Muted Demolition at the Dinner Table

Concept Sketch:

Final Piece: 

Prompt: "Your Greatest Fear"


Because nothing scares me more than internalized self destruction.

Time:12-14 hours

Taiwan I Miss You

Another portfolio piece done during my senior year of high school! The prompt was "Childhood Memories".

What I remember the most from my trips back to my mother's hometown in Hualien, Taiwan were the open markets where my sister and I dawdled around while our relatives did their shopping.The vendors there were good humored enough to let us play around and try to catch rice eels with our hands even though we were obviously agitating the poor things (though I suspect this was because they knew this would prompt my grandma to buying some for dinner).

It's been 10 years since I last visited and since I was born in California, I've felt very distanced from my ethnic background. I don't want to just rely on bits and pieces of memories I had as a child to try to capture that feeling of "home" and I hate that I still have trouble familiarizing the way mandarin sounds in my mouth because I've spent so long avoiding that aspect of myself and never putting in the time and effort to learn more. That being said, I hope to revisit Taiwan soon, it's really been too long.

Changing the Light Is No Easy Task

I finished this painting (roughly 2 x 4.5 feet, Acrylic paint) a few months ago on my high school's ceiling tile before I graduated and without doubt, this was easily one of the largest pieces I've ever worked on. Luckily it was placed high enough on the ceiling that the people craning their necks up can't get close enough to notice the angry brush strokes inflicted on the canvas by a teenager on the brink of a internal tantrum. Which I suppose worked in my favor in the end.

Concept Sketches

Some concept sketches for my "Sister" sculpture series! When it comes to designing the overall structure of sculptures, I have this habit of ignoring the fact that gravity exists for the first design  before I start working backwards from there to create something more structurally sound. Though all things considering, the theme I was going with was "possibility" so if anything, the plan of approach was spot on.

Laundry machine tutorial

Hey guys, bringing another tutorial/walkthrough from a current project I'm in the process of working on right now. 

1) Using sculpey clay, make each part separately before putting it in the oven since the pieces are thin and prone to bending before they're completely baked

2) Bake for half the time recommended on the box (depending on size) so if the pieces don't match up perfectly when assembled, it's still soft enough that you can trim the edges if necessary. 

 

3) As per example, the sides didn't match up perfectly for me, but after trimming the edges with an exacto and ruler, I put it back in the oven and covered up any remaining small gaps with acrylic paint

 

4) The inside funnel was made out of aluminum foil folded repeatedly so it could hold its shape and poked some holes accordingly. Then I cut a circle with the remaining foil for the base.  

 

5) Assemble the fully baked pieces together and paint the desired color.  

 

6) Finished! Optional: I cut a piece of plastic to glue behind the small door as "glass" to give the piece a more finished look. 

What Comes After Rain

From sketch to final product:

The water in the buckets was done using Quick Water's Simulated Water that I bought in the floral section of my local art store. Admittedly I grew a bit power hungry after discovering this product and thus began a year long obsession where I would incorporate it in as many sculptures as I could, regardless of necessity. Case in point, I now have two boxes of the stuff crammed in my closet that have yet to be used. 

That being said, I recommend using the mixing package rather than the one that involves melting the gel over boiling water since it dries more firmly and it's easier to clean if dust begins to collect on the surface.

Time: 12 hours on sculpture plus an additional 2-3 hours spent editing and digitally painting. 

"Sister" Series

Finally posting up this sculpture series that I completed a couple of months ago for my AP portfolio!

The central idea for this series revolves around the existence of possibility and how it is especially present in early ages and each concept is inspired by certain childhood memories and games shared between my sister and I. 

Just to paraphrase the description I wrote for the submission requirements, "As you grow older, it becomes increasingly more difficult to find possibility in everyday life without questioning its validity. Though this sense of rationality and conclusive thinking is a natural part of self-growth, I wanted to further explore the mindset of adolescents who have the effortless ability of seeing things larger than life. Using a mixed medium of sculpture and digital painting, this series intends to imitate a feeling of adventure and unfiltered joy that is commonly expressed by those at a young age. The focus is not on the time that passes but the exploration of the world around them through their eyes. By making this sense of exuberance and creativity the primary focus, this series is not so much about a chronological growth as it is a celebration of the past."