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Through this acrylic painting dedicated to my dad, I aim to capture his essence from my perspective as his daughter. To summarize what I think of my dad, he is a hardworking and loving person whom I look up to. While selecting my references, I thought of his smile. Every time he smiles, his wrinkles become more visible; his missing tooth can be seen; his tired yet fulfilling eyes become smaller, and his strong yet hunched back is a subtle hint of his lifelong dedication to his family. His strength fuels mine and cheers me up whenever I feel defeated.

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This study examines the factors that create a well-balanced composition. A well-balanced composition requires a balanced use of elements and colors, which is evident in my chosen composition. The rule of thirds serves as a guide to help artists create more balanced and visually appealing compositions by suggesting that the subject should be slightly off-center, along the lines of intersections of a 3x3 grid. The house was initially placed in the center but was later moved towards the left, giving some focus to other sections of the composition rather than stealing all the attention from the viewers by simply glancing at the middle. This often leads to a more dynamic and engaging composition for the viewers. Overall, the image with the frame below demonstrates these skills effectively, which applied the rule of thirds and balanced colors and tones. The experimentation ultimately provides a thoughtful insight into creating a cohesive composition.

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This collage artwork explores childhood nostalgia, aiming to evoke remembrance in myself and viewers. The diverse medium mirrors childhood experiences, blending abstraction and realism to capture a child's imaginative innocence. Furthermore, while I revisited my inquiry question from my mood board, I realized how personal this artwork is to me, as it is based on my nostalgia, guiding me to seek out photographs of my childhood memories instead of magazines to complete my artwork. This artwork and the inquiry question allowed me to reflect on my past and rediscover forgotten memories that continue to shape who I am today.

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Childhood nostalgia is a universal experience that refers to a sentimental longing or an affectionate remembrance of one’s experiences, places, activities, or relationships from childhood, involving the fond memories and emotions tied to the innocence, simplicity, and carefree spirit of those early years. While constructing my inquiry question, I was allowed to reflect on my childhood memories and what made them special. I selected collage as my medium, reminiscent of childhood puzzles and crafts, to convey childhood's playfulness. Combining diverse materials and imagery evoking childlike innocence and creativity, collage's playful nature and ability to reflect fragmented memories create resonant visual narratives. My abstract-realist style aims to capture the imaginative way I once viewed the world.

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Architecture and Interior Design Portfolio

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Architecture and Interior Design Portfolio

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My artwork is inspired by a famous fairy tale called “Thumbelina”, which contains themes of beauty, greed, and a sense of belonging, which resonates with my personal experiences, particularly the theme of “finding a sense of belonging” in a society/group. This theme is shown explicitly when Thumbelina encounters the toad and the mole, who judge Thumbelina based on their expectations and her looks without getting to know her. Black and white eye/lip patterns and zentangles symbolize judgmental stares and gossip, creating an unsettling contrast to the colorful flower and characters. The circular motion of Thumbelina following the greedy toad and mole, but being lovingly held by the accepting prince as she returns his affection, illustrates the plot. Viewers can infer the fairies' natural acceptance after her journey.

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In Vanitas, I generated various objects to represent my shallow connection to my birth country, Canada. Having lived in Canada for only two years before moving to Vietnam, my memories of Canada are barely present. To put it simply, I can barely recall what life was like in Canada, and my family has never returned. I have used a range of symbols to convey my desire to form a deeper and more personal connection to Canada.

My disconnection to my Canadian heritage is reflected in Canadian stereotypes, such as maple leaves and pumpkins, which represent the country’s strong association with fall. These stereotypes represent Canada through my lens, highlighting that my connection is superficial and lacks personal significance. Additionally, there are coins scattered around to depict Canada’s currency and illustrate how it differs from Vietnam, where cash is more commonly used, creating a cultural comparison.

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My cultural artifact is a New Years confetti popper, which is deeply associated with my family’s New Year tradition, symbolizing a fresh start and metaphorically serves as a way to chase away bad luck. It is also connected to my childhood before we moved to district 7. Back then, I looked forward to this tradition the most as I have always enjoyed dancing and hopping around underneath the raining confettis. These moments are some of my fondest memories. Now that I live in district 7 and with the New Years approaching, I often reflect on those experiences and the family traditions that connect me to my culture and childhood.

For my artwork, I chose red as the base color to represent luck, prosperity, and celebration associated with the New Year. The vibrant red is also closely tied to my religion, Buddhism, where it symbolizes the sacred, life force, fire, and blood. My religion plays a vital role during the New Year celebrations, as we typically visit temples to pray for good fortune and prosperity.

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This artwork explores the theme of animal abuse to highlight its emotional impact on animals and evoke sympathy in viewers through various techniques and metaphors. One artistic choice I made in my artwork is to combine 2D and 3D elements to figuratively connect the artwork and the real people viewing it. One particular symbol I have added that is visualized in 2D and 3D is paper crane origami. It symbolizes peace and healing, creating an irony with the context of my theme, animal abuse. Another crucial motif in my artwork is feet, which are used to convey dominance and power imbalance in the issue of abuse. It represents the ignorance and cruel nature of abuse, carelessly crushing those who serve them a purpose.

As for I decided to apply hybridization, juxtaposition, and cropping. Hybridization is the combination of different parts to create a unified object. Juxtaposition is used for placing two contrasting subjects together, and cropping is used to select and emphasize only the important parts, while creating mystery.

While researching for my project, I came across Shintaro Ohata’s artwork and was inspired by his style. Shintaro Ohata is a Japanese artist who creates 2D paintings and places 3D sculptures in front of them, unifying the two into a single cohesive artwork. I particularly admire his muddy and smudged painting style, which resembles the textures of polystyrene sculptures and impressionism, connecting the two art dimensions into one cohesive work. He also matches the colors and the direction of light, which makes the sculpture more realistic, as if it stepped out of the canvas, giving the entire artwork a sense of life and immersive depth.

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This project explores the pressure that comes with hustle culture, where constant work and productivity measure one’s self-worth. As a high school student, I noticed many students are constantly feeling exhausted and helpless in the face of their heavy workload. They would often blame themselves for not working hard enough, yet procrastinate minutes later. These are common signs of burnout demonstrated by my school community. I considered to put my artwork in the school library’s silent study room, a common place for students to focus and finish assignments, contrasting with the lively library space outside, which often leads to burnout.

Before presenting my proposal to my professors, I wanted my audience to participate by taking an origami plant with positive notes and encouragement on it. However, I realized that cutting out paper flowers (1) is more accessible and more time-efficient because not everyone knows how to make origami flowers. It’s also easier to stick these on the window frame than origami flowers (2).

Reflecting on my artist project, I could’ve done a better job at representing burnout through a more dynamic composition and utilizing other 3D elements. Future projects could involve collaboration between the artist and the audience. My audience should draw or express their burnout rather than writing straightforwardly, making the artwork more open to interpretation. By further exploring these themes and integrating an ambiguous way for the audience to participate, I aim to create a more impactful artwork based on my reflection on burnout.

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This task challenges architecture students to draw a top view of their existing bedrooms, including any furniture, windows, and bathrooms if necessary.

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Foam boards create a sleek and clean look for a minimalistic design, such as a bedroom. My bedroom mostly consists of reused measurements from my original bedroom to save time and, most importantly, to effectively redesign the interior in an established room size. Major changes in my design include erasing the title of “master bedroom” by moving the bed closer to the big window. In between my desk and my bed, I have added a thin wall to separate the study area and the sleeping area. I have also included furniture that I don’t have, such as a bigger bookshelf, a carpet, and a bigger desk. These changes were added as a result of my frustration with certain parts of my room.

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My cardboard building model, inspired by Hanoi’s Phố Cổ, sells lanterns in all shapes and colors. The key feature of this 3D model is its detailed doors that fold and close, and the vibrant, red lanterns underneath the roof. Moreover, the design of my Phố Cổ is heavily influenced by the actual traditional Phố Cổ in Hanoi. For instance, the entrance is wide and is slightly higher than the ground, which is modelled similarly based on the inspiration below.

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The sectional view has challenged me to think from a perspective that I have never thought of before.

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This project challenges students to apply everything they’ve learned throughout the whole course. Sandy and I created a sustainable floating café with the intent of using renewable energy and materials.

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One of the reasons that makes art so fascinating is how it can be interpreted differently by different people. My paper sculpture is intended to be ambiguous, which allows room for many interpretations. It could be a hammer, a showerhead, a lightstick, a backscratcher, a lighthouse, or even a spoon; we will never know for sure, but we know that having room for interpretation brings out different perspectives and unlocks deeper meanings.