"Missing Piece", displays the architectural designs of the two most reoccurring locations in my childhood that was of significance to me. As one of the locations is in Korea, my grandmother’s house, and the other is a playground that represents my youth in America, it reveals the cultural sides of my story. The “missing [puzzle] piece” between the two architectural designs is the missing memories of those locations in my childhood. “Missing Piece” represents the ability to lose recollection of memories that one were most fond of. While reminiscing my childhood, I realized that I will always have a “missing piece” that I am unable to retain to connect back with the child version of myself but will always be searching for.

It took me a month to complete my work in the afternoon after I returned home from my homework. Peking Opera is China's intangible traditional culture. People of the older generation still like to listen to operas. We must take responsibility and not let the culture decline. Huadan is a traditional Chinese opera role. She is an image of a young or middle-aged woman with an optimistic and energetic personality, strong self-confidence, and a love of freedom. Hua Dan's ending and character performance often have a bit of comedy. I like Hua Dan’s makeup and styling accessories very much. I have always wanted to take a set of photos like this, but I haven’t found a suitable opportunity. Through this competition in the Bay Area, I can draw the look I have long liked, and I can also paint a broad and profound picture of China. Bringing our culture to the world is something I am more proud of.

This drawing, titled "Memories of Childhood," is a heartfelt tribute to my beloved dog who passed away last year. Through this piece, I aim to capture the profound connection we shared during my formative years. It's a tribute not just to my loyal companion, but to the nostalgia, innocence, and warmth of childhood. In this artwork, I've tried to preserve the essence of those precious moments and the indelible mark left by my faithful canine friend.

This painting is about the the night and the way shadows and light create a very different world both visually and emotionally. I realized that not just me, but so many artists make their art at night and I wanted to capture that feeling. At night especially really late at night, things are more quiet and your mind is in that in between state of awake and dream state. I am also curious about how light from a single source at night looks. How shadows on a face are much more dramatic. I wanted to capture the quiet, contemplative and emotional feelings from the dark loneliness of night.

After a transformative summer internship, my passion for Biology and research ignited like never before. Drawn to the captivating realm of tooth eruption, I decided to extend my work at the research lab, dedicating myself to unraveling the intricacies of this biological process. In the lab, as I delved into the microscopic world of mouse dentin, an unexpected spark of inspiration emerged. The microscopic images of mouse dentin resonated with me, reminiscent of the mesmerizing patterns found in water marbling art from my cultural heritage. This revelation led to a fascinating interdisciplinary journey, where I sought to bridge the worlds of science and art. Combining my newfound love for Biology with the rich tradition of water marbling, I embarked on a unique endeavor to recreate the microscopic images in a visually striking and culturally meaningful way. To achieve this artistically, I have not only practiced traditional Ebru, dots, patterns and flowers, I've had to explore and create new techniques. Now, as I submit my artwork, a 100x microscope image of murine dentin stained with pentachrome, I am not only advancing my scientific research but also embracing the opportunity to celebrate my culture through artistic expression. The marriage of science and art has not only enhanced my understanding of tooth eruption but has also deepened my connection to my roots. This journey has fueled my curiosity, pushing me to learn more about water marbling art and fostering a profound appreciation for the intersection of science, art and culture.

Why do we fear the unknown? “Lurking Risk”, a resin based project, dives into the innate fear of the unknown and the resulting fear of potential risks. When placed into unpredictable situations, the inability to foresee outcomes is often clouded, leading to fear of taking huge risks. The otherworldly creature submerged suggests how we struggle to process uncertainty leading us to spin wild scenarios about what could happen. What is the creature going to do? At first glance, we don’t understand the creature’s intentions which I used to push ideas of uncertainty. Sculpting the fish-like creature with clay, I combined aspects of different sea creatures, taking inspiration from angler fish to sea dragons. I purposefully wanted to leave it up to the viewer to interpret what it is. By allowing the viewer to interpret the creature it creates another layer of uncertainty leading to our imaginations to fill in the gaps of what this sea creature is. In my process for photos, I played with different lighting angles. I found when using a warmer light source, the resin would highlight with a strong red color. I chose to use this red highlight as a connotation for danger as red is often associated with danger. It really pushed ideas of fear and risk. Additionally with the deep color of the resin, I found that the creature inside would slightly disappear when farther from the light source. I found it helped with the mysteriousness, highlighting the lurking natures of the creature’s intentions.

My artwork, "Life in Motion," illustrates scene from my own life: an exciting day out with friends. I wanted to convey to the audience that our lives are constantly in motion. Even though many memories seem fleeting and far away, we have to remember that we are real and our experiences are full of action. Using vivid colors and oil paint, I blended the sky and the people within the artwork, giving the illusion of movement. I used acrylic as a base layer.

"Let The Light In" is a 12 inch tall functional candelabra made with ceramic clay, acrylic paint, and glass beads. While creating this piece, I was struggling with viewing my life in positive ways. I wanted to translate this feeling into the medium I love most; ceramics. The vibrant sun in the center of this candelabra turns the dark cloudy sky on the base into a beautiful blue clear sky moving towards the top. The clear sky and sunlight spreads through every twist and curve of the structure, and through each and every bead. I created this piece to inspire myself to allow “light” or positivity into my everyday life, and my candelabra “Let The Light In” is a flawless representation of my new found mentality.

Eyes help us see color, shapes, and the world around us. Through vivid colors, a combination of straight and curved lines, and various patterns, this piece showcases the vibrancy of vision and the fluidity of sight. Three types of eyes appear: one is a pair of outsider's eyes, one is a logical eye, and one is the eye of the heart—a metaphor for how emotions affect how we view the world. A standard, logical lens views an object as is, while an outsider’s lens may view it from multidimensional angles. A heartfelt lens views with emotion, which adds the truth of feeling to what we see before us.

As a child, sharks were always creatures that fascinated me. When I first heard the name "Lemon Shark", I believed there was a hidden meaning behind the name, but it was just to show that it had a slight yellow color and it completely disappointed me. This project was about creating a real Lemon Shark out of my passion for correcting the truly tragic story of the Lemon Shark. After all my hard work, I created an incredibly lemon-like shark on a sushi plate, complete with wasabi and soy sauce.

This artwork is of a girl with fluid blue hair and lively blue eyes. In this artwork, i intentionally used complementary colors when painting the skin and the hair.

I tried really hard.

The inside out of a black girl is Determined to make a difference.

This artwork is meant to symbolize that we're all made of many pieces, and there are many different versions of ourselves that are all connected. Each different piece is unified to create a whole. I was inspired by a Japanese art method, called Kintsugi, where broken ceramic is repaired with gold; a broken thing becomes even more beautiful than it was before it broke. I think that applies to more than just pottery. Many people become “cracked” during their life; hardships and events that stay with us long after they happen, and they make us better for it. We break, and we pick ourselves up again, and we keep going, bettering ourselves everyday, or at least trying to. We all have imperfections, which make us unique. I know that my own imperfections are what drive me to create and express my feelings through my creativity. This art piece was my attempt to visualize those ideas, as well as a way for me to experiment with many different mediums. Most of the piece is acrylic paint applied directly to the canvas, but there are a lot of parts that I did on separate pieces of paper and then attached to the canvas. I worked with oil pastel, watercolor, color pencil, and hand embroidery (and some crayola crayons) to make different sections of her face (the different versions/parts of her). Then I glued them to the canvas, and filled in the cracks with gold acrylic, similar to actual Kintsugi.

“Inconspicuous Amidst Brilliance" is an art piece that depicts three students flourishing effortlessly while one grapples with the challenges of simply keeping pace.

Inclusion Evolution: the concept of interconnectedness, featuring colorful and intricate circles to represent a tree's annual growth rings.

this work was inspired by a recent trip to india where i witnessed the performance of the kathakali dancers. kathakali is a form of theatrical dance originating in south india that uses extreme facial expressions and manipulation of one’s features to display an emotional narrative. I found it beautiful that these dancers committed their entire lives by training their faces to perform such radical actions in an effort to convey our cultural stories in such an engaging unique way. They have very unique makeup and garments they use to accentuate their performance and highlight their exaggerative faces. I tried to capture the intensity they are able produce in their art with my own.

Every time I look at this piece, I see a different expression in the cat’s face; mainly the eyes. Sometimes I see expectation, sometimes indifference, sometimes cautiousness.

This piece illustrates mankind’s desire of immortality.

My critical gaze extends beyond the fragmented landscape of postmodernism, delving into the nuanced interplay of capitalist realism and the emergence of a techno-feudalistic aesthetic.