Exhibition Date: June, 2025
Class 127
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IMPRINTS
- Isabella Bassett
Imprints is a raw piece shown through self-portrait photography, where I explore different sides of myself and the emotions that come with them. Each photo is a deeper look into what those feelings really feel and look like. Every image has a unique persona, using colour, pose, and visual elements to bring it to life. These aren’t just portraits, they’re emotional characters with detailed meanings and reasoning behind them.
You might not see a clear emotional state on my face, but I want it to be seen as something deeper. I want people to interpret the images in their own way, to see the depth in them. I was inspired to create this project by imagining what raw emotion looks like and how each feeling carries its own presence. As a result, I hope to bring impact and questions to my audience, encouraging reflection and a deeper connection with the work.
Materials: Photography, Inkjet print, framed
Cycle of Repression
- Arashk Borzoo
My Project, Cycle Of Repression, explores how political repression is not only imposed from above but also implemented by people themselves, through placing blind faith in revolutionary leaders who turn out to be charlatans & liars.
By creating a short 2 minute video montage made from collaged images of revolutionary propaganda posters, paintings, photographs & edited clips.
I aim to highlight how grand promises made during turbulent times can quickly turn into regret. The work is a reflection on how easily hope can be manipulated.
My inspiration comes from observing how revolutions, though sometimes necessary, often unfold in twisted, unexpected ways that lead to deeper repression instead of the promised prosperity.
A personal example for myself is the 1979 revolution in Iran, which replaced one form of repression with another even harsher form of repression, & how today, I see similar patterns repeating in Iran & across the Middle East.
Materials: Digital and Photo Print
MUD
- Everett McKeen
As a child, my siblings and I spent a lot of time outside, enjoying the nature around us. One summer, we played in an empty dugout no toys, no phones,just using our imaginations and having fun. Those moments made me love the outdoors and inspired this art piece. I made a clay sculpture of the dugout from my home and built a small scene using cardboard, real grass, and other natural things to make it feel like the place we played in. I also added a sound recording of my siblings and me playing when we were younger. This project is about remembering and celebrating those happy childhood moments. It also shows how important nature is in our lives. Nature gives us space to play, explore, and feel free. With this piece, I want to show how nature and childhood go together, and how both are important for our happiness.
Materials: sculpting clay, grass, cardboard, glue, sound track with photos
Gone too Soon
- Oscar Martinez
My sculpture explores the idea of large and constant change and the effect that it can have on a child's mind.
The passage of time is also a very prevalent theme in my piece, being emphasized by the personal family photos stuck onto the cardboard boxes. These family photos have been stuck onto cotton fabric using a process known as image transfer, giving a rough and vintage look. By using a destroyed suitcase, my own personal childhood toys and clothing, and large cardboard boxes, I aim to create a sense of fatigue and weakness that lingers within the viewer. The contrast between the broken suitcase and the looming boxes displays the inevitably of change, and how as children, we are subject to the decisions of our parents and guardians.
Materials: Suitcase, Cardboard boxes, Fabric, Printed Images, Toys, Clothing, Marker
All Eyes on Me
- Gavin Cenci
To pay homage to one of my mother's art finals, I have created All Eyes on Me, an experience about life's emptiness. This piece is meant to convey the feelings of anxiety and loneliness. For years I struggled with these exact feelings and the creation of this box is a direct manifestation of my experiences. The isolation acts in a literal and metaphorical way. Loneliness can be literal in the way of cutting off yourself from others, the same way it can be a mental battle through the entrapping feeling your mind can create. Both of these factors are expressed in the box. Creating this as an experience rather than just a visual piece was incredibly important to me because the medium of 3D can convey much stronger emotions than a flat art piece. The judging eyes everywhere you look add to the feeling of isolation, you are alone, you are the focal point.
Materials: Cardboard Box, Paint, Tape, Cloth, Glowsticks
Escape
- Neil Oliver Setiawan
Growing up in a beautiful country managed by a corrupt, deaf, and blind government drives me to speak up through art. My artwork is a small string art sculpture shaped like a cone, resembling a net stretched by catching a bullet shot by a clay sculpture soldier. This piece powerfully represents my critique of global conflicts, highlighting how many countries prioritize war over peace. Initially, I was motivated by the struggles in my home country, Indonesia, but I quickly realized this issue resonates worldwide.
The sculpture embodies themes of war, violence, and a sudden realization of the pervasive nature of these conflicts. It also conveys an desperate attempt to escape the seemingly endless cycle of aggression. Through this visual metaphor, I aim to provoke thought and encourage viewers to reflect on humanity's path forward. My hope is to inspire a shift towards greater understanding and collaboration, emphasizing that true progress lies in fostering peace, not perpetuating conflict.
Materials: String, Clay, Wood
Spirit Tablet
- Preston Liu
My piece is a cardboard based sculpture of grave mix with digital pad photo on it. My artistic practice moves within the tension between two-dimensional and three-dimensional life. Through the use of digital devices, I approach creation as a form of inquiry.
In a world caught between life and death, shaped by the collision of technology and culture, I feel my existence has flattened reduced to screens, speakers, and smart products that fragment my reality. A dream sparked my need to create—a dream of a life overtaken by digital systems, controlled until the very end. My work reflects this entanglement: a quiet rebellion against a life increasingly mediated, where death and disconnection are no longer opposites, but neighbors.
Materials: Cardboard, iPad for image
What I Catch, I Keep
- KV Van Hooren
This piece is about the quiet frustration of not being able to hear and the pressure to pretend you can. Layered mouths move without sync, colored and chaotic, capturing the emotional noise of trying to make sense of speech without clarity.
As a teen, hearing loss can feel like being left out of a conversation that never stops. Lip reading becomes a survival skill, but it's something you have to learn yourself. It’s exhausting, like trying to catch meaning from a blur.
This work is about that effort. The confusion. The loneliness. The deep desire to connect, and the sadness when you can’t. It’s about what it means to be responsible for your own access to the world, and how heavy that can feel when you’re young.
Materials: Video, Colour and Sound
Where’s the Fire?
- Joshua Liu
I have always been hungry for an opportunity to explore less commonly used methods for creating imagery. To that end, I chose to use plywood as a canvas to sand and burn depictions of black smoke.
Initially inspired by the work of Dennis Lee Mitchell, whose pieces made great use of smoke to generate kinetic movement, the scarring of the wood is indicative of the scars one can accumulate in life, both physical and emotional, while the smoke blowing in the wind, despite its darkness and weight, is fleeting and is therefore representative of the passing of suffering. Additionally, the use of burning to create images of smoke is an implication of fire and can be perceived as a reference to the saying, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”, which in this case can be understood as a message of the importance of finding the source of people’s suffering.
In the end, I hope for my mural to be visually reminiscent of billowing of clouds, and aromatically reminiscent of a crackling of campfire exuding the bitter sour taste of smoke.
Materials: Plywood and Flames
Cyborg's Tear
- Heewon Choi
Since childhood, I have always found comfort in using my phone. Over time, I developed a deep attachment to it, which later made me reflect on how much of our lives are consumed by these devices. Watching documentaries about people struggling with phone addiction opened my eyes to the darker side of digital technology. While phones are helpful tools, they also quietly drain our time, energy, and sense of self. I created this work to satirize the paradox of relying on something that also harms us. Through my art, I hope to make viewers visually confront this contradiction—the way we merge with our devices, becoming part-machine and part-human, losing our identity along the way. The tears, the pain, and the helplessness I depict represent the emotional toll of this digital dependence. I want people to pause and consider the true cost of our growing connection with technology.
Materials: Clay, Paper, Hologram film, wire, Styrofoam
Unspoken Words
- Diane Lee
Unspoken Words emerged from the suffocating weight of words I could never say. Living within language barriers, I constantly found myself swallowing emotions, forcing them down until they accumulated like stones inside me, creating an unbearable physical heaviness.
This work explores the universal human experience of emotional suppression and its psychological damage. We all carry unspoken words whether from shame, social anxiety, lack of confidence, or countless other personal reasons. Each of us harbors these unexpressed thoughts and feelings for different circumstances, yet the burden remains universal.
The sculpture becomes a space for collective catharsis, allowing participants to externalize their internal weight. I am fascinated by the paradox of silence: while it protects us from vulnerability, it simultaneously corrodes us from within. Through this piece, I aim to express the hidden dangers of our unspoken words and create a moment where we can confront what we've been carrying alone.
Materials: Paper clay, Gauze, Glue gun, Paint, Wire, Plastic, Paper Towel holder, Round rhinestones
Feeling of Genres
- Nathan Reddy
I created this artwork to express my connection to music in a visual form, as it has deeply influenced my life and ideas throughout my childhood and school years. I wanted to explore the emotional responses I have when listening to different genres— what I imagine, how I feel, and the colors or moods I associate with the sound. This could be a common experience for others when they listen to music.
My research led me to artists who used music as inspiration, especially Kandinsky, who famously translated music into abstract paintings to capture its emotional power. Inspired by his approach, I aimed to do the same—inviting viewers to sense which genre influenced each piece and to experience the emotions I felt while creating them.
I used many unconventional tools to paint, such as Popsicle sticks, cardboard, paper clips, and a plastic fork, to help convey what I was feeling. I gave myself an hour to paint each piece. I decided to keep the mistakes, because failure is an essential part of the artistic process.
Materials: Paint, White poster paper, Paper clip, Paintbrush, Plastic Fork, Fingers, Cardboard, Popsicle Stick, Music
Origin and Dissolution
- Grace Hsieh
Origin and Dissolution is a mixed-media diptych inspired by the idea of yuanfen (緣分), which means the fate that brings people together and pulls them apart. This work shows how relationships begin and end, and how those moments still leave a mark. I use red thread to represent emotional connections—tight and strong in one panel, loose and broken in the other. Through abstract shapes and textures, I want to express both the beauty of meeting and the sadness of parting. This project is a personal reflection on change, memory, and the meaning behind the people who come into our lives.
Materials: Mixed Media
The Genesis Dragon
- Yuan Liu
This dragon sculpture is made of stone, metal, and wood. The three materials represent the evolution of human tool usage — from the earliest use of wooden sticks, to chipped stone tools, and then to metal smelting.
They also represent the development of human civilization.
The inspiration comes from traditional Chinese culture and the mythology books I read in my childhood.
The dragon is the totem of China and also represents the origin of Chinese civilization. To me, it is a symbol of sacredness and power. Its form is ancient and broken but still reveals sacredness and majesty. The scent of wood, the smell of earth, and the roar of the dragon rising into the sky — these sensory fragments together compose this "Genesis piece".
Materials: Wood, Stone, Material, Expanding foam, Aluminum foil
ICARUS
- Savanah Beatch
I've always been drawn to mythology, and the story of Icarus was the first that truly resonated with me.
My project, Icarus, is a handmade model constructed from candle wax and gold paint. It explores themes of damage, self-worth, and the emotional cost of constantly giving without receiving. Throughout my life, I've often found myself giving more than I received, in friendships, in family, even in school. This constant effort to be needed and loved shaped much of how I relate to others. Creating this piece allowed me to reflect on those experiences. The fragility of the wax and the flame became a metaphor for how quickly trust, or a sense of connection, can disappear.
Like Icarus, I often feel as though I move too close to something I long for, knowing it might hurt,but still hoping it won't.
Materials: Soy wax and wooden tray
Growing Brain
- Kosuke Tokunaga
This sculpture depicts a tree whose branches form a brain's nervous system. The concept explores the similarity between neural networks and tree branches, as both systems grow and change throughout life. Like trees, our brains develop complexity through valuable experiences, creating diverse pathways and connections.
The artwork represents growth, maturation, and transformation. Just as a tree flourishes with proper care, the brain expands and adapts through meaningful experiences, developing rich variety in its neural landscape.
This piece aims to be universally relatable — anyone with a brain can connect with and feel immersed in the work. The sculpture will be created using clay, beginning with the basic tree structure, then incorporating brain-like forms to create the characteristic rounded, textured surface that mimics neural tissue while maintaining the organic tree silhouette.
Materials: Clay, Wooden Stick, Steel wire
See Me
- Hanna Sahlberg
Seeing a plus-size store on the other side of the street every day made me realize how normalized fatphobia really is. "Are fat people so disgusting that we need to be banished from normal clothing stores?" is a thought I've had because of this. And it's got me thinking about the internalized fatphobia we all have, even though we want to ignore it. So, I created this sculpture from a 4X T-shirt, painted with bleach where sweat usually stains your clothes, and used embroidery to mold the shirt into what everyone thinks people should want. And I want you to see it. I want you to be able to stare into your own eyes in this body and face yourself. Just like I have to do every day. Not with prejudice nor distaste, but with acceptance and understanding.
Materials: Shirt, pillow, Embroidery, Bleach
Connection
- Kassidy Meding
In a world where physical touch is often seen in a negative light, I wanted to create a piece that reclaims its positive significance. Social media has shifted how people view touch—now often reserved for romantic relationships, used as leverage, associated with harm, or as a way to escape through others’ bodies.
Touch profoundly affects our mental and physical states. I’m fascinated by how one hug can lift a mood, calm the heart, and settle the soul. But touch can also hurt, change lives, and alter someone’s entire perspective.
I chose painting to visually represent this idea because it allowed for greater creativity in my depiction. Using paint enabled me to convey emotion and light in a way that feels more expressive and intuitive than other mediums.
“Connection” explores both extremes, depending on how the viewer interacts with it. Touch isn’t just romantic—it’s for friends, for family, for everyone. It’s an essential part of being human.
Materials: Canvas 18x24, Acrylic paints, Touch sensitive lights, USB cords
Messy Eaters
- Asu Richard Perrier
My piece is about decay, consumerism and waste, and art through history and pop culture. I am interested by the consumer and the consumed. I make art because I have to. I am interested by the fact that making art inspired by food has been happening for centuries, for example; macaroni art, or blood used in cave paintings. This piece is meant to evoke thoughts of staleness and rot. My piece takes inspiration from modern minimalism, while having some touches of maximalism with certain canvases. Specific inspirations were Piet Mondrian and Mark Rothko, two abstract artists introduced to me recently.
Materials: Canvases painted using food & kitchen tools
HEAR
- Ai Unotsu
Anxiety is a significant challenge in life and must not be overlooked. This artwork reflects the emotional weight I carry during episodes of depression, a visual expression of how it feels when everything becomes heavy, unclear, and overwhelming.
I went to Yayoi Kusama’s art gallery and read about her experiences with depression when she was younger. That made me think, “If I could express my depression like she does, how would people respond to it?”
It’s really difficult to explain what we think, what we feel, and what’s happening in our minds.
I hope my artwork gives you some kind of idea or understanding. It doesn’t have to be clear, or the same meaning as mine. If you feel that it’s weird, scary, or painful—and you end up not liking it—then that’s still a success to me. Because it means the artwork made you feel something.
Materials: Cardboard, Clay, Thumbtack, and Staple
Still Life, Still Alone
- Shay Zheng
This project began from the lonely moments of living and studying abroad—being in a foreign country, surrounded by unfamiliarity, and going through everyday life alone.
I became more aware of the silence around me: eating alone, sitting in still rooms, walking through spaces without connection.
These images capture that emotional distance—quiet, subtle, but heavy. I wanted to express how even the most ordinary moments can feel hollow when you're lonely. Through cold tones and empty compositions, I tried to show what it feels like to exist, quietly, without being seen.
Materials: Photography
Iron Can: A Take on Lamellar Clothing
- James Aguila
My mother and father were both farmers when they were young. However, they maintained small side hustles involving fashion to earn an extra dollar on the side. They were artists. Soon, my parents met and started a family. They came to Canada, and this brings us to my current situation and inspiration: my family. They’re all engineers now, but I am an artist like they were. I take the precision and design aspect from my family, and choose to create my own passions. This passion, fueled by my interests, brings me to my motivation for this project.
Lamellar was a widely used form of armour historically, It consisted of small metal plates tightly knit together to form a protective surface pattern over its wearer. In this project, I hope to inspire humour into the viewer with its unconventional medium, while also exploring themes of environmentalism and recycling.
Materials: Aluminum cans, String, Hoodie, Poster Paper
Space Cup
- Kevin Zhao
I created an artwork using cardboard boxes to represent the four seasons, symbolizing the passage of time and the changes that come with it. These boxes are connected with a paper cup and wool wire—materials chosen intentionally for their symbolism.
The paper cup serves as a microphone, a quiet companion that listens when there’s no one else to hear your voice. It represents the comfort of expression during loneliness, a way to voice thoughts and emotions in silence. The wool wire acts as the fragile but meaningful bridge between me and my old friends—those who once played an important part in my life but slowly faded into the background as we went to different schools and pursued different paths.
Despite having them in my contact list, the connection has grown weaker over time. This piece reflects both nostalgia and the quiet hope that the ties we once had still linger, waiting for a moment of reconnection.
Materials: Cardboard, Wool Wire, Oil Paint, Tape, Double-sided Tape, pins