ARTIST GALLERY
In honor of May Mental Health Awareness Month, we want to provide a safe healing space for our community to share their voice about their process with recovery and wellbeing without judgement. This year, our theme is "this is MY VOICE".
*Art pieces are arranged in alphabetical order.
Artist - Anuluck Jesadavirojna (Spokenword)
Title: It doesn't matter what size you are!
Artist Statement - This is a 6 year old boy sharing his voice and feelings of how he has been coping with being bullied for being the smallest student in his class.
Artists - Art Healing (Young Adult Art support group)
Title: Collectively Wandering
Artists' Statement - We as a group created the puzzle, and reflected on how we want to voice ourselves as young adults who are going through many transitions. We came up with words, quotation, and sentences that represent the group art piece.
- Resilience: "I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become."
- My Generation trauma does not define who I am or the rest of my generations that follow. We choose to heal from it all.
- Battle for the Better or Not alone in the fight
- Overcoming
- You are not alone!
Artist - Daseul Kim
Title: Mom and I, or the way I have to live and the present me
Artist Statement - I made the collage above thinking of my mom, and the collage below thinking of me. After comparing the two collages, one looked pretty and splendid, and the other one looked dark and lonely. The collage that was made thinking of my mom, but it also seemed to represent my appearance that I wanted. I think my collage is also my inner self, or a self that I do not want to be seen. These two collages never left my head, I still don't know why this touches me so much.
Artist - Elaine Oh
Title: Hidden Hands
Artist Statement - This reflective inner voice began as I participated in a therapists’ support group, with the prompt of how I would like to identify my professional work as a therapist with my own traced hands. I modified my original sketch into abstract painting. In this painting, I expressed how my hands are representing the dance that I do with my clients. Sometimes it gets very clear to see it, sometime it does not. Often, I only get to tap on a portion of their wellbeing, and sometimes I guide to define the negative space surrounding hands to define the actual hands. Our journey is to find the patterns of individual’s views and/ or inherited views to understand and bring their true self to the world.
My hands are hidden in many different lives to help and guide, but more than anything just to “be” with them. If you are crying by yourself, please come forward to share with us, there are many more hidden hands that are close to you. Your voice deserves to be listened and heard, and we are here.
My hands are hidden in many different lives to help and guide, but more than anything just to “be” with them. If you are crying by yourself, please come forward to share with us, there are many more hidden hands that are close to you. Your voice deserves to be listened and heard, and we are here.
Artist - Evelyn Hernandez
Title: The Empty Pot
Artist Statement - For a very long time I felt a sense of being defective. I was always trying to fit into a mold that was not made for me, and that brought me discomfort and unhappiness. The prevailing thought was that I was a misshapen and broken pot, but although I couldn't always feel it, there was a seed growing inside all along. With time and help, I have grown to embrace myself as I am. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the pieces together again with gold, and this idea has helped me reframe how I think about myself and my past. I am not broken, and the bits I have worked to heal, I now see in a new light. In my pot the soil is pearls and crystals, which serve as a symbolism of tears and the pressure I have felt. Much like diamonds are made with extreme heat and pressure, we too grow out of difficult situations given the proper tools. If I could choose a seed to symbolize where I want to head to, it would be a willow tree, because they represent adaptability and flexibility. This is my voice, and although different, it is not less important. A plant will grow pretty much anywhere, but it will thrive when it has the right space and resources.
Artist - Glor Parong
Title: Kaleidescope Eyes
Artist Statement - The painting represents a vision of many possibilities. As I go through life, good things happen along with many difficult challenges. I realize I am not always in control. I have learned that life has a force of its own. Self-care and resilience strengthen my mental health. As I mature, I become more grateful and humble, as I continue my life journey with a vision of many possibilities.....
Artist - Graciella Parong
Title: Peacefulness
Artist Statement - This poem is a metaphor about how all my stress and worries disappear from me. Picture how water drains from a bathtub, is the same as my stress rolling away from me. My mental health goes away eventually and I feel relieved that it is gone.
Artist - Jaehoon Oh
Title: Untitled
Artist Statement - "It is in playing and only in playing that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self." - Donald Winnicott
Artist - Leyna Thanh Truong
Title: Not Looking Back
Artist Statement - This is what I picture as my “escape from reality” and a look into my future. Usually people will draw their career or relationships when they think of the future, but I drew something that I can predict will happen. I predict that in the future I will see that there’s going to be challenging obstacles in my path, and it’s going to be either easy or difficult to get past. What gives present me, pride, is knowing that future me will understand it’s not the end. I still have so many things to learn and experience, I just have to go at my own pace.
Artist - Pimpaka Pantiyanurak
Title: สุนัขเป็นเพื่อนที่ดีและซื่อสัตย์
Dogs are Good and Loyal Friends
Dogs are Good and Loyal Friends
Artist Statement - Dogs are loyal. A true friend.
They love their owner and can help when your distressed and feeling lonely.
Dogs, they won't abandon you.
If the owner is feeling down, they can sense it Everyday, I take care of the dogs I've been dog sitting for the past 3 years It has help lighten my sadness and grief Since I lost the love of my life unexpectedly I've been able to heal a little step at a time As the long, sorrow and grief fades until I am able to move forward with my life.
They love their owner and can help when your distressed and feeling lonely.
Dogs, they won't abandon you.
If the owner is feeling down, they can sense it Everyday, I take care of the dogs I've been dog sitting for the past 3 years It has help lighten my sadness and grief Since I lost the love of my life unexpectedly I've been able to heal a little step at a time As the long, sorrow and grief fades until I am able to move forward with my life.
Artist - Reena Cho
Title: My Serenity
Artist Statement - As a teen suffering from depression, many forms of art have helped me be the voice I needed when I couldn't express myself. I was very angry person filled with hate and resentment because of the things I went through. I had a broken relationship with myself for many years however I learned to forgive myself. I am working on not being my own obstacle and learning to be kind to myself.
Artist - APCTC SFV Team
Title: SFV Tree
Artists' Statement - Trees serve as powerful metaphors for the human experience. Their roots dig deep into the earth, grounding us in stability, while their branches reach skyward, symbolizing our aspirations and interconnectedness. Through this group art project, we invite individuals to visually express their personal encounters with mental health, fostering empathy and understanding among participants.
Artist - Tiger Doan
Title: True Colors
Artist Statement - I have started to create online content about RV camping for Asian Americans, and while camping on the beach in Ventura County, enjoying being out in nature, and singing on my guitar, I decided to record this song using a wireless microphone for better sound. My oldest daughter helped position the phone camera for a good angle. She has been our camera girl and editor for much of our online content for our family as the Asian RV Family. Our dog Bear has also been part of our family journey. With support and approval from family and coworkers, I decided to submit and share this in honor of Mental Health Awareness and Asian American Heritage Month. I feel that this song carries the right message that even when “the darkness inside you can make you feel so small…don’t be afraid” to show your beautiful true colors. Our true selves are our most beautiful selves.
Artist - Valerie Gonzalez
Title: Untitled
Artist Statement - This piece represents of how I'm healing as a person.
And using music to cope with the changes of my mental health. And using art to express my emotions through what I create. And I'm starting to see the world differently than from before.
And using music to cope with the changes of my mental health. And using art to express my emotions through what I create. And I'm starting to see the world differently than from before.
Artists - Wilshire Group Amy Park, Eun Sun, Jeffrey Lim, Karina Diaz, Mee Ya Kang, Noah Kim
Title: My Voice
Artists Statement - In this art, we captured our feeling and emotion and expressed into art. Even one small voice can change world.
