Fellowship

My Creative Corps Fellowship Project

Project partner: United Cambodian Community

I’m working with non-artists who are members of the Long Beach Cambodian community, to mentor them in creating visual and written works based on their personal experiences, particularly focusing on elders who experienced hardships resulting from the Khmer Rouge genocide, as well as the challenges their subsequent generations have faced in acculturating into American ways of life.

Artist Statement
I make richly colored paintings, collages and digital drawings that shed light on the marginalized members of society. As a gay man of Biloxi-Indian heritage living with misophonia (a sound-tolerance disorder), I naturally connect to the personal stories of minorities and people with disabilities.

My Background in Teaching Art
As a teaching artist in the public-school system who primarily works in low-income areas, as well as in special-ed classes, I have observed a lack of artistic opportunities for disadvantaged students, who have little to no access to viewing– much less creating– art.
Because I now work as a substitute teacher rather than full time (and I’ve built relationships with the many teachers I sub for), I am in a unique position; I am able to bring my artistic skills and decades of teaching experience into numerous classrooms to provide art lessons that help children express their identities and share personal narratives. I do so by focusing on the five core tenets of Transformative Social and Emotional Learning (T-SEL) competencies, particularly the first one– self-awareness, which the California Department of Education defines as “the ability to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts and values and how they influence behavior across contexts.”
Some of the areas of self-awareness competency are: integrating personal and social identities; identifying one’s emotions; linking feelings, values and thoughts; developing interests and a sense of purpose; and reflecting on one’s personal role and contributions within a community.
In one of my lessons, I teach students basic proportions of facial anatomy to help them build confidence in drawing themselves. In other lessons, they learn to take chances and not worry about “making it perfect” by creating self-portraits in the whimsical styles of famous artists such as Basquiat and Picasso. I also use my background as a journalist and editor to help them write flash fiction-style pieces to accompany minimalistic art they create; the micro stories and simplified creations help them to focus on just one part of larger personal narratives that might otherwise feel too overwhelming to share.

Creative Corps Project
After leading hundreds of kids in expressing themselves through visual art and writing for years, I am ready to expand this undertaking to a larger scale by working with adults in disadvantaged communities to do the same. I have indeed had experience in mentoring and supporting adult artists, since I have curated two exhibits, served as a juror for another show and featured hundreds of local emerging artists in my newspaper column “Imitating Life,” in which I profiled a different creative each week, featuring their artwork in full color.
However, now I would like to work with disenfranchised, “non-artist” individuals by mentoring them in creating artworks that express who they are, their place within their community and their unique stories that would otherwise be unseen or unheard by the public. The impact would be twofold: providing an outlet for self-expression to underserved residents; and helping the community at-large gain a deeper understanding of less visible communities (for example, helping cisgender people understand transgender individuals through art created by the latter, or allowing the Cambodian community to bring their rich stories to a broader audience).

Developing a strong sense of self and acknowledging how one’s experiences and background form one’s identity allow individuals to recognize privileges and reduce stress and detrimental effects on health that trauma and discrimination can bring, according to the State’s Education Department. Furthermore, a developed sense of purpose leads to well-being and has been linked to improved physical health. Awareness of one’s own aptitudes, preferences and values contributes to effective personal development and helps children and adults participate more meaningfully in their communities.

How I've Served Marginalized Communities
As mentioned above, the majority of my teaching experience has been with Long Beach public-school students from low-income families, particularly at Smith, Alvarado and Birney elementary schools, all of which benefit from Title 1 funds, which are distributed to high-poverty schools as determined by the number of pupils that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The students I teach are primarily Hispanic, Cambodian and Black.
Another way I serve a marginalized community is through my work with the Forgotten Images traveling museum of African-American history and culture. I serve on its board of directors, and, as an artist, I have created several artworks that focus on the struggles of Black people in America. For example, I created a portrait of George Floyd made up of various photos of people of different races– suggesting that to understand someone of another race or ethnic identity, we must strive to see ourselves in them. Another art piece I made was a collage of a young Black woman lying in a watermelon patch. This work seeks to undermine the stereotype of African-Americans being excessively fond of watermelons, an idea that arose after slaves won emancipation and Southern whites became threatened by Black people’s newfound freedom and made the fruit (which many former slaves began growing and selling) a symbol of perceived negative traits.

The Project: “Uninvisible”

In the “Uninvisible” project, I am collaborating with members of the Long Beach Cambodian community on an individual and ongoing basis, to mentor each one in creating a visual artwork and an accompanying written piece that share their personal story.
The participants’ work will be highlighted throughout the year on a blog, on which I will document their process and generate excitement for the project’s culmination– an art exhibit that will showcase the visual and written works, side by side.
The process will begin with an initial consultation, during which I meet with each participant to help them determine the story they would like to share and in which medium. Because I work in painting (oil, acrylic, watercolor), collage, mixed-media and digital drawing, I am able to facilitate the creation of art in a wide range of mediums.
In that first meeting, I will gain a sense of their artistic experience and what style(s) they want to explore. I will also ascertain any particular areas in which they lack confidence and need support. Together, we will develop the art piece, and I'll provide them with all materials needed. In the weeks or months during which they create the work, I will periodically check in with them, as well as making myself available to assist them through various methods (in-person, Zoom, phone call, email). I'll use an iPad and Apple Pencil to teach participants who are interested in learning digital art how to do so on Procreate. As the digital drawings are completed, they will be saved to the cloud. When the time comes to set up the culminating exhibit, I will print and frame the digital art for presentation.

For those interested in traditional materials, I will assist them in creating paintings, drawings, collages or mixed-media pieces.
I will also support them in writing their personal narrative, which could take the form of a short story, a poem, a song, a monologue, a zine, etc., depending on what each participant prefers. (As managing editor of the Signal Tribune newspaper for eight years, I led a staff of writers and interns whom I mentored throughout their varying levels of writing abilities, and this experience will be a great benefit to the project.)
During the year, I will create blog and social-media posts (on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, to reach various age groups) that will show the participants in their processes of creating the work, as well as sharing thoughts about it.
    The exhibit will take place at a local gallery space and will display each art piece next to its corresponding written work. The show will embody a wide array of mediums but will be unified by the theme of marginalized members of a community becoming more visible and their stories honored. Photos of all the art works (as well as the stories) will be posted on the blog, as well as published in a book.