For the last seven years, I have dedicated an enormous portion of my life to volleyball. I have made some of my closest friends through the sport, but as my senior year approached, I faced a challenging decision. Despite my love for volleyball, my true passion always leaned towards a creative path. While my teammates aimed for college commitments, I had a different priority. I yearned to invest more time in design and art. To work through the conflict between art and volleyball, I created a self-portrait painting. It was my biggest project yet, trying to show my inner struggle. The background swirls with various colors (pink, black, blue, red, and white), matching my high school and club team colors. In contrast, the rest of the painting uses an older style like Neoclassicalism. I am seen reaching out into the distance, torn by the decision, standing in a vast open space, searching for answers. I keep reaching out with many questions and doubts about the choice and what comes next, hoping for guidance in the unknown. This choice reflects the tension between two seemingly different worlds I tried to navigate, but it helped me finalize my decision. Despite all the love and dedication I have for volleyball, I knew that my true passion lies in the world of art.

This piece is a representation of forbidden love. It is bittersweet in that people can be connected in beautiful ways, and that relationship can still be dangerous or impossible, much like spider lilies. For me, this piece is also an extension of how I see queer love. I am queer, and many of my closest relationships, both platonic and romantic, have been or are with other queer people. To me, those connections are beautiful and essential to who I am, but there is always the reminder that it is dangerous to be who we are. Finally, this is a dedication to every impossible relationship I thought I wanted more than anything. My process for this work consisted of taking reference photos of my hands and looking for references of butterflies and shiny, transparent material. The bulk of the actual rendering was on the hands; I spent a lot of time fiddling with colors and what aspects of the hand (tendons, knuckles, nails) to emphasize to achieve the look I wanted.

I made this 9x12 colored pencil piece when I made when I was extremely ill. This is a creative portrait of my dog, Gaia (aka Moose), and I. With this piece, I really wanted to express my feelings of sickness- make individuals as uncomfortable viewing it as I was at that time. The background depicts imagery from my body or online references, depicting the multiple illnesses I was experiencing at the time. These illnesses were an eye and skin infection, laryngitis and cold-like symptoms that knocked me out for two + weeks. I attempted an effect while making this piece in which I place realistic figures in an impossible setting, which is a process that I have been experimenting with recently. Overall this piece was an investigation into representing non-visual feelings through a visual medium in a style that feels authentic to me and my artwork.

Depicting a boy reading a book in the park, the soft, yet vibrant colours of watercolour accentuates the tranquility and peace of the outdoors. The shadows of the trees and translucent light seeping in adds sweeping beauty. Contrasting the peaceful atmosphere in the foreground, in the background other people play, also enjoying the warm afternoon. Through a variety of brush stroke techniques, I applied a rough texture to the leaves and truck of the trees while applying brilliant and smooth gradients on the shadows. When all the elements are added together, the result is a dreamy and beautiful world.

This piece depicts a feeling of self-hatred and disgust with one’s self. You can see tears in the upper figure’s eyes as they take out their anger on the lower figure, who shows no emotion in their face even as they are punched in the face. Both of the people in the painting are me, to express the feeling of over-critique of myself. You can beat yourself up so much over something that you become numb to the critique, and ultimately that keeps you stuck in the boxing ring of your mind. This is the largest piece I’ve ever worked on, and the only painting I’ve done on raw canvas. Working on this piece was challenging, but the complex perspective made the process very fun and engaging.

I strove to express the colorful essence of diffracted sunlight and its comforting warmth as I squinted at the sky outside.

This artwork represents me as a Chinese American. In my art I incorporated both water and fire as they are very important elements in Chinese culture. It is believed that water represents intelligence, wisdom, flexibility, softness, and pliancy; Fire symbolizes energy, creativity, passion, power, strength, courage, and assertiveness. I choose these two elements, because I feel very connected to these elements, they represent much of who I am, all my expressions within.

My bust is a representation of my inner self. Though it has my curly hair and facial features, it dives deeper into the spiritual and emotional side that others often do not see. What I focused on primarily is the start of a new chapter and how it makes me feel. The snake represents the change in my life. As it sheds its skin, they are known to humans as a symbol of a new start through shedding. My eyes are colored the same as the snake to show the connection between me and that creature symbolizing how we are one together. Lastly, is the color of my skin. I choose to use a glaze called Catalyna Crackle to show my feeling behind going into a new chapter. It represents the grief I am feeling but also looking upward to the future in a hopeful and positive way all while feeling the ache from starting new. Overall, my sculpture represents all the combinations of my emotions diving into the depth of my inner self.

For this work, I took inspiration from Frida Kahlo's self portraits, specifically her work titled “Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird”. I like the composition and connections with nature and culture often found in her work. In some ways, we are a lot alike because we both feel torn apart by our biracial heritage, in my case, Indian and German. In my self portrait, I wanted to incorporate my love for the vibrancy of nature with my deep connection to my Indian culture. I painted two animals at my side that are commonly found in West Bengal, India (the place my family is from) which includes the Bengal tiger and the green parrot. The foliage in the background is also native to West Bengal. I painted myself wearing a sari with the traditional Bengali pattern called kahntha stitch. My German connection in my self portrait is apparent from my light skin color which is often the first trait that people see. Even though I am torn about how people perceive me, I am equally proud of my Indian and German heritage.

This piece is about what it means to bloom. When thinking of the word bloom, I imagined flowers and a type of new birth. I also associated a positive type of growth and reaching towards more with blooming. Then, I began to think about how the word connects to myself. I am a perfectionist. I am in constant “work mode,” always trying to accomplish something new. Yet, I feel that I have yet to “bloom.” To me, blooming is not only what is an accomplishment in the eyes of others, which I feel is what our society often prizes, but self-fulfillment and satisfaction. I feel that there are influences around me, trying to show me where I should go, pointing out my path, yet in the center of it all, I aim to reach for something past, into the bright unknown. In making the piece I went through a few possible poses, from being curled up to facing the side and looking up. Yet in the end, I went with this forward-facing pose with an arm reaching up high because it yells “I am here! And I am strong!” Thus, this piece encapsulates the tension, yet beauty, of blooming in spite of hands that try to control and cage one in.

Inspired by the natural world and its ability to provide, "Earth & Water" is a functional reminder of the delicate natural balance that sustains life. The teapot stands on three feet and, through its design, I tried to merge natural and structured forms in a balanced way. It is mostly of slab construction and carefully engineered to feel comfortable in one's hands. I used applique techniques to add texture to the side of the vessel and glazed it with a textured green and tan glaze to mimic the earth and its beauty.

When my sister and I got invited to a celebration of Diwali at our friends’ house last year, I didn’t expect much of it but agreed to come along. But the event turned out to be much more significant for me than I thought. It was one of the very first gatherings of friends and family after the period of long and dark sadness that left people weak and lost. I, too, felt drained and without hope. Diwali is the celebration of light, and being a part of such a colorful and cheerful celebration created a warm feeling of unity that I hadn’t had in what felt like forever. In this portrait of my sister and me, I strived to show this special feeling of happiness that I was able to share with her, my best friend. I chose oil to convey our smiles that felt warm and natural, and layered the paint to saturate and deepen the image’s colors.

City Leap’ portrays the interaction between urbanization and wildlife. The horse jumping over a car symbolizes nature's adaptability amidst human influence. Meanwhile, the tortoise struggles to adapt and navigate the transformed landscape. This artwork prompts reflection on how our city developments have lasting affects on the movement and lives within nature.

Animals have been used by humans for personal gain for thousands of years. However, as the usage of animals became excessive, it harmed animal populations. Despite their intention of conserving animal populations in zoos, humans caused animals to experience psychological distress, which prevented them from engaging in their natural behavior. I believe such confinement of animals is to be deemed unethical. The well-being of animals has always been something that I cared about, so when it came to the controversy surrounding the capturing of animals, I wanted to make a statement focussing on bringing awareness to this issue. The concept of my statement is “captured,” indicating the action of capturing a photo of captured animals. In today's world, photography is a great tool for building awareness, so I utilized a model of a camera to frame the scene of young animals caged within intertwined wires. A detail I included is the spherical shape of this cage, which represents the globe, as the welfare of animals is a global concern. The chimpanzee, giraffe, and elephant are all young and small to depict their vulnerability. Their vulnerability has the ability to evoke sympathy from the audience who see the photograph.

This piece was created in lieu of the commonly used metaphor of a road for life. This chalk pastel self-portrait takes on these sayings with a new perspective. With the road representing life, this piece symbolizes what experiencing and overcoming depression felt like as a part of my personal journey. While a small bump or pothole in the road may seem insignificant when looked at on it's own, when put into the perspective of a person driving on a "bumpy" road these faults begin to build up. For some, these bumps, which signify hardships or feelings of distress, add up rapidly and may result in a flat tire as seen in the portrait. The pictured flat tire is symbolism for depression, the feeling of these bumps adding up and "breaking" the car, resulting in a halted journey. My hope was to convey this feeling of "stuckness" with depression, attributing this to the many issues built up overtime, wearing down the tires. However this piece does not represent hopelessness, though it is meant to allow the viewer to connect with the solemn emotion of the character, but rather has further meaning. As pictured in the piece, even once a tire is flat this does not mean the end to ones journey, but rather the tire can be changed and the journey can continue. Once again referring to depression, showing hitting this plateau in life is not the end. This piece was my first usage of chalk pastel, giving myself a challenge.

The objects in this artwork portray my childhood memories. More than what they looked like, I remember them most vividly by the way they felt in my hands.

Childhood: The origins of creativity and happiness, where even the most trivial events in our everyday lives sparked some initiative to be joyful, to wonder, and to hope. This piece was created to convey the immense positivity and fantasy of a child’s perspective. The youthful innocence, to linger away for hours exploring and playing in the bathtub, differs with my perspective of it today. What used to be a time of exploring my imagination, playing with toys, drawing on the bathroom walls, and maybe accidentally falling asleep, now became a mundane chore that I rush to get over with so I can get back to studying. The upper portion of the piece represents my everyday ritual: I walk into the bathroom within the darker background, conveying a sense of distance and barrier, reminded of the once simple joy of taking a bath. In contrast, the bathtub is a beaming light of color, full of the tides of youth and miniature me’s exploring the world above and below my sea world. I would spend hours without a care in the world in the bath—it almost became like a mini vacation to me; it brought me to a place of my dreams, of beaches and the underwater world that my parents used to take me to. Now, burdened with the busy schedule of a high school junior, I can only long to reach that once youthful state of peace, creativity, and limitless freedom of a bathtub bliss.

“A Table’s Tale” was a recreation of the objects I set up on my table. This painting required me to understand my light source, the shadows, and the texture of each object. The objective was to replicate both the appearance and the texture. To paint the cloth, I blended beige, grays, and greens to recreate the smooth, tactile quality of the cloth. Similarly, to paint the grapes, I created multiple layers of crimson red and purple. This helped me achieve a translucent and ripe look. For the jug, I varied the light and dark contrasts to depict the reflections of the surroundings.

School violence is becoming an increasingly pervasive issue. Last March, sadly, a 16-year-old student at a nearby high school was stabbed to death. Soon after, we were put on lockdown due to a gun threat. I still remember my heart was pounding in my throat as I concealed myself in the darkness, wondering if the windows were bulletproof. Reports of school incidents persist in the news. Wanting to speak out, our school held a walkout to protest for student safety. Our signs, though made of sticks and poster paper, were powerful in their message. In this piece, I experimented with fluorescent colors in juxtaposition with a monotonic background and varying degrees of opacity to capture the voices of students across the nation, fearful yet strong, blending and converging into one unanimous plea: keep us safe!

I've made a pair of 3d “waffle” cutting boards, using grain direction and contrasting wood species to produce the illusion of depth. I first selected a piece of Padauk lumber with exceptionally straight grain. The “waffle” pattern is obtained by interweaving 2” Padauk squares with 1/4” Maple strips in a grid pattern. First, I cut the larger piece into 72 small squares. To achieve the 3d effect, I then needed to cut each square in half along the diagonal. But all the obvious methods for doing so—including the miter saw and the bandsaw—were either dangerously unsafe or wouldn’t result in a straight cut. To solve this problem, I designed a special jig for the table saw. After sketching some dimensional diagrams, I constructed a sled that runs exactly parallel to the blade. The fence on the sled needed to be perfectly square (perpendicular) to the blade. Once it was, I added a piece of plywood with a notch cut out for the square. Two hold down clamps held both sides of the square in place as I’d push the sled through the saw. The jig worked great, and its repeatability meant I could easily cut all 72 squares in half. And when I was finished, the floor was covered with a thick layer of red sawdust. Then, I just needed to glue up all ~146 pieces into the final board. Sending it through the drum sander revealed the 3d pattern in all its beauty.