Statement

In my work, I strive to illustrate everyday life heightened and elevated in a dream-like quality. I believe that everyday life can be wonderful and awe-inspiring if we give it a chance to be, and calling upon folklore from the past and present can show us the beauty of what we already have in front of us. I use a variety of mediums to create my work primarily using watercolor for its loose, forgiving, and mutable qualities while incorporating gouache and ink for their permanent and stagnant natures. My work incorporates 20th-century American illustration with traditional Japanese art and Pre-colonial Filipino art as a reflection of my own heritage, and it’s through this fusion that I can make art that feels warming, I can create a world that is beautiful and feels beautiful to live in. My work exists for me, but it also exists for others and I hope people find meaning from my work that is unique to them. When I needed something in my life, anything, to support me when I felt alone and isolated, it was through other people's work. Strength can be found in art, strength can be found in stories, and if anyone can find strength in the work I make, then I believe I’ve done what is the most important thing I could do as a creator.

Bio

Hello!

I am a watercolor mixed media artist based in Arizona, studying 20th-century American Illustration. My work combines the Golden Age of American illustration with traditional and modern East Asian and South East Asian art to make a nostalgic but contemporary image of today. I completed my Associate’s in Fine Art in 2023 and am now studying at Arizona State University. My work has been shown at the Tempe Art Festival winning first place in the student 9th to twelfth grade division in 2019 and at the Arizona State Fair winning 2nd place twice in the eleventh grade division in 2017. I was also featured in the Vortex Magazine in 2022 for my watercolor piece “Close up of the Desk”.