2024
Summer/Fall - Founded the Los Angeles Prescribed Burn Association. Completed S-290: Intermediate Wildland Fire Behavior and L-280: Followership to Leadership. Helping organize a Queer Burn Training in Humboldt County and working toward Firefighter Type 1 certification.
June - Completed artist residency at Acadia National Park.
March-present - Working as a podcast editor for Seeds And Their People, a podcast featuring stories about seedkeeping as cultural preservation.
March-present - Working as a farmhand at Ave 33 Farm, an urban farm in Los Angeles using regenerative practices and focusing on food access.
2022-present - Contracted as Assistant Editor/Animator at Sketchy Medical, making videos to help medical and nursing students study for exams.
2023
Fall/Winter - Renewed Firefighter Type 2 certifications, participant in Santa Barbara TREX, on-call member of Tribal Eco Restoration Alliance’s Fire Crew, burned with Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association.
November - Selected as Artist-in-Residence at Glacier National Park for July 2025.
October 8-16 - Completed first stint as Artist-in-Residence at Acadia National Park.
October - Mentioned in the exhibit “Ordinary People” at Long Beach Museum of Art, running Oct 6, 2023-Jan 4, 2024.
August - Featured in the article “Art as a Radical Tool for Realizing Abolition” by Abigail Glasgow for Harper’s Bazaar.
June-July - Served as a panelist for California Arts Council’s Individual Artist Fellowships.
May-October - Assistant Editor at Mousetrappe Media.
January - Selected as Artist-in-Residence at Acadia National Park.
2022
Fall/Winter - Began training as a fire practitioner. Certifications include basic Wildland Firefighter Type 2 (S-130, S-190, ICS-100, L-180, IS-700, pack test), S-219 through Lake County TREX, and pile burn training through Ventura County PBA.
June - Neptune Frost (dir. Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman) begins theatrical release in the US after a massive yearlong festival run. Here are links to watch the trailer, read two reviews, find a screening near you, and check out some of my work on the film.
May - Released video commissioned by MomsRising about building safety without policing in schools. More information here.
April-September - Four videos on exhibition at Reset: Towards a New Commons at Center for Architecture in New York City. The animations I created illustrate four NYC Housing Authority residents’ visions of what they’d want to see in the open spaces near where they live.
March-present - Contracted as Assistant Editor/Animator at Sketchy Medical.
2021
November - Awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship from the California Arts Council.
August - “Anicca” was mentioned in the newly published “The Aesthetics of Virtual Reality” by New Zealand philosopher Grant Tavinor.
July - Invited to speak on Arts and Abolition in Los Angeles with collaborator Brianna Mims at Armory Center for the Arts.
Jan-May - Edited videos and created animation for video series about movement leadership principles for NYC-based nonprofit Building Movement Project.
2020
Dec - Assisted on Maya and Photoshop pipelines for Andrew Thomas Huang’s series about Taoist dragon kings.
Aug-Nov - Created concept art and animation for Saul Williams’s directorial debut Neptune Frost.
March - Assisted on photography shoot for Andrew Thomas Huang highlighting the queer Chinese diaspora. The series was highlighted in Out Magazine and Vogue Italia.
March - Completed 9-month art handling apprenticeship at The Broad Museum, having worked at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Latin American Art, Vincent Price Art Museum, Crozier Fine Arts, and Building Bridges Art Gallery.
2019
Aug - Edited videos for clients Funmilola Fagbamila, Brianna Mims, and Adam Drazan. Worked on Noah Cyrus music video doing VFX wire removal and rotoscope work.
June - Began a 9-month art handling apprenticeship at The Broad Museum through the Diversity Apprenticeship Program (DAP).
May - Worked on King Princess’s “Cheap Queen” music video doing VFX keying and roto work.
May 11 - Showed excerpts of recent animation work at Deathless Live, an album release event for the band Deathless Gods with Human Bods.
April 11-23 - Lived and worked as an artist-in-residence at Elsewhere Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina. Created By Us For Us, a site-specific interactive installation
April 8+10 - Invited to speak at Otis College of Art and Design about my work with the Creative Action team.
March 20-24 - Anicca has its eleventh and final public screening at ArtFIFA (Festival International du Film sur l'Art) in Montreal, Canada.
March 14-17 - what is always there (password: sxch) screens at Athens AnimFest in Athens, Greece.
Feb - JusticeLA, a coalition with which I had worked since September 2017, won a major victory, shifting the plan to build a mental health jail into a plan for a hospital, and halting the construction of a 1600-bed women’s jail in Lancaster, CA. Coverage in LA Times.
Jan-April - Launched Common Threads, a fiber arts collective and skillshare, in collaboration with artist Jasmine Nyende. Participants shared fiber art skills and reflect on incarceration as we turned a jail bed into a loom. Curated the final pieces which are showing at Angel’s Gate Brewery in San Pedro, CA from April-June 2019 as part of the exhibition “Qué Ganas de Existir”.
2018
All year - Employed by JusticeLA as coordinator for Creative Action team, a group of artists dedicated to fighting L.A. County's $3.5 billion jail expansion plan. Produced events ranging from a block party in June to an abolitionist summit in December, creating spaces for reflection, healing, and mobilization against incarceration in L.A. County.
October - Released commissioned video advocating for more counselors and less police in schools, commissioned by MomsRising.
August - what is always there (password: sxch) premiered at San Diego Underground Film Festival.
May - Released commissioned video about police murders in LA County commissioned by Patrisse Cullors and Dignity and Power NOW
April - Anicca had its tenth public screening at Atlanta Film Festival in Atlanta, GA.
Feb - Released commissioned video about incarceration of parents under guidance of Patrisse Cullors and dream hampton.
2017
Nov-Dec - Coordinator for 100+ artists in #JailBedDrop action by JusticeLA, a 40+ organization coalition against LA County's $3.5 billion jail expansion plan. Coverage on JusticeLANow.org, The Root, and LA Times.
Dec - Completed the short experimental animated film what is always there (password: sxch).
Nov - VFX (rotoscope, camera and object tracking) on music video for Dirty Projectors's Up in Hudson with Encyclopedia Pictura.
Oct - One-day animations posted frequently on Instagram here.
Oct 19-22 - Anicca screens at San Francisco Dance Film Festival at Brava Theatre in San Francisco, CA. Coverage by KQED here.
Sep 9-16 - Anicca screens at Split Film Festival in Split, Croatia.
July - Anicca screens at LifeArt Media Festival (7/10-12 Athens, Greece) and Nonplussed Fest (7/14-16 Los Angeles, CA).
June - rustle shows at Experimental Realities: an Exhibition of Interactive, Responsive, and Projected Art on June 14th during E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo. PA and stand-in work on set for Bjork's "The Gate" music video (dir. Andrew Thomas Huang). Completed boids, a collaboration with Rosie Tucker, in three days.
April - Rhythms + Visions / Expanded + Live 3 features rustle on 70' x 12' screen, and both Anicca and West Adams in VR Visual Music Lounge.
April - Anicca selected for Ivy Film Festival (4/14-15 Providence, RI) and Adobe First Frame (4/21 Los Angeles, CA). West Adams selected for VRSC Fest (4/21 Los Angeles, CA). Received Discovery Scholar distinction for "exceptional artistic works" from University of Southern California.
March - Completed West Adams (29th and Halldale), a 360 rotoscope animation project funded by the Jaunt Cinematic VR Lab.
Jan-Apr - Creative/director’s assistant to Andrew Thomas Huang - VFX generalist (editing, rotoscope, camera and facial tracking, motion capture, photogrammetry), grant research, treatment design. Worked on Andrew's short film "Flesh Nest" and music video for Perfume Genius's "Slip Away". Read more about “Flesh Nest” on Cartoon Brew.
2016
December - Graduated from University of Southern California (B.A. in Animation and Digital Arts) with a Trustee Scholarship.
August - Jaunt Cinematic VR Lab awards grant to create “West Adams (29th and Halldale)". Production begins.
May - Anicca completed as senior thesis in Animation and Digital Arts at University of Southern California.
April - Early draft of Anicca wins 1st Place in 360 Animation at VRSC Fest with a generous award from Disney.
2015
Oct - Completed two chapters of thirty-six (Chapter 23 and Chapter 27) for the world's first mobile opera Hopscotch (dir. Yuval Sharon).
July - Received a generous grant from the Princess Grace Foundation to create my thesis film (Anicca). Production begins.
May - Completed Tiny Tortures, an unofficial video for the Flying Lotus track of the same name, as a proof of concept for what would become my thesis film Anicca.
Mar-Aug - VFX artist (rotoscope and background extension) at Wolf + Crow on Andrew Thomas Huang's short film Interstice.
2014
Dec - "St. Francis of Assisi", a photo of a tree in St. Francis's hermitage, printed on linen paper with liquid silver emulsion, and "Unfurl," three sculptures in marble of hands mounted on steel poles, are selected to exhibited at Studio Art Centres International in Florence, Italy. "Interviews on Death," an audio installation piece, exhibits at La Corte Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy.
Sep-Dec - Studied in Florence, Italy at Studio Art Centres International. Completed four B+W film photo series, five sculptures in marble, and an installation piece.
May-Aug - Internship at VT Pro Design. Created and designed content for concerts and events for clients including Skrillex, ComicCon, Autodesk, Redbull, and the United Nations.
April - Assistant projectionist with legendary projection art collective Single Wing Turquoise Bird on two performances at University of Southern California. "Scintillate" screens at Art Share Los Angeles as part of "BANG!", a performance by Sokamba Performing Arts Company.
Previous/Other
Education - Graduated in 2012 from Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts in the Media Department, where I completed, among others, the short films "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (2012), "Driftwood" (2012), and "Preview" (2011). In my senior year, I taught a semester-long workshop on stopmotion animation (student work here).
Arts - Studied film for four years at Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts. Played keys for six years (2007-2012) in the Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco, performing at famous jazz festivals, clubs, and public art events throughout the Bay Area. Played classical piano for eight years and danced ballet for six years, including three years at the San Francisco Ballet School.
Outdoors - Worked for the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy under the National Park Service as a Restoration Youth Crew intern (2012) restoring native habitats of the San Francisco Bay Area, and and a Habitat Restoration Technician and Volunteer Manager (2013) managing and educating volunteer groups on the ecosystem of Muir Woods and Muir Creek and its restoration process. Received National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) certification in 2013.
Languages - Bilingual native speaker of English and Spanish. Conversational Italian and basic Russian.