Our Common Threads
- Title
- Our Common Threads
- Creator
- Kao Lee Thao
- An artist primarily based in Minnesota, Kao Lee Thao has a portfolio with impressive diversity. While many public and street projects are more noticeable, she has talent with other mediums such as digital art, painting with watercolor and acrylics, creating scarves, and even 3D animation. Folklore Studio, is a 3D animation company run by Kao Lee and her team with Ash Kubesh, that produces animation for television and film. Originally studying psychology, Kao Lee has been drawn to people and their stories. Eventually, she turned her attention back to art; a passion she thoroughly enjoyed from her childhood. Pursuing art as a career has allowed her to tell unique stories and reflect her Hmong heritage through her artistic talents. In doing so, Kao Lee creates artwork that can be enjoyed for people that view it, while also reflecting her own strong personal connections to the art. Taking her own sources of inspiration, Kao Lee aims to inspire others.
- Date
- Date of Creation: 2021
Date of Documentation: March 31 2025 & April 29, 2025 - Description
- Our Common Threads is a mural displayed on a deep black wall in the ChromaZone that reaches two stories in height. Capturing the majority of the wall’s space, is an Asian woman. The main point of focus is her face, with a bright skin tone that stands out against the flowing blue that shades most of the mural, including her hair. She is in the act of stitching threads and patterns into her dress, with smaller animals to her right and left. Overall, the mural is symmetrical and heavier toward the bottom. Against the black backdrop, the blue coloring, in addition to vibrant greens and pinks is bright and clear. There is even a tuft of purple hair that sticks up toward the front of her hairline and a white head piece that reflects Hmong culture, striped with black, which similarly stand out. Blue is certain to be the main color, in which her aqua hair transforms into waves of water toward the left of the mural. Additionally, her dress, which takes up the bottom half of the mural, is a similar bright blue that also seems to transform into clouds or waves on the left. The lines that evolve to these interesting features, all are thin and flow on a mysterious breeze. As if the lines themselves that paint the entirety of the mural, are themselves threads. Lines that weave and flow with both strength and grace.
When taking a closer look, other details begin to take form that appear to show Hmong culture. To the right of the mural, is a detached hand of the woman. Pink petals delicately fall from her palm, as blue fingers tightly hold a needle tied to a thread flowing to the right. A thread that is actively sewing small and intricate details of the lower segments of her dress, that continue to reflect Hmong culture. On the woman’s left, a deer sits sprinkled with a few colorful flowers. This deer mirrors a calmness similar to the woman, and gazes toward the stitch work of her dress. Assisting the mural, the wall of black behind the art is an extremely smooth backdrop; almost matte. To overlay the wall, the colorful mural is smoothed as well. Not one color appears solid, and all fade and flow in shades that help continue the smooth and curved appearance.
Looking closer still, reveals further intricate details seen in the mural’s foreground which stand stark against the smooth middle-ground and background. These many details bring together the reoccurring concept of Hmong heritage. There are small houses likely from a small Hmong village, that reside on the bodice of the woman’s dress. Reflecting on the blue coloring, an illusion of sky is created for the small village. There are also tiny people both toward the bottom and flowing fabric of her dress, and on floaties in her hair that further the illusion of water. More than likely, the villagers of the small village. Some are farming, and all are going about their day, in a calm and lovely environment. Next to a farming villager on the lower right of the mural, is a pink elephant that continues an Asian trend of beautiful representation. Overall, the detailed landscape continues the flow and weave of a landscape that has been solidified with the main woman of the mural. The subtle and primary features of the art fit together in sewing a powerful, yet soft message of Hmong beauty and strength that radiates from the mural. - Subject
- Throughout Kao Lee Thao’s art portfolio, there is a strong connection to Hmong heritage. This is no different in Our Common Threads, as the mural takes a closer look at Hmong clothing and the representation of nature and other cultural patterns sewn on to their clothing. Although this is a major part of the mural, the overarching message looks into immigration as a whole. Following the style of the mural, many experiences and cultures are woven together in new places that people may travel. Lives are connected by threads of commonly shared experiences.
- Rights
- Artist: Kao Lee Thao
Researcher: Annika Olson - Source
- Folklore Studio. “Folklore Studio.” F6S, www.f6s.com/folklore-studio.
Inner Swirl | Imagination Sparks Inspiration. www.innerswirl.com.
“Kao Lee Thao — Chroma Zone Mural and Art Festival.” Chroma Zone Mural & Art Festival, www.chromazone.net/kao-lee-thao.
Files
Collection
Citation
Kao Lee Thao and An artist primarily based in Minnesota, Kao Lee Thao has a portfolio with impressive diversity. While many public and street projects are more noticeable, she has talent with other mediums such as digital art, painting with watercolor and acrylics, creating scarves, and even 3D animation. Folklore Studio, is a 3D animation company run by Kao Lee and her team with Ash Kubesh, that produces animation for television and film. Originally studying psychology, Kao Lee has been drawn to people and their stories. Eventually, she turned her attention back to art; a passion she thoroughly enjoyed from her childhood. Pursuing art as a career has allowed her to tell unique stories and reflect her Hmong heritage through her artistic talents. In doing so, Kao Lee creates artwork that can be enjoyed for people that view it, while also reflecting her own strong personal connections to the art. Taking her own sources of inspiration, Kao Lee aims to inspire others. , “Our Common Threads,” Museum in the streets: Murals in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, accessed January 20, 2026, https://mspmurals.omeka.net/items/show/81.