The Joy of Winning/The Agony of Defeat
My Power
The Cage of My Mind
Stuck in a Wall
Eating Away Feelings
Miniature Clay Food
Eating My Way Through Life (Noodles)
Sushi Bento Box
Slice
Escape My Mind
Artist Statement
I use art as an outlet to get away from negative thoughts and away from the stresses in my life. I enjoy working with clay because I get to feel the medium and transform it into anything I want. I also like working in miniature because I have to completely focus on what I am doing, which puts me in a very calm state where I’m immersed in the art, allowing me to be in a meditative mindset. Everything around me disappears when I’m creating art; it becomes just me and the clay. The creativity flows out through my hands. I am motivated to keep improving my craft and developing my ideas in the process.
I am a strong fighter, yet I often can be my own worst enemy. On the outside I am seen as quiet, while alone within myself, different voices spark inside me. I feel the most powerful when I’m on the tennis court. But how do I bring that power into my voice and outside of me? I decided to start small, creating tiny figures of myself taking on an enormous world. I carefully rendered the details of my body but without a mouth to emphasize my search for my voice. With my small self, I measured scale in the real world in relation to my own body to overcome everyday obstacles that the world throws at me, climbing massive objects, breaking through barriers, and freeing myself from the cages I let confine me. This made me hungry to express who I really am, and I realized that if I am going to feed myself what I really need, I have to make for myself a wide-open mouth. Only then can I eat the food of my family and culture on the scale that my own body needs to escape the confines of my mind. I can devour meticulously rendered sushi, desserts, and “life” noodles whose squiggly shapes portray my brain that entangle my mind, or a map for a network of paths where I can freely express my voice.
