Last week was our first full week with 7th graders coming to MLK, Jr. Tech Academy to tour the two galleries and meet myself and the docents, Juliet, Matt, Thom and Kahara. They've been great!

I had a bit of anxiety in the beginning, but this week I feel like I'm finding my groove and the students have been pretty engaged. I'm learning a lot about working with students and I'm learning a lot about myself too. I'm glad that I can give something of myself to this community and the kids. Keep moving forward!

In December I was selected as an artist in residence working with Twin Rivers Unified School District in Sacramento County. Three classrooms at Martin Luther King, Jr. Tech Academy had been converted to gallery spaces when artist Milton Bowen was working with the district. I selected works that addressed my identity and Filipino culture as well as being good examples for the students to learn from. In one gallery I installed a  case which included my sketchbooks so they could also see my process. That gallery also includes work in various materials. 

Seventh graders district wide will be coming to the gallery over the span of the residency totaling about 2400 students. Game time begins this Monday morning 2/6.

I haven't been in the studio for a while because I've been working on a video project since June 2022. The video was intended to be a grant application project, but I didn't get the grant to fund it. I really felt strongly about the project so I started shooting in June funding it myself. Since my old Canon C-100 was outdated and didn't shoot 4K, I researched a few video cameras and settled on the Sony FX3, a full frame cinema camera. It took a while to get used to the form factor and navigating the menus, but I'm really happy with the footage, its low light capability and weight. More to come!

All set up for the opening reception June 23, 5:30PM to 8PM.

I have a couple pieces in this years Crocker Art Auction. The one on the right will be in the LIVE AUCTION. It's a painting I made during my residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, NE in 2018.

Had a nice time being part of the panel discussion with other artists in the exhibitions at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I have two pieces in the Diptych/Triptych exhibition at Manifest in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show opened April 15th and will run till May 13th.  There will be an artist panel discussion on May 12th from 5:30 - 8PM EDT.

These two pieces were recently juried into the Diptych/Triptych Exhibition at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, OH that will run from April 15 to May 15, 2022. These were pieces made from old book covers and displayed on a small ledge. The works were made during my residency at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans, LA in 2019.

This is a current painting that I started a week ago. I've been trying to incorporate my time on the water kayaking into my work somehow. With this piece I thought about Filipino diaspora and our family coming to the U.S. over the ocean from Japan where I was born and where we lived. It also touches on the Philippines being an islands and Filipino's relationship to water. It's still a work in progress, but I'm happy with the water connection so far.