Have you ever felt your stomach twist into knots because you were nervous?

During a Chinatown field trip for my English class last year, our tour guide told us the iconic architecture that lined the Chinatown streets was modeled after the mere idea of Chineseness, a marketing tourist trap designed in the image of China to a white state. I wonder, sometimes, how I, Chinese and learning to be so under an American government, might be any different. This piece is a simultaneous love letter to and critique of authenticity; after all, amidst the tourist trap architecture are real Chinese people and exports and community, old ladies wheeling carts of groceries and lacquered wooden boxes and plasticky trinkets. I am authentically myself and inauthentically Chinese, and maybe more alive for it.

Serenity, best defined as a sublime state of calmness and inner tranquility, is a remarkable facet of existence. One day, I came across an image of an elderly Tibetan lady peacefully napping under the sun, and I was quickly motivated to capture the essence of her serene aura with the nuanced shades of colored pencil. Despite the passage of time reflected in the woman’s snowy hair and weather-beaten countenance, her heart emanates an unparalleled sense of tranquility, a state that we all aspire to in our daily lives. As I envision myself one day reaching her seasoned age, I aspire to emulate the remarkable composure and peace she embodies, transcending the external signs of how time passes to embrace an inner serenity that endures life's transitions.

I try to understand everything I paint in order to depict it truly, and people have been one of the toughest by far. In this painting, I show my attempts at this in every fold of skin and fabric, every plane shift that reveals a new color to the world, to try and connect beautiful complexity to a cohesive whole. I love people, and I find almost everyone beautiful, but I can’t always say it, so I paint it instead. My artwork is my love. In my works, I emphasize one element that I find striking, and in this piece it’s her white dress that almost glows with its own light. The subtle folds and reflections pushed me to understand color and my medium of oil in order to convey the impression the clothing had on me. The time I spend painting helps me understand the details that make up the things I love, and look at the world differently every time, with new details and observations in mind. Although I capture different subjects every time, my fascination with the people and things around me remains the same, and I hope to share my appreciation each time.

A wizard fellow is distraught after his soup has gotten a little bit too hot

This piece was inspired by the work of Cristina Troufa. I specifically wanted to incorporate her use of foreshortening, negative space, and natural bright colors. This piece is 36x48 inches. My goal was to make the viewer feel small and looked down at, which I did by having the perspective be from the food on a table with people surrounding it eating the viewer. All the faces are mine, so it is a self portrait.

A show called "Serial Experiments Lain" inspired me to draw this artwork. The show was about a girl named "Lain" who slowly became obsessed with technology and she soon discovered "The Wired" which is a virtual world accessed through a "Navi", one of the many computers Lain built. I liked it because the show talked about Lain's spiral into questioning her identity as she became lost in the Wired, and the show brings out a message of overconsumption in the internet and the affects on one's identity. That is why my piece is called "Wired in the Web", the "Wired" is like connections and the "Web" is like the media, or the internet. The girl on the piece is representing that overconsumption of the internet, and wires are coming out of her because all her technology is turning into her, which is why she is shown saying "what am I?" as she is losing a part of her identity (both literally and figuratively).

I began with an initial colored pencil sketch, drafting colors with pencil, then decided I wanted to try using gauche. I spent a lot of time experimenting with colors and how the paint worked, once done with a final coat I wanted to add accents of color so I went in with posca pens. I wanted the piece to convey how I felt while growing up and being yelled at by adults for things I couldn’t control and that I couldn’t change. Overtime I developed the ability to shut off my emotions and detach the heaviness from the words, finding a fuzzy quiet world. With this piece, I am happy with my ability to use contrasting colors and animal motifs that go with my sustained investigation of human and animal behavior.

For this artwork I recontextualized the Chinese myth of the White Tiger, one of the four cardinal directions, in the modern context of deforestation and environmental degradation. Tigers are associated with strength and nature, and having this symbol made out of skeleton leaves shows the fragility of the entire natural world. The off-white skeleton leaves allude to death and decay, and I also ripped holes in the sculpture to represent the deterioration of nature in the face of civilization.

My artwork depicts a girl learning to break free from the habit of people-pleasing. Her eyes are detached from her face, representative of giving up one’s wants and needs in favor of others’ desires. When accustomed to always being in such a position, it can be difficult to acknowledge one’s own emotions. The crying symbolizes learning to express oneself and ask for help, leading to self-growth, as depicted by the succulent growing. This piece is inspired by my personal experiences.

A man discovers a very weird creature

This artwork is inspired by a chapter in All Quiet on the Western Front, where several horses are injured and are unable to be put down until the barrage has stopped. One of the characters remarks, "I tell you this: it is the most despicable thing of all to drag animals into a war." This line stuck with me; the tragedy of war, and the tragedy of the innocent—whether human or animal. In making this piece, I was able to process my feelings caused by this deeply thought-provoking scene.

One morning when I was getting ready for school, I looked down at my sink and saw how much clutter and products there were just to make myself look presentable. Then I thought about how much more some people do to get ready. It's a real struggle to look presentable! I took a picture of myself in front of my mirror and used that as a reference.

This Octopus shows my love for the water and the ocean. As one of my favorite things to do is play Waterpolo and go Swimming! When I was a younger around four or five year old I was scared of the water as it was my biggest fear, I always hear stories about how much I would wine about being in the water. Until the one day I would overcome that fear and now I embrace it. As the water is now apart of my life.

The art I made is a charcoal drawing of my grandpa who passed away late 2022. We had to pick someone to draw for a day of the dead project and I thought my grandpa would be a great person. He had an amazing life and was the happiest grandpa i've ever met.

The piece I made is made with Paper Mashay and painted afterwards with acrylic paint the piece is a alebrije which is a Mexican rooted art staple.

I chose this dragon because I have a penchant for dragons. They are my favorite mythical creatures. As I was sketching the dragon, I paid attention to how the lines turned out and afterwards, it turned out fantastic. I also sketched the horizontal lines for the background. After sketching the dragon and the lines, I outlined them with a black Sharpie and then colored the dragon violet and the lines in the background a repeating pattern of red, orange, and yellow. I colored the interior of the dragon’s wings red and the exterior orange. His feet were colored yellow, his chest blue, and his scales green. I colored the colored pencil with marker overtop and I shaded the dragon with black and white colored pencils.

I seek to gain approval from my Key Club Division and I remade this design twice. This is the back design.

When I painted the velvet room I was in a place of artistic anger. I was mad with the way I was approaching art and decided not to be so held up about it. I was intent on creating a loose figure with a combination of light and heavy strokes that depicted a dark and moody figure. I think she’s not real, but the amalgamation of different images and colors that you see when the world gets a little heavy.

As a Ukrainian born immigrant living in the United states, I always felt that a part of my culture was lost. At home, I would feel super immersed but as soon as I stepped out, I would loose that sense of pride and feel closeted. The women is dressed in traditional Ukrainian wear surrounded by sunflowers, the country's national flower. One huge sunflower covers her face as representation of being seen but not recognized. The sky is dull, to capture the brightness and glow of the flowers.