My illustration/animation is the essence of what I think of and feel when I listen to Hawaiian music, especially Bruddah IZ’s (Isreal Kamakawiwo’ole) songs. Hawaiian songs always bring me vivid memories of listening to the Hawaiian music radio station in my grandpa’s car in Oahu.
I illustrated my family--my dad driving, my mom in the passenger seat, and my brother and I in the back--driving to a beach down a palm tree-lined road. We always drive around the island in my grandpa’s car--to get to family gatherings, hiking places, the beach, and even to the Longs Drugs store--when we visit family in Honolulu. I also drew shaved ice: my brother and I get it almost every day when we visit, even when it rains. The songs always have lots of ukulele in them and we always play music and sing with family during parties and at my grandparents’ house. The rear view mirror is not just looking back, but is like looking up at the sky when I lie down on the beach. In the animation, hibiscus flowers (Hawaii’s state flower) bloom in the car and a rainbow streaks across the rear view mirror. |
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This animation and these pieces aim to exhibit mealworms' ability to digest styrofoam and plastic. Mealworms have a special gut bacterial that enables them to eat and digest plastics like styrofoam (which is really bad for the environment as it doesn't decompose). This highlights possibilities to utilize this ability to decrease the plastic pollution created especially from single-use plastics like packaging. Scientists and researchers are now looking at isolating and engineering the gut bacteria in the mealworms to create an efficient and effective system to break down plastics.
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This is an informational animation about the prevalence and impact of the obesity epidemic in the United States. This was part of a research and writing project (a Societal Awareness Project) and I focused on the Obesity Epidemic (my essay). |
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An Evolving Journey is a claymation adventure of the transformation of a white ball of clay. A range of creatures slither, crawl, and swim as clay metamorphosizes in a dream-like journey. This animation explores creative possibilities from simple and limited materials. What emerges from a lump of clay in your imagination? |
Fragile Folds is a stop motion animation that depicts a simple cycle of reincarnation, combining the lives of humans and nature through paper napkins. It begins with a napkin. It flutters down and rolls up and shapes itself into a human. The paper man walks his way through life. He begins to hunch, then bend over, and finally crumples. He crumples and crumples until, he is not a man anymore, he is not a human; he is a seed. The life of man transitions into and becomes the life of nature; the seed grows into a sprout. The seed journeys through it’s life, becoming a flower. Like the man, the flower withers. It begins by losing a napkin petal. It flutters down and begins to shape into the familiar form of the man. Thus the cycle ends and begins. This story evolved from playing with napkins to create flowers and people. I wanted to experiment expressing a story through simple materials. |
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