2025 Spring Exhibition

(Un)natural Confluences
AHUA Spring 2025 Exhibition

(Un)natural Confluences

This year our theme is: "(Un)natural Confluences". The Earth has existed for 4.5 billion years, and within a small fraction of that time, the force of humanity has woven numerous threads of interconnected existence between nature and society. By placing ourselves within the natural processes of the earth, streams of knowledge, infrastructure, and culture have become intertwined to create lands and seas of memory. Humans have emerged from nature through evolution, creating a confluence of the prehuman world with the start of the Anthropocene. The term “Anthropocene” frames the vast lifespan of the Earth as a planet within the collection of human-centered experiences that are defined by our culture, politics, etc. and ultimately labeled as "history.”

We open our exhibition for re-tellings of our past actions; throughout our existence, how have we, as minuscule entities, utilized and become inseparable with the world we live in? As we accelerate further into the Anthropocene, can we examine our past knowledge systems or explore future scientific endeavors to find a solution?

This exhibition acts as a catalyst for conversations surrounding our past and future actions in association with the UCI community’s initiatives to maintain environmental sustainability.

Opening Reception:

May 15th, 6:00 - 8:00 PM, UCI Student Center Emerald Bay Room A & B

Gallery Hours:

May 19th - 23rd, 12:00 - 5:00 PM, Catalyst Gallery at UCI, ACT Room 2223

Catalogue of Artworks

Click on each artwork to read the artist's statement and artwork description!

List of Artworks

123-456-7890

info@mysite.com

Se Young Au - A Clearing

Teah Cabral - water

Ty Caulfield - Plants in Jail & The Last Unsold Lot in Malibu

Amanda Do - Echoes of a Fisherman's Song

Michael Green - Buzzaro The Clown

Kia Harlan - Imprinted on My Soul

Rachel Joob - Graft & Tethered

Taylor Knight-Turner - Opossum at 70mph

Gloria Lee - On Waters I Hold Safe and Dear

Kiera Lloyd - Letting Go

Lucas Novak - Tree of Prosperity (Intermission No. 37)

Taylor Pochron - The Modern Muse

Chloe Reynaldo - Float

Taylor Robertson - The California Poppy Project & The Land Has Memory: Westchester 2025

Dar San Agustin - Salt of Pangasinan (A Series)

Sapphire Wang - Lotus Pond & Koi Fish Bud Vase Set

Amy Yoshitsu - Positionality: Alway In-Between (Los Angeles County, CA)

Artist Interviews

Teah Cabral, interviewed by Sofia Babiera

Why did you decide to use the format of a video to convey your message? Do you often use digital media as a way of expressing yourself or is this something new that you wanted to try out?

Yeah! So I made this piece as a project for Art 100 Counter-narratives and actually for that class I very specifically only did video because it's actually a medium that I've never used before, like ever. I never did video any type of editing at all and then over summer I bought the Adobe Creative Cloud suite and now I have Premiere Pro. So I was like, okay I might as well like kind of learn how to use it. I forced myself into using video, to make myself learn it in a way. It was pretty new and I thought that the reason why it's like all kind of already existing media like stock footage, internet videos is because I don't have a camera. All I have is like my phone and I know you can just film on your phone and that's okay, but I just don't have a camera and I don't have that kind of thing and to go out and do stuff. So, we were learning a lot about the archive like the concept of the archive in that class. So I was just really looking towards stock videos as an archive and just the internet as an archive too. So that's why I used that format.

Oh, that's very cool! And then talking about that, your using of the internet as an archive, what was your process in choosing the clips? As in how did you decide what videos you wanted to use and what did you take into consideration in your selection?

I liked to have a kind of fluid planning out process when I was making works. Even all the videos I did, I didn’t have a storyboard or put down specific things I wanted. I would always let the process kind of inform the entire project. So as I was working through it, it started to form. I didn't plan any of that. The videos, I think, for the specific political ones, started off with Joe Rogan. That was just super coincidental because I always saw people joking about how, you know, all water has been through like however many people and then people always talking about dinosaurs. Like, it passed through a dinosaur and it's dinosaur piss. I was making sure that that was a real thing that people said and not something I just made up. Then the Joe Rogan clip popped up and I was like, "Oh, this is perfect” because I'm trying to say something political about it too and I'm going to make fun of it. Even the Trump one, that was big in the news at the time. Just this commodification of water and using water as like politics, you know? In our formative years there was a lot of online conversation about Flint and their water crisis over there. I think that was like something that's just always present in the minds of people these days or like the younger generation. There was also a very specific clip of a moment between Philippines and China over the South China Sea versus the West Philippine Sea. That was something that affected me personally. There's stuff about Hawaii there. I'm actually not from Hawaii. I'm from Guam, but there's no stock images of or stock videos of Guam. So, I use Hawaii because it’s a very translatable kind of thing. It's the same concept. I wanted to also connect it to myself. That's why I included the West Philippine Sea kind of portion. It's specifically at the end because I just wanted to lead you there. Other than that, all the stock videos in between was just me on various stock video websites just looking at water: “water, water, sink, glass of water” and I was just picking out which ones I liked.

Wow you're really good at transitioning into these questions because the next one is about the Philippines!

That's so funny!

In your artist statement you were talking about the “long-held indigenous belief that water is alive.” The Philippines also has a rich indigenous culture. Has working on this piece or pieces similar to this helped you connect back or explore your identity as a Filipino? How so?

I think for this piece - because I do think about my Filipino identity a lot - but that's more so now that I'm in America that I've been thinking. I only moved here for college in like 2022. Since I'm from Guam, I grew within my Filipino family, but the cultural values around me were the Chammoro values of the Chammoro people from Guam. I think it was more so those Chammoro values that kind of formed me and who I am and my beliefs and even our own ideas about nature and Earth in general. On Guam, we have banned plastic straws and we've banned plastic bags. It's a lot of movements towards environmental progress. Our island is so green, but actually compared to the other islands around it, it's industrialized, the most concrete and grayish, but it's still very green. I grew up surrounded by nature. Everywhere is like the jungle, so I really grew up seeing so much life around me. Even the connection with water. I was always saying like when I'm at the beach and I'm sitting in the water, that's when I feel the most connected to nature. Because it's not just like when you're sitting on grass or the ground, only the bottom of you is touching [the grass], but when you're in the water it's all encompassing and all surrounding. That's why I'm always thinking about just water in that way. Where there's water there's life and that's true for a lot of indigenous cultures. The western world has kind of taken water. When you think about their turbines, I was just reading in one of my classes, Cadillac Desert, which is about how basically they pump all this water towards California and Los Angeles. Because it's a very desert-like area, it's very flat. Originally they thought this could not sustain life and so they made it sustain life by bringing in all this water, and forcing it very unnaturally, and draining other parts of the US to kind of sustain this idea of California. This green, green California. I feel like it made me really sad to think about the way that water is thought about these days. As not living. It's kind of just this tool. But, I feel like water is just - I don't know - it's the Earth. It is part of the Earth, but it's not treated like that in western viewpoints.

Especially since water is supposed to be one of the basic things that humans need to survive. It's a right, not a privilege to have water.

Yeah, and water pollution and everything too. The whole concept disgusts me. Makes me feel so bad because I grew up on Guam where the water is so clean. It's clear, turquoise, and then I see beaches over here and I'm like “Oh, that's disgusting,” I'm sorry.

That's okay! You can say it! Then, in your video the narrating voice states "This is not your water. This is our water." However, the statement is juxtaposed by the song you use at the end “This Land is Your Land”. In which the lyrics state that this land is something that is shared from the, “...redwood forest to the gulf stream waters…” Why did you employ the use of this song?

Actually this is something I discovered like when I was making this project. Because I'm not really from America, I'm not super familiar with all your guys' folk songs like “Yankee Doodle” or whatever, those kinds of things. But I knew this song and I just knew that line “This land is your land. This land is my land.” and then I looked it up. It's actually satirical! So it’s basically saying the opposite. So, it was made by - I forgot who sang it - but, I literally just took it off of YouTube. I was like, "Oh my god that's so funny.” I always thought this song was about, oh ‘American unification’. I always connected [it] to Native Americans too and it was something that I thought was almost like manifest destiny, so I was going to like to use it in that way, but then it was already satirical and I was like "Oh that's great." And then I thought that it would be really nice to leave it off on this like black screen. You, just sitting there, listening to it after you watch the whole thing. The whole video is kind of wacky and all over the place. And when you sit there with that song and the black screen, I feel like it makes you kind of realize the satirical aspect of the song that most people don't realize already.

I really like that black screen at the end, by the way. It was cool! For my final question, is there a main thing you want viewers to take away from your piece and how do you personally want this video to influence the viewer?

Yeah I think California, the truth about California, is like you guys are in a drought. Or, I guess since I'm here we're in a drought. But, I think a lot of people, they don't really think about it a lot, right? They don't realize that there's other parts of the world, or there's other parts of the US, [that] their water is being funneled from to try and save us from this. It gets taken for granted. So, I think what I'm always trying to get people to realize is that this Earth is temporary and it looks like it's going to be temporary, the way that we're going with life. Water, all life, nature, the Earth is just as - it should be just as - valuable as human life, because I think it is alive. In this sense, I think that's one of the most beautiful kinds of mentalities that anyone could live with because it makes you appreciate everything. Everything. It makes you appreciate the wind, literally every single [thing]. Like, right now there's a bird and it's like sometimes in the middle of night there’s birds outside my window. I'm getting so mad that they're waking me up and then you kind of realize, that's actually beautiful. That we all coexist together. So, I think what I want people to take away is this idea of life not as singular things. Like “this person is one life and this person is another life.” Everything is living, everything is alive. We're all part of this giant system.

Gloria Lee, interviewed by Arianna Louie

Can you introduce yourself and the type of art that you make?

My name is Gloria Lee, I am a third year student studying East Asian Cultures and Criminology, Law, Society at the University of California, Irvine. I am a novice student writer. Reading and writing have been significant parts of my college experience, whether for academic or interest purposes. Through these opportunities, creating creative writing became a fun, long-term goal and project for me.

In your work “On Waters I Hold Safe and dear”, what was the inspiration behind this piece? How did the theme of (Un)natural Confluences influence your writing?

The exhibition description deeply explores the reflection on the Anthropocene and the idea of humans coming into and existing in nature. I thought, vice versa, nature also comes in and exists in humans. I lived with my grandmother for the majority of my childhood and every flower blooming season, which was every single season, she gathered flowers and placed them in a gorgeous glass bowl always within my eye level. I learned to see nature not as something distant like a scenery captured only when you reach the summit of a mountain but as something that continually entered my house and life. So, this confluence, like the exhibition title, of petals, water, and memory held by glass bowls and its existence in grandmother’s life inspired the work.

Moreover, in the presentation of your work you have both a Korean and English translation of your writing. As a writer, how do you see the importance of language in writing, and art?

I began learning English in fifth grade when my family moved to the United States. In my mind, grandmother was only ever described and imagined in Korean. I never thought or spoke about her as “grandmother” but as “halmoni” which translates to grandmother in Korean so the Korean version’s drafting process was relatively faster than the English version. For me, languages in writing are like paint in art pieces where the more varieties you know and attain the better, even just to have them in store. Submitting this work for the AHUA exhibition rather than treasuring it privately provided an opportunity to really analyze and think through what I meant in Korean to change the English language. The Korean version helped set the overall tone of the work, but I hope the English version also conveys something beyond my grandmother’s story but as something understandable and relatable even to non-Korean readers. Translating between two different textures of thought and meaning was a unique learning experience, and I am very grateful to have had the flexibility and chance to submit both versions.

In your artist statement, you state, “For me, memory is a landscape and nature is the language I use to hold them.” I found this tie between nature and memory to be quite beautiful, can you expand on how you made this connection? Furthermore, how do you think nature can represent and/or relate to the changing human experience?

Both nature and memory are versatile and constantly evolving, unfinished from the previous moments. When thinking of memories as archived snapshots, moments I can only re-imagine from a third person perspective like landscape photography, nature helps bridge the distance. Nature, in both senses, the greenery and the intangible essence of a scene, helped craft comprehensive and close-up narratives because for me wherever memories stood there was always nature. Nature is like my storytelling device to describe my memories. The language of nature, of what we see, hear, smell, and touch, helps represent change and time as vessels for expression and living mediums of human identities.

To close, how do you want your work to impact its readers? Is there any lasting message you want to leave with viewers of our 2025 Spring Exhibition (Un)natural Confluences?

I want to celebrate and share nature as something to be connected and remembered, and that we continue to save, preserve, and plant because it is the very reason why we exist. Every piece of land we walk on, every airplane crossing the sky, and every morning we trust to arrive are all gifts we take for granted. The AHUA exhibition goes one step further to make both the nature and people’s stories within and through nature be related and known. Thank you so much for this opportunity.

Kiera Lloyd, interviewed by Myra McCants

Can you introduce yourself and the type of art that you make?

My name is Kiera Lloyd, a transfer student at UC Irvine! I’ve learned so much about the art world since moving to Southern California from the Central Valley and have specifically continued honing in on my interest in ceramics. “Letting Go” is one sculpture I made during Advanced Ceramics last quarter with Professor Liz Glynn. The fast paced and self-motivated aspect of the course taught me so much about the process and disciplines of ceramic art.

“Letting Go” is a glazed ceramic sculpture made of earthly materials such as red iron oxide, charcoal wood ash, ash from the St. Helena volcano eruption of 1980, and calcined clay slip. First, how did you get ash from St. Helena?! Second, can you describe the process of how the materiality of your work changed from when you first molded these raw elements together to the transformation they underwent after firing? Is there any significance to each of these elements and how they changed?

I have a job in a ceramics studio as the ceramics technician where I take inventory and safety precautions for all the materials we have in stock which I use when mixing glazes. I was taking stock of the jars and packages we have on the studio shelves and came across a jar labeled, “Ash from St. Helena Volcano Eruption of 1980”. I had only just learned that you could incorporate ash into glazes for different effects. Luckily I learned that the ash was left behind by the technician before me, so it was all mine! The ash glaze is the blue sides of the piece and in its raw state it’s a dark reddish brown color. I applied it with a brush and made sure to make it thicker at the top because as it was fired in the kiln, the glaze globs dripped down the piece. In addition, the white cracking section is liquid clay which I brushed on. Before it was fired it just looked like strokes of light yellow mud over the hands and arm. However, due to its high calcined kaolin content, this thick layer of clay traps moisture and shrinks at such a fast rate that it cracks. I find these two aspects significant for their unpredictability. I had to make tests to prepare in case the glaze ran off the piece onto the kiln shelves. Also, cracking is usually seen as a mistake in ceramics but I wanted to use it purposefully in my work.

In your artist statement you wrote, “We hold so tightly to our own way of doing things, but we have no control over the powers of our earthly home.” The earthly materials you chose have a behavior of their own, but you were ultimately able to shape them together into this intricate piece with two interlocking, yet crumbling hands. When making this piece, how did you balance being in and out of control of the materials?

It’s what ceramics is all about. I do all I can to manage the materials I’m working with and take into account all the different variables of how they might react to each other and fire in the kiln through making test pieces and trying out different combinations. I’m able to get a grip on what I want to happen, however the kiln and science always has the final say. No matter how much I try to control these materials, something can always go wrong during the firing that does allow them to reach their full effect. I actually love this because it’s really grounding in a way, since it parallels with the volatility of life. I did of course wake up at 2 am the night before my piece would be finished and taken out of the kiln because I couldn’t stop wondering how it would look and if everything would stay intact! It’s the best feeling when everything works out or when you are presently surprised by the results!

You mentioned in your artist biography that your grandmother inspired your artistry from a young age. Do you have any stories you can share with us about those inspirational moments?

My grandmother used to work in carnivals where she painted faces and airbrushed custom T-shirts, so growing up my two brothers and I always begged her to paint our faces whenever we could. She’d turn us into fairies, dinosaurs, puppy dogs, super heroes, or anything we could imagine. To me she was magical! I love talking with her about my art school experience and I know it makes her happy that I’m pursuing my passion. I always remind her she’s my biggest inspiration for following my dreams.

I’m aware you are an Art major here at UCI–I’m curious how this work fits into your personal style, thematically or visually?

This work is definitely part of a shift in my art practice which is leading to my focus on expressions of tension, inner conflict, and the human condition. It has also helped me discover how clay is a medium that allows me to make art that viewers can physically experience since it occupies space in a more dynamic way compared with my two-dimensional work. I’m excited to continue exploring and experimenting with ceramic art!

Taylor Pochron, interviewed by Tabitha Jang

You mention graphite as your preferred medium. The Modern Muse uses watercolor, a medium that you sometimes experiment in. Does your creative process differ between mediums? Why was it important to create The Modern Muse in watercolor as opposed to graphite?

While graphite is my preferred medium, I felt the creation of The Modern Muse required a more free flowing element than what I normally render in graphite. When working with pencil, I tend to be much more detail-oriented and perfectionist, which I feel stands in opposition to the feelings nature and womanhood evoke. Both of these elements are largely chaotic and not easily shaped, regardless of the restrictions placed upon them. Watercolor and ink are both much more fluid and dynamic, and allow me to represent these concepts freely, embodying the beauty in the untame-able aspects of both people and the planet.

I would love to hear more about the references to indigenous cultures and mythological stories that inspired and directed your work. Were there any specific tales that directed your own storytelling?

While I didn’t have any specific tales in mind when creating this piece, there are a variety of indigenous tales, mythologies, and historically-informed works that guided my process. One of my favorite stories as a child was The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble, which draws heavily from the Plains Indians equestrian traditions, and depicts the harmony with nature that is characteristic of many Native American cultures. The Round House by Louise Erdrich is another work that doesn’t necessarily explore women’s relationship with nature, but does highlight the sexual violence faced by indigenous women by primarily non-indigenous men, and the difficulties with perceptions about female sexuality and tribal identity. My knowledge about my family’s own Mayan ancestry informs their relationship with nature, which viewed the environment holistically, harmoniously connecting humans, the plants, animals, and nature. Greek mythology recognizes Gaia, the goddess of the earth, which draws another connection between women and the environment. The Gaia hypothesis, developed by James Lovelock, takes inspiration from the earth goddess, proposing that Earth’s organisms have an active role in regulating the planet’s atmosphere, making it habitable for all. There are a variety of cultures that recognize and cherish humans’ relationship with nature, and many that also draw the connection between women and the earth. Throughout history, however, this relationship has been demonized and cauterized. Colonialist conquests disregarded indigenous cultures and practices, exploiting colonized territories and societies while imposing Western ideologies that forsake sustainable and harmonious relationships with the earth in place of domination and prosperity, a theme that continues to run rampant in our capitalist society. The Salem Witch Trials and other such persecutions demonized young women for demonstrating socially unacceptable behaviors, such as dancing in the woods, depicted in the play “The Crucible” written by Arthur Miller. I believe that The Modern Muse draws from these events, acknowledging humanity’s— and particularly women’s— relationship with the earth while rejecting the cruelties that have been enacted upon women and nature throughout history, imagining a future in which we are interconnected once again.

In relation to the theme of (Un)natural Confluences, The Modern Muse seems to tap into the more 'natural' interactions humans have with nature. What message do you hope to convey to viewers in promoting the harmony between humans and nature?

We live in an age of innovation and triumph, in which technological advancements and economic capital dominate our life’s priorities. Many of us work towards what feels like the ever-unreachable dream of financial stability, all the while being pushed to consume an unlimited supply of products and media. The digital age we live in — while impressive — pushes us further from reality and into virtual idealizations of an earth without the looming consequences that currently exist as a result of our unsustainable strive towards something “greater.” I believe that true success is found in recognizing and respecting our influence on the earth, and working towards a more symbiotic relationship rather than the parasitic route humanity has been taking. In particular, The Modern Muse explores the relationship between humans and nature through the lens of historical femininity, in which many women were demonized for acts of connection and expression, particularly with the earth. This piece calls us to turn back towards our earth in the pursuit of progress, rather than away from it. To reconnect with nature, rather than be distracted or punished for prioritizing the planet that gives us life.

A nostalgic return to unity with nature, The Modern Muse feels hopeful. Are you optimistic about this increasingly climate-conscious era of humanity? Why or why not?

I’d like to consider myself gravely optimistic about the future of our environment in the hands of humans. While the ever-present consequences of our continued actions on the environment does plague me at times, I have faith that nature will restore balance as it always has. That being said, I do not believe that humanity shouldn’t be held accountable in this process. Nature has a way of finding balance in a very beautiful, chaotic, and — at times — violent manner, and it is up to our society to work towards restoring this balance if we’d like to be a part of the future our earth has in store. On the individual level, many people are becoming more conscious about their interactions with the environment, which is a crucial beginning to a much longer journey. There is much progress ahead of us to reach equilibrium, and that includes facing much larger institutions who prioritize the chase of endless opportunity over cherishing the source of our innovation. The journey towards reaching equilibrium — should we as a society embark on it — will be an arduous endeavor, but I have faith we can reconnect with nature, or the earth will be forced to re-balance the scales for us — with or without us as part of what comes after.

Taylor Robertson, interviewed by Maya Villalobos

Can you introduce yourself?

Hi, my name is Taylor, and I am a multidisciplinary artist who primarily works in printmaking. I am also a Master's student studying Art History at UCI. Much of my work focuses on my hometown of Los Angeles and deals with the memory of the land and the people living there. In my work, I am attempting to instill viewers with an awareness of the long history of the land, which comes from my personal family history with the land of Los Angeles. My grandfather used to live in the neighborhood of Chavez Ravine and was evicted without fair compensation for promised low-income housing that was never built. This is the land on which Dodger Stadium was built. Some foundations and spare building materials from the homes in Chavez Ravine still carry the memory of those lost communities. Furthermore, with my chosen medium of screen printing, I am looking back to works from the Chicano art movement of the 1970s.

Could you walk us through the moment you first thought of using real poppies to create ink for screenprinting?

Well, I actually got the idea from a meme about dinosaurs. The meme was about how toy dinosaurs are technically made from real dinosaurs, since the plastic used to make them comes from petroleum, which itself partially consists of dinosaur remains. I wanted the ink from the flower to reflect this idea. Although my screenprints are only images of flowers, a sign, they still include a small amount of the real object, the signified. The screenprint carries a little piece of that flower, expanding its “lifetime.”

The idea of viewers planting the poppy-embedded postcards is inspiring. What kind of ripple effect do you hope that act will have?

I don't imagine that many of these postcards will actually be planted; I just hope that those who take them home consider, for a moment, their ability, as individuals, to have a positive effect on the environment. It's meant to spread consciousness about our impact, as humans, on the delicate Southern California environment that we inhabit. However, I do hope that people will plant them, and that there will be at least a few more flowers in bloom next spring because of my project.

You mention that the land "holds memory" in The Land Has Memory: Westchester 2025. Were there any moments during filming that felt particularly haunting or emotional for you?

There weren’t any moments during filming that felt particularly haunting. Reviewing the hours of footage was more so informative. I didn't realize how many raccoons and other creatures visit my house and neighborhood while I sleep. It was like peering into a parallel world. The position of the camera also plays into this, I placed the camera low to really meet the creatures at their level. There’s an almost quiet, documentary-like sadness in watching animals navigate human-made environments. Was it hard to balance beauty and critique in this work? I think it was hard to find that balance. The documentary-like nature of my piece causes a sort of distancing of the viewer from the animals in the piece. I was sure to show domestic animals in my piece as well, like my dog Momo and the neighbors’ dogs, as well as some chickens in the local garden. Noticing the collars on some of these animals makes them feel more personal. Still, many of the wild animals had personality to them, some seemed to almost strike a pose in the presence of the camera. I hope that for the viewer, watching my video gives them a sense of tranquility and calmness. I hope someone can find themselves watching multiple loops of the video. I think there is beauty in that aspect of the work.

Lastly, if someone were inspired by your work and wanted to start noticing the hidden life around them, what would you encourage them to pay attention to?

I want people to look at the boundaries around them. I want them to notice the walls, fences, gates, streets, and roads that divide them. I want them to notice the persistence of the ecosystem and how it defies those boundaries: vines gliding over walls, roots tearing up concrete, and animals scaling fences. I want them to realize that human habitation in this area is a small speck in the geological time of this region.

Sapphire Wang, interviewed by Magdalena Solorio

Your works consist of two vases that when separate they convey singular ideas about the natural world but when put together they tell a story of perseverance with human influence, was this the original intent? Or was the intent to make a kind of impacted statement, almost a call for urgency? artwork?

Yes so, basically I had made the pieces separately but around a similar time. I don’t exactly remember when I had thrown the pieces versus when I had glazed them. But I think I glazed them around similar time periods and I was thinking I kind of wanted to match them together because they kind of do have similar profiles and sizes. I originally was thinking, “Oh I liked the black and the red glaze. And so I was thinking I could apply that to both of these pieces”. I originally didn’t have a super clear idea of what I wanted to do or how they would interact with one another, I guess. But, I was experimenting with some different techniques. I was also drawing from some influences like Chinese and Indonesian ceramics I had seen. I chose the black glaze mostly because the black and red had really good contrast with the white porcelain and also because it was an interesting color to use for water and for the flowers and the leaves themselves because typically they might be green or blue. So using a different color kind of allows the viewer to consider a little bit more about potential human impacts and why it's kind of in these unexpected colors.

And then to follow up, what made you decide to work in a 3D medium instead of a 2D medium to portray nature in human-influenced conditions?

Most of my work just happens to be 3D, I do occasionally work with 2D mediums but primarily I like to do 3D forms with pottery. The impact that it did have [by being 3D] was that it’s a more interactive piece because you can look around it in many different perspectives and they are [the vases] functional rather than just being a piece because they’re a set of bud vases. Even though they’re not big vases where you can put flowers, you can put buds in as the name suggests and have that tie with nature. At the time I was still working on my throwing technique and I was experimenting with different forms, different sizes. I couldn’t throw very big at that point so a lot of my pieces were very small so that’s kind of reflective of my evolution in terms of my throwing technique and skill set.

Now I know you have been wheel-throwing and sculpting for over three-years. Kind of similar to the last question but, what made you decide to create vases instead of sculpting out something different?

I think I was in my junior year of high school, I think in the winter. At that point, I had only around one year of throwing experience and so I hadn’t made anything big. My only pieces I had made were these really small bowls and stuff like that. But, I really liked vases a lot because I had seen a lot of East Asian ceramics. I had seen a lot that had really beautiful decorative vases and I really liked the profile and the way that you can experiment with different forms and a lot of different shapes. You can make almost anything and call it a vase and as opposed to a plate, it's more standard.

Moving onto the art of the pieces, what made you decide to use koi fish and black lotus flowers specifically to depict perseverance, strength, purity, and resilience when taking inspiration from traditional East Asian artwork?

I had seen a lot of similar things in both paintings and ceramics, just a bunch of different mediums. My dad had always collected his own, he had his own little collection of Chinese ceramics. Our shelves are always cluttered with those kinds of things. They always have a lot of different natural sceneries like mountainscapes and sometimes rivers. I had grown up seeing a lot of these different symbols, or these common themes across Chinese artwork. I had taken interest in that and the intricacies in fine line tattoos and how they were very delicate but also had a lot of meaning behind them. I had also learned from one of my classes about the symbolism behind lotus flowers in Buddhist philosophy and how they grow from muddy waters and how that’s a unique feature about them. That lends to their symbolic image of perseverance. I have always known [koi fish] to be a symbol of luck and perseverance. I thought it would be nice to incorporate it into my work.

Lastly, I wanted to ask if there is any specific sentiment to this vase set, or anything that impelled you to make this vase set when you did?

I had grown up seeing my dad collecting a lot of these sorts of artworks and when we would go to museums he always was pointing out artwork in East Asian galleries and explaining to me the symbolism behind the artwork. Even though, as a child I didn’t really care for some of these things because it wasn’t as exciting as more modern pieces. It’s very historically dependent and my dad likes more traditional art so he had a really deep appreciation for these art pieces. As I’ve grown up, its become a lot more interesting and I’ve kind of gravitated towards taking inspiration from both East Asian artworks and also taking some inspiration from more modern pieces as well and kind of fusing these two. Like in this piece I was able to fuse those symbolic themes and also use some experimental techniques that I learned. This piece is definitely more personal to me compared to some of my other pieces. A lot of pieces where I take inspiration from my own heritage are a lot more meaningful to me.