From this Yearning, a Light (2023)For this character I love to play with lights that have color: how does the light play off of her skin? Her clothing? Starting this piece as acrylic, I knew I couldn't get the level of detail that I am used to with my usual Copics and brushpens. So I decided to lean into the medium with thick strokes and suggestions of detail rather than full renderings.
Materials: Acrylic on canvas, digital finishing (Wacom + Krita) |
Isolation (2017)We all know the feeling of being isolated at a party. For 'the only Deaf person at a party,' though, it's a bit more extreme. Under good conditions and lots of skill, lip-reading catches 30% of the sounds in English--you have to guess the other 70%. But with bad lighting and several people talking at once, it becomes impossible to follow anything.
What to do if you're the only Deaf person at a party? Learn to not mind the isolation. This piece was concept art for a project on Deafhood in the US. Materials: digital (Wacom Intuos + Krita). |
Utopia is a State of Mind (2016)This is a piece about using art to be happy, even if life isn't so great at the moment. Through drawing, the girl brings warmth to her life.
Materials: black India ink (shading), mustard (yellow), rusty rock (red), grass (green), purple cabbage (blue). The colors were all natural materials. |
Dragon School Days (2016)This was a collaborative piece with a classmate. We traded off the piece week by week, and would not tell each other where we were heading with the piece. The result was a bit of a dance between a spontaneous free spirit and a methodical mathematician.
Materials: markers, goache, charcoal, colored pencils, acrylic paint, and ink on paper. |
(Dis)Communication (2016)90% of Deaf kids have hearing parents. 90% of those parents don't learn sign. They usually think their kids can get by with learning how to speak and lipread. But even a master lipreader has trouble doing more than faking a conversation. That's because only 30% of the sounds used in English can be read on the lips.
To quote the words of Rachel Kolb, a Deaf woman writing for Stanford Magazine, "How does one have a meaningful conversation at 30 percent? It is like functioning at 30 percent of normal oxygen, or eating 30 percent of recommended calories.” This piece was an attempt to bring awareness to the subject. Materials: markers on bristol paper. |
That Brotherhood May Prevail (2016)The depths of some peoples' souls are much deeper than they may seem. At first glance, this piece looks like a lot of random dots. Upon closer inspection, you can make out words, names, and even whole phrases in braille buried amongst the dots.
We have to dig deep to learn about each other. There's a lot more there. I learned this, living amongst nearly 600 students from over 80 countries. 600 dots, but there was so much humanity in there. I had only to look closer. Materials: marker, paper, cardstock, and modpodge on posterboard. |