Art Portfolio
Heritage Ceramist
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Q Cho
Hawai’i Preparatory Academy
qcho7025@gmail.com
Since birth, I have been crafted by my father, a renowned potter: he dictated my ways and even my name, a single letter “Q,” is a work of his. Initially, his molding felt like care, shaping every characteristic that I then acquired.
Yet, I increasingly yearned for freedom: my own way of art and expression. In Hawaii, where I was introduced to a world without my father’s care, I was able to flourish and find my own path both personally and artistically, while encountering challenges. My father’s influence in discipline and art remained a crucial part of my identity, but I started to nurture new traits of my own in Hawaii.
My portfolio reflects my identity, shaped by my father's influence, my desire for freedom, and my journey to reclaim and explore my individualism. All in all, my portfolio is a testament to my will: not to be solidified as a finished pottery of my father but to remain as a malleable clay, ready to be shaped by my own choices.
The Dog
Medium: Charcoal, Pencil
Dimensions: W15.8 x H21.6 in
Date Completed: 06.2025
I aimed to capture the soulless yet satisfied expression of the dog in this piece. The dog seems content with its current status, but, given the nature of a shepherd dog, it yearns for freedom in the field. The duality of the dog’s present content status and the unsatisfied instinct parallels my concerns while I was in Korea, where my father’s ways restricted me.
The Molding
Medium: Charcoal, Pencil on Paper
Dimensions: W13 X H13 in x3
Date Completed: 03.2024
This piece is a result of my father’s education. At a young age, I learned the basics, drawing still-life, human anatomy, and so on. My father is the foundation of my art. The hands here not only represent his art lessons but also his influence over me in almost every part of my life.
Fish in a Bowl
Medium: Pencil, Conte on Paper
Dimensions: W13.4 x H25.1 in
Date Completed: 04.2024
Through this piece, I am expressing how I am limited like a fish in a bowl. My father, figure on the left, has been a great mentor and a role model. But I soon began to feel the weight of the burden of expectation and my yearning for freedom and unrestricted exploration of myself.
Colored Still-Life
Medium: Color pencil, color pen, oil painting on paper
Dimensions: W18.9 x H12 in
Date Completed: 02.2025
I found the stripes on the shell inspiring. Within those striped patterns lie qualities I wish to embody: life, circulation, and protection. I attempted to express the stripes more vividly using different colors and tones.
Unicorn
Medium: Pencil, Color Pencils, Conte
Dimensions: W22 x H30 in
Date Completed: 11.2024
This was my first attempt at drawing a large drawing. While the small-sized paper always confined me, this time I was free to explore more. While the freedom gave me more space for expression, it also gave me some challenges since my usual routine drawing style had to change.
This piece represents my transition to Hawaii, moving beyond my father's boundaries, and exploring a new environment with its own set of challenges. The attempt at a new style marks the beginning of my journey to find my own artistic path.
I call this piece the Unicorn because I actually attempted to draw a unicorn, but the plan changed. But like the search for the unicorn, this was an attempt to look for the not yet to be seen path of my own art.
Father and I
Medium: Pencil, Pen
Dimensions: W16 x H20.8 in
Date Completed: 05.2025
This is another new style I attempted using a pen. The various-sized lines come together to form a drawing.
This piece represents a stage in my life when I began to miss my father’s influence during my time alone in Hawaii. Although a strict figure, my father had always provided me with care and education that form a significant part of me today.
Whispers of Freedom
Medium: Pencil, Color Pencil, Leaves
Dimensions: W17.7 x H21.6 in
Date Completed: 03.2025
This drawing depicts diverse bird species. I began with those native to Hawai‘i and later expanded to species from around the world. I was fascinated by the paradox that, although birds are free to roam through flight, they remain bound to the habitats they inhabit. Even with wings, absolute freedom is never guaranteed.
Counseling
Medium: Line Tapes, Pencil, Ruler
Dimensions: W29.9 x H22.8 in
Date Completed: 02.2024
I incorporate lines and curves in my drawing. This is another attempt of expressing an artwork using those. The work depicts a counseling space in my school where complex stories of people are revealed to deliver comforting hope. The piece also marks my interest in psychology.
Picnic Stripes
Medium: Acrylic paint, Oil stick
Dimensions: W21 x H18.9 in
Date Completed: 09.2024
I depicted myself clutching a bundle of red balloons while precariously passing beneath a dangerous construction site. It is a scene from my dream where two conflicting situations coexist.
While I am comforted by my father’s presence in Korea, the new world to me in Hawaii provided me with excitement (balloon) and the fear of a new experience. The artistic style reinforces this duality by layering stripes over the drawing, symbolizing the two coexisting situations.
Dream Stripes
Medium: Acrylics, Oil Sticks
Dimensions: W29.5 x H21.3 in
Date Completed: 10.2024
Stripes began to represent to duality of the feelings I have.
In this drawing, inspired by my dream, my dog and mother are flying over my hometown, with my father watching over them in the background. I felt relief in the presence of my family within the dream, but also a deep longing for them. While Hawai‘i became the ground for new experiences, I still carried a profound sense of yearning for my home.
Sonagi Stripes
Medium: Antique Map, Oil Sticks, Line Tapes
Dimensions: W16.5 x H23.2 in
Date Completed: 01.2025
This is an exhibition at the Korean Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., based on Hwang Sun-won’s short story Rain Shower (Sonagi). Using an actual map of Yangpyeong as the background, the work expressed the boy and girl’s sorrowful yet beautiful love story through golden stripes. While reading the novel, I felt emotions welling up, and I realized that reading could be an inspiration. I incorporated my style of stripes to symbolize the rain and the sorrow.
Entanglement
Medium: Oil Sticks, Threads
Dimensions: W16 x H20.8 in
Date Completed: 01.2024
With lines and curves, I attempted to convey the numerous questions that were on my mind. The Art Therapist course was the inspiration behind this drawing, and I found peace in creating it, despite its chaotic nature. I realized that every relationship, whether with my family or friends, was an entanglement that both enriched and complicated my life, but one that I do not and cannot forgo. Although a relationship might present me with challenges, it is the source that shapes my identity.
Healing & Bandage
Medium: Oil Sticks, Linen Fabric, Glue, Gauze
Dimensions: W18.9 x H12.8 in
Date Completed: 08.2024
With lines and curves, I attempted to convey the numerous questions that were on my mind. The Art Therapist course was the inspiration behind this drawing, and I found peace in creating it, despite its chaotic nature. I realized that every relationship, whether with my family or friends, was an entanglement that both enriched and complicated my life, but one that I do not and cannot forgo. Although a relationship might present me with challenges, it is the source that shapes my identity.
Sticker Design
Medium: Digital Art
Date Completed: 04.2025
This is a digital design piece that won first place in a design competition. I designed stickers for cars that could be used to identify the vehicles in a parking space easily.
The parking sticker features layered security elements, with microtext integrated into the border pattern to prevent counterfeiting. A clean, minimalist layout emphasized legibility.
Self-portrait
Medium: Pencil on Paper
Dimensions: W13.4 x H25.1 in
Date Completed: 07.2025
This is a self-portrait I drew to represent my artistic and personal growth. Unlike my past self-portraits, I focused more on the details of the drawing, focusing on light and shadow. I aimed to show that I’ve developed over the past several years in Hawaii.
Aesthetics of Imperfection
Medium: Stoneware clay with natural ash and iron glaze
Dimensions: W3.5-4.7 x H10.6-15.7 x 4.3-4.8 in
Date Completed: 06.2024
This is a ceramic creative work that I’ve crafted. Rather than focusing on a symmetrical and perfect form and color in ceramics, I wanted to convey a beauty derived from antiqueness and randomness. I wanted to show that perfection is not the only ideal form of art. The irregularities and imperfections I encountered outside of my father’s hands were also essential factors that shaped the way I am now. Unlike my father’s ceramic works, which are perfect and awe-inspiring, my ceramic works show imperfection as another form of art. I did not want to discard the ceramics that were imperfectly shaped; instead, I wanted to show the beauty of imperfection.
St. Mary
Medium: Glazed earthenware clay with enamel Paint, powder
Dimensions: W6.2 x H10.8 x D5.9 in
Date Completed: 08.2025
This ceramic sculpture is a work inspired by my catholic background. I’ve always wanted to make catholic artworks. I sculpted a bust of St. Mary crowned with a halo, but also incorporated my football helmet as a symbolic gesture of gratitude for her protection that has kept me safe from injury during even the most dangerous matches. The piece represents a fusion of my religious devotion and athletic passion, embodying both faith and perseverance in a single form.
Pieta
Medium: Terracotta clay with plaster and slip coating, white plaster
Dimensions: W11.6 x H19.8 x D10.8 in
Date Completed: 09.2025
This is a ceramic reinterpretation of the Pietà. The Pietà, in its perfect and meticulous sculpting, conveys the sorrow of St. Mary. I did not dare to mimic it in its perfection; instead, I sought to express sorrow through the texture and cracks of the ceramic. Although I could not control where the cracks would form during firing, I incorporated colors and textures to embody grief.
Volcanic Sanctuaries
Medium: Earthenware clay with oxide wash and porous surface texture
Dimensions: W5.1 x H6.9 x D5.2 in
Date Completed: 12.2024
This is a work inspired by the volcanic rocks of Hawaii and the Raku technique. I crafted this work to illustrate how volcanic eruptions that could lead to the extinction of life can create the grounds for new life, as seen in Hawaii. The work resembles a cave-like coral reef to signify that this could be a ground that fosters life for both humans and animals.
Contemporary Self-portrait
Medium: Mixed Media — Earthenware clay, papier mache, photographic collage, tape, resin coating
Dimensions: W7.2 x H11.3 x 8.4 in
Date Completed: 10.2025
This multi-media sculpture expresses who I have become now. While this self-portrait may not be the most polished and perfect form, it showcases a diverse range of media and art forms. I wanted to express how I’ve become a more individualistic artist who can express himself in various ways.
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