature.
Gaoshua Vang
ARTIST STATEMENT
I draw what I love, and I love women’s Hmong clothes.
I love the colors and the inspiration it takes from nature, especially the paj ntaub or “flower cloth,” which is the term for Hmong textile art.
Whether I use digital or traditional mediums, I find a lot of joy drawing the clothes, adding the little details, and filling them in with vibrant colors. I love to show the elegance, femininity and vibrancy of the clothes. It makes me feel like I’m drawing princesses again like I once did as a child.
12 x 15
Mixed media on paper
$800
Gaoshua Vang
Colorful Diamonds
Flowers and Stripes
12 x 15
Mixed media on paper
$800
Gaoshua Vang
for You
12 x 15
Mixed media on paper
$800
Gaoshua Vang Here
12 x 15
Mixed media on paper
$800
Gaoshua Vang
The Harvest
Gaoshua Vang
Queen of Clubs
12 x 15
Digital print on acid-free Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper
$500
The Queen of Clubs is a face card from my sold out ONE Playing Cards. The Queen of Clubs holds a needle and paj ntaub (pa dao). Paj ntaub is traditional Hmong needlework or embroidery, and it literally means flower cloth.
Gaoshua Vang
Queen of Diamonds
12 x 15
Digital print on acid-free Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper
$500
The Queen of Diamonds is a face card from my sold out ONE Playing Cards. The Queen of Diamonds holds a nplooj (blong) or leaf. She is a Hmong leaf player who can play music by blowing on a leaf.
Gaoshua Vang
Queen of Hearts
12 x 15
Digital print on acid-free Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper
$500
The Queen of Hearts is a face card from my sold out ONE Playing Cards. The Queen of Hearts holds a nplej (blay) or rice plant. Rice is a staple food in Hmong cuisine. The word for food in Hmong is mov (maw), which means rice.
Gaoshua Vang
Queen of Spades
12 x 15
Digital print on acid-free Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper
$500
The Queen of Spades is a face card from my sold out ONE Playing Cards. The Queen of Spades holds a paj yeej (pa ying) or poppy. Poppies are one of the Hmong’s most popular flowers, both for its beauty and medicinal uses.
Kao Lee Thao
ARTIST STATEMENT
Began her journey when her mother crossed the Mekong River while she was cradled in her womb. Fleeing the jungles of Laos her family escaped to America with $5 to begin a new life in Minnesota. She spent half her life studying psychology, unexpectedly a recurring dream urged her to abandon psychology and pursue her passion for art. After studying the psychology behind people’s desires, she couldn’t ignore her own. Once her inspiration was unlocked, creativity flowed unhindered.
Water and travel have become central ideas in her paintings. Her work is infused with an expressively fluid style that allows viewers to travel into the past and see the echo of folktales, themes and patterns passed down verbally from generation to generation in the Hmong culture. Storytelling is the driving force behind most of her paintings and recent public art work.
“Imagination Sparks Inspiration.”
Whispering Poppies
48 x 60
Acrylic on canvas
$14,000
Our ancestral spirits whisper among the fields of poppies. While trying to escape the jungles of Laos, mothers had to give their child opium to keep them quiet and safe from being hunted. Once they reached the refugee camps they were denied entry to America due to testing positive for drugs. Delicate and beautiful, poppies are a reflection of our deeper truth, each bloom symbolizes the painful sacrifices our ancestors made to survive the chaos of war and escape.
Kao Lee Thao
10 x 20
Mixed media
$1,000
Hmong women traditionally hand dye fabrics and sew our clothing. Indigo hands are symbolic of someone who has one hand in the spirit world and one hand carrying our culture. It’s as if the hands have crossed the veil leading a mark in these women.
Kao Lee Thao Indigo
8 x18 x 8
Not for sale
Kao Lee Thao
Save the Bees
Floral headdress with lace mask
Khou Vue
ARTIST STATEMENT
The psychologically and emotionally taxing event of motherhood led to the exploration into my heritage, identity and personal healing. With my background in graphic design, I leaned into illustration. In storytelling, I found joy and relief. The subject matter I gravitate toward most is the experience of Hmong women immigrants and their children, such as my grandmother and mother. Learning to see them as whole humans, beyond my caretakers, opened my mind and point of view. Finding understanding and empathy with the way they lived/live and their impact on my life has been therapeutic and inspiring. Through my art I hope that viewers feel a sense of connection, familiarity and joy.
Ev Kawm
11 x 14
Digital print on Hahnemühle William Turner Matte Rag watercolor paper
$500
A “kawm” is a woven basket with arm straps, carried on your back to transport your harvest.
Khou Vue
Homeland Healing Garden
16 x 24
Digital print on Hahnemühle William Turner Matte Rag watercolor paper
$250
This piece was commissioned by the Arboretum for the Hmong healing garden. In the Hmong homeland many community healers were women who passed down their knowledge and traditions to their daughters. I imagined that their teachings began as they tended to their gardens.
Khou Vue
Auntie Yia’s Harvest
11 x 14
Digital print on Hahnemühle William Turner Matte Rag watercolor paper
$200
Originally commissioned by Urban Roots MN for their youth-led podcast, River Stories. Auntie Yia’s nephew interviews her about her motivation to garden. She speaks of learning to grow crops in her homeland and how today she enjoys growing corn to share with her family.
Khou Vue
Ancestral Healing
14 x 14
Digital print on Hahnemühle William Turner Matte Rag watercolor paper
$200
The passing down of herbal traditions and healing knowledge can transcend, war, migration, time and space.
Khou Vue
Dej Txiaj Ntsim, Koua Mai Yang
ARTIST STATEMENT
yog peb hais lus, if we speak yog peb hais lus, if we speak, is an installation that imagines a world where everything is sentient and has the ability to speak. The artwork draws inspiration from a Hmong origin story or zaj dab neeg Ntuj Tsim Teb Raug: Neeg, Noob Qoob, Nqaij, Hnub thiab Hli (The Creation or Beginning of Humans, Crops, Meat, the Sun and Moon), told by Pa Chou Yang. In one part of this story, plants walked from their place of origin and taught humans how to grow and care for them. Similarly, the objects in this work, are beings with a limited ability to share their memories by a push of a button. Each object contains short snippets of unique sounds, showcasing a diverse array of their emotions and thoughts. Audiences are invited to gently activate these objects, listen and handle them with care.
yog peb hais lus
18 x 96 x 72
Installation, fabric, sound, bead
Not for sale
Dej Txiaj Ntsim,
Koua Mai Yang
Mai Lee ARTIST STATEMENT
Pottery found me during one of the hardest chapters of my life. What began as a way to heal slowly transformed into a passion and a purpose. Each piece I make carries a part of that journey — a reminder that from pain, something beautiful can grow.
My vision begins with the very basics of nature: clay. Through hand-building techniques and the potter’s wheel, the magic begins. Many of my pieces are decorated and embellished with textiles and patterns inspired by my Hmong heritage. I create with intention, shaping each vessel to hold more than just food or flowers — it holds energy, memory and meaning.
Creating beautiful pottery brings me joy. It connects me to the world and to the nature that surrounds me. One of my biggest inspirations is my Hmong background. My work is a reflection of that heritage and the stories that live within it — stories of strength, family, tradition and hope.
I hope my work speaks to you, heals you and inspires you to do what brings you joy.
Mai Lee
Deep Roots
5.25 x 5.25
Glaze on stoneware
$110
Mai Lee Forget Not
6.75 x 4
Glaze on stoneware
$112
Mai Lee
Heritage Bloom
6.25 x 6
Glaze on stoneware
$110
3.5 x 5 and 3.5 x 5.5
$90
Mai Lee Legacy Sisters
Glaze on stoneware
3.25 x 2 (lid closed)
Glaze on stoneware
$130
Mai Lee Northern Sky
Mai Lee Promise
6.75 x 6.25
Glaze on stoneware
$120
Mai Lee Rooted Lines
8.5 x 3 x 3
Glaze on stoneware
$85
5.5 x 10.75
Mai Lee
Serenity House
Glaze on stoneware
$145
Mai Lee Shadow Monarch
5.5 x 10.5
Glaze on stoneware
$145
Mai Lee
Silence in the Woods
6 x 11
Glaze on stoneware
$150
Mai Lee
Stepping Stairs
5 x 4
Glaze on stoneware
$68
7.5 diameter
Mai Lee
When Day Breaks
Glaze on stoneware
$110
When Midnight Comes 10.25 diameter
Glaze on stoneware
$120
Mai Lee
Pa Na Lor
ARTIST STATEMENT
As a Hmong American and first-generation refugee, my work builds upon the long history of Hmong art shaped by oppression, assimilation and innovation. Drawing from my heritage and the diverse cultural influences that inform my identity, I blend traditional Hmong textiles — paj ntaub — with woodblock printmaking to explore themes of resilience, migration and memory.
My current practice centers on mixed-media monoprints that merge abstract landscapes with the Hmong story. I embrace improvisation, allowing shapes, colors and forms to evolve organically. By sewing directly into my prints, I challenge the conventions of both printmaking and textile art, transforming flat images into textured, tactile forms. This process becomes a metaphor for stitching together fragments of identity, personal history and cultural memory.
My work reimagines Hmong visual traditions through a contemporary lens — blurring the lines between print and textile, and honoring the agricultural roots of the Hmong through recurring motifs of plants and florals.
Pa Na Lor
My Ancestral Landscape No. 2
75 x 24
Woodblock monotype, mixed media. Ink on Okawara and Mulberry. 2023.
$2,500
Thao Xiong
ARTIST STATEMENT
“Tshuaj Rau Qaib”
The three digital paintings in this exhibition were inspired by a traditional Hmong chicken soup. Tshuaj Rau Qaib is translated as herbs in chicken. These herbs are the heart of each composition. The stark white background keeps the focus on their vivid textures and hues.
Each herb was painted individually in Adobe Photoshop in layers, before being composed into the final image. The herbs were set in glass, wood and stone bowls, chosen for their symbolic resonance: glass for clarity and fragility, wood for tradition and warmth, and stone for resilience and grounding. Together, they reflect the experience of recovery — physical, emotional and cultural.
After I had open-heart surgery, the Hmong chicken soup was not just a meal, but also medicine. Traditionally, this dish is prepared for healing, especially after childbirth or major illness. It represents a return to balance, a reconnection with the body.
This series is both a personal reflection and a tribute, honoring the ancestral wisdom embedded in our foodways, and the role of art in reclaiming and reinterpreting memory, healing and heritage.
x 20 Print, digital paint
Thao Xiong Stone
16
$150
x 20
Print, digital paint
Thao Xiong
Glass
16
$150
16 x 20
Print, digital paint
Thao Xiong
Wood
$150
Third Daughter, Restless Daughter
ARTIST STATEMENT
Third Daughter, Restless Daughter is a sister team that creates sarcastic and snarky cross stitches. At a young age, our grandmother taught us the traditional Hmong embroidery Paj Ntaub. As life happened, we stepped away from cross stitching only to come back to it years later.
Though our work isn’t your traditional looking needlepoint, we use this technique along with infusing humor, pop culture and our personality into our designs.
We also create large scale installations that use the same method but incorporate unexpected materials such as metal gates to chicken wire. These works can be found @centro_mpls, @mnmuseum and @springboardarts.
Our niece Grace even joined the team by creating her hilarious handwritten misfortunes. You can find her hiding under the tables at our events.
Third
Daughter, Restless Daughter
None of your Beeswax
48 x 60 (2 pieces)
Mixed media
$2,000
A companion piece for the many floral installations created by sister duo Third Daughter, Restless Daughter, “None of Your Beeswax,” features a honeybee that pollinates stories and ideas centering around creativity. The artwork is made from sustainable yarn and chicken wire. Wone cross stitched the right half, and Youa cross stitched the left half to create one whole.
Tou Her ARTIST STATEMENT
Names have always been an important aspect of every culture. Some use it to define their trade, while others use it to highlight characteristics they want to be known for. For the Hmong people, names are a combination of the latter and things from the natural world. Pao Zej is a boy’s name to represent rocks and stones. Sua is a name with many meanings, like the voice of nature or the ability to count. Names can define a person and shape life’s direction.
I am fascinated by the concept of names and its role in the Hmong community. A good name will help you lead a good life, but a badly named child could face hardships. Families like to stick to familiar names so their children won’t stray. Two common names are Tou and Mai, equivalent to John or Mary.
My work here is based on a popular girl name that shows love of flowers and beauty found in the world: Paaj. This series explores my love of painting flowers in combination with portraits inspired by the Paaj’s I know.
Nkauj Zuag Paaj
20 x 26
Acrylic on canvas
$5,000
Based on a Chinese Hmong folklore about the youngest daughter of the Dragon King, who falls in love with a mortal man. They elope back to earth and face many tribulations as the Dragon King chases after them.
Tou Her
$3,500
A common Hmong name derived from the Hmong words flower, Paaj, and the color white, Dlawb.
Tou Her
Paaj Dlawb
14 x 26
Acrylic on canvas
14 x 26
$3,500
During the French occupation of Southeast Asia, the Hmong started to grow massive amounts of poppies for opium production. This was their cash crop and enriched many families but it also enslaved many to its addictive properties.
Tou Her
Paaj Yeej
Acrylic on canvas
16 x 20
Acrylic on canvas
$3,000
The Hmong have always been farmers toiling away in the mountains. Whether it is with slash and burn techniques or terra forming mountainsides for crops, they have persevered and harvest crops such as mustard greens.
Tou Her
Paaj Zaub
18 x 22
Acrylic on canvas
$4,000
The Hmong are known for their beautiful clothing and the embroidery work that is known as “flower cloth.” Some say it is the lost Hmong language from thousands of years ago, but it has yet to be verified. We do know that some of the motifs represent life and growth, a cycle of the seasons.
Tou Her
Paaj Ntaub
Tshab Her
ARTIST STATEMENT
Connecting to the spirit of resistance and storytelling through paaj ntaub, a traditional Hmong textile art, my art practice explores my identity as a second generation Hmong American woman raised by Hmong refugees fleeing the “secret war” in Laos. As being both Hmong and American, I straddle the in-between spaces of ethnicity and culture. I use Hmong story cloths, embroidered pictorial tapestries, as a tool for sharing my own story. The medium finds grounding and connection to the legacy of storytellers who preserved and celebrated Hmong culture by sewing our heritage and the movement of life into cloth. As an extension to this cultural practice, I use contemporary imagery to depict my search for healing and personal agency while grappling with the tension of belonging as a Hmong American with histories of statelessness and displacement. I use vibrant colors to honor the strength and resilience of the war-torn Hmong body in parallel to my own self exploration, discovery and expressions as I contend with my conflicting identities, one from the East and the other from the West.
Tshab Her puj, tais, nam, kuv
60 x 60
Embroidery floss, mixed fabrics and beads
Not for sale
Not a complete image. File format is not able to be converted to CMYK.
Xee Reiter
ARTIST STATEMENT
Food has a profound way of conjuring up memories, nostalgia and even pain. This is why it comes natural for me to make art about what I love and to show my love through food. Everything I know about cooking and gardening was from my mother, Xia Her Lor, to whom I dedicate this work. She wasn’t a teacher. She was a doer and you had to observe and learn at your own discretion. From a watercolor painting of Hmong medicinal herbs to the Ancona hen boldly stating “Ua Neeg Zoo,” which in English translates to “Be a good person,” every piece embodies fragments of my childhood.
BIO
Xee Reiter is a multi-faceted, self-taught Hmong American artist based in St. Paul. Her explorations and past works include illustrations for books, restaurants and online publications. You can see her murals and exhibits across the metro and beyond including WE Mural curated by UaSi Creative for the city Bloomington, “Wonderland” for Creative Enterprise Zone and “Home” in Stevens Point, Wis. She uses various mediums, specializing in ink, watercolor, acrylic and natural materials to tell stories through both traditional and digital forms. Xee continues to set her sights on new challenges by using visual art to preserve cultural roots for future generations.
Xee Reiter
Poor Gourmet
12 x 12
Gouache on canvas
$650
Xee Reiter
Khaopoon
18 x 24
Acrylic on canvas
$3,600
11 x 14
Framed print
Xee Reiter
Hmong Healing Herbs
$450
Xee Reiter
Poppin
8 x 8
3D Acrylic on canvas
$670
Xee Reiter
Portrait of a Hmong Cucumber
8 x 10
Acrylic on canvas
$550
Xee Reiter
Pork Belly & Egg
3 x 3 (2 pieces)
Acrylic on canvas
$500
Xee Reiter
Money Tree
8 x 10
Acrylic on canvas
$450
Not for sale
Xee Reiter
Snack
9 x 11
Acrylic on canvas
VERDANT REMEDIES OPENING RECEPTION
Saturday, Aug. 9 from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m.
10:30 a.m. Join us at the Farm at the Arb for a special harvest ceremony.
12 p.m.–2 p.m. Join us at the Reedy Gallery in the Oswald Visitor Center to view the exhibition, enjoy refreshments and meet the artists.
Tickets at arb.umn.edu/verdant-remedies
FOR ART INQUIRIES
Wendy DePaolis, M.A.
Arboretum Curator of Art and Sculpture 952-334-4019 (mobile) 612-301-1873 (office)
