After graduating from DTU class 18, majoring in Civil & Industrial Engineering, Mr. Dinh Van Tam found success creating fine art sculpture at his hometown in Quang Tri province. Mr. Tam is the creator of a cat mascot which netizens have affectionately baptized “Miss Cat.”
The Cat Mascot in Quang Tri is viewed by tourists
The Cat Mascot goes viral
Exactly one year ago, on the Lunar New Year of the Tiger, Mr. Tam was requested to sculpt a tiger mascot by the Trieu Phong district in Quang Tri. The result, with its commanding Lord-of-the-Jungle pose, immediately conquered people’s hearts and became an internet sensation. Thousands complemented him on social networking sites, praising his creative talents. He had created a large tiger statue 2.5 m high, and specially erected it on a cliff in the Le Duan park in Dong Ha, to increase its natural and majestic appearance. The statue immediately attracted both locals and people to admire it and take pictures, some on the way to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year.
In recognition of his talent and enthusiasm, the Quang Tri province People’s Committee Chairman awarded Mr. Tam a Certificate of Merit and 20 million dong. The accomplished artist is one of the many talented alumni of DTU’s Construction majors.
Quang Tri’s “Miss Cat”
As a result, the Trieu Phong district People’s Committee entrusted him with the creation of a Lunar New Year mascot for 2023, the Year of the Cat. In only ten days, he and his partners worked hard to create a true Vietnamese Calico Cat, which ended up measuring 3.1 m high, 2.2 m wide, 2.8 m long, and weighing 250 kg, made from foam, plaster and color coating.
Every small detail was taken care of. The biggest difficulty this year was the windy weather, which hindered the use of the foam to make the sculpture as natural and true-to-life as possible. Initially Mr. Tam planned to make the mascot much smaller but then bought more materials and spent more time to make his true Vietnamese Calico Cat as stunning and lifelike as possible.
Dinh Van Tam with his two mascots, in 2022 and 2023
Immediately the new mascot was erected in the central square of Quang Tri’s Trieu Phong district, tourists from all over Vietnam started to visit to take photos from different angles and flooded social networking sites, from Facebook and Zalo to Instagram, posting them with hundreds of awestruck compliments.
Mr. Tam’s Quang Tri cat displaced dozens of other cat mascots nationwide, as netizens officially baptized the Quang Tri mascot as the “Miss Cat” of 2023.
“I received lots of love from tourists from everywhere, both before and after the Lunar New Year,” said Mr. Tam, expressing his feelings on how his cat mascot was appreciated and shared. “Many tourists from Quang Tri, Danang, Saigon, Binh Thuan, Hanoi, Dong Nai, Nghe An, Thua Thien Hue, and elsewhere met or contacted me online to discuss my work and discuss all the 2023 cat mascots, including my own. I’m incredibly happy and proud that my art was received with such enthusiasm”.
Knowledge from the classroom helps in artisan’s development
When researching the identity of the creator of the le Quang Tri cat mascot in Quang Tri, people constantly praise the talented young Mr. Ta for his success in fine art sculpture, which is both remunerative and enables him at the same time to develop personally and professionally.
Mr. Tam receives a Certificate of Merit from the Quang Tri province People’s Committee Chairman
“After graduation, I was hesitant at first, but then I decided to pursue a career in fine art sculpture,” said Mr. Tam. “My classmates and I worked in many different provinces and cities, but sticking to this profession was a mixture of creativity, passion and chance. Although fine art sculpture and construction engineering are not alike, I could apply much that I’d learned in my university classroom to it, such as understanding structure, materials, construction organization, and the basic software used for civil construction, for example, which has all benefitted me greatly when sculpting.”
From the outset, Mr. Tam, like other young people, encountered many difficulties along the way, but he gained experience on his journeys. After many years, he has now been strongly recognized by the leadership of Quang Tri province, his hometown in the Trieu Phong district and people from all over the country.
(Media Center)