About the Artistic Teaching Partner

Artist Statement

Throughout my time being a practicing artist, I found that art provided me a kind of support that no one else could give me. I have to come to understand that my technical skill grew with my sense of self-awareness, and my self-awareness fueled my passion for teaching.

As an artist, my work revolves heavily around the emotions as my core values lay in 1) emotional representation through mediums and techniques, 2) advocating emotional equity, and 3) promoting creativity as a means for coping and navigation.

Many of my works are composed of mixed media. I believe that each form of medium has it’s limit to representing certain types of emotions, however, I also believe that the technique in which you use that medium can also change its emotional expression. For example, with all types of paint. In conventional painting techniques, painting with a wet brush implies smooth brush strokes that can embody feelings of calm or happiness, and painting with a dry brush implies rough, patchy strokes that can embody feelings of anger or frustration. However, unconventional painting techniques, like painting with rice paddles or water balloons or plants, can represent so much more than a standard paint brush can. Using unconventional mediums and techniques allow the implications of history and connectivity to the world around you.

I believe that emotions are the link that tie together the human race. I believe that emotions can be talked about like a spectrum of colors, that many people can be feeling the same shades of emotions at any given time, but there are many hues to discover as we gain new life experiences. I believe that the spectrum of emotions are not bound to race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or age. Experience is a culmination of our tragedies and triumphs that grant us access into unlocking more colors along the spectrum that deepen our emotional comprehension and our self-awareness. And with this mutual understanding of emotional connectivity it allows us to be more open-minded towards others thoughts and actions.

Diving into drawing and painting made me very cognizant of my mental health. Early on as a university student, I drew flowers as a form of therapy and coping. The flowers brought a maternal nature that consistently made me think of my mother and my grandmothers. While exercising that emotional contemplation, I understood that through the action of creating art not only was it a means of coping but also a means of navigation. To me, the purpose of art is to communicate ideas and concepts through visual representation. However, the most powerful art works to me are works in which the artist is having conversations within themselves. Pieces in which the artist is navigating through their emotions through their marks on the canvas. Where the marks are but containers full of emotion that viewers cannot comprehend, marks that only the artist can decipher. That art should be used as a tool for coping and emotional navigation.

With these values in mind, my creative practice, for many of my fine artworks, have become very meditative and exhausting. I would describe my style as chaotically poetic, heavily utilizing palimpsest to engage my subconscious through verses and empathy. Hours full of release. Letting my emotions guide me through the grit of my strokes and letting the painted sentences speak from my soul unwritten. My intent always to be connective with the world around me, in order to advocate the comprehension of equity through emotions.

Artist Biography

Received a Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art at the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a concentration in sculpture; with Metal and Wood as primary mediums. All drawing basics were learned through University, but honed through practice. With an initial foundation in Architecture, my skills include 3D modeling through Rhino, 3D fabrication through Laser cutting & CNC milling, traditional Drafting, and Graphic Design through Adobe software. On the primary level, I’ve spent 4 years as a 2D & 3D instructor for grades K-6. The curriculum itself aimed to promote the comprehension and contemplation of emotions in early childhood development through contemporary styles of art and exploration of mediums.

Contact

Children in a classroom raising their hands

About the Artistic Teaching Partner Roster

The Artistic Teaching Partners (ATP) Roster is an adjudicated directory of Hawai‘i professional teaching artists qualified to conduct in-depth residencies in educational settings. Each artist or arts organization has a page in the directory with contact information, a short bio, and an artist statement. The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts draws from this roster for arts education programs including Art Bento at the Hawaiʻi State Art Museum and Artists in the Schools.