Hello everyone!

My name is Tristan and I'm here asking for your help to send me to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) so that I can participate in the Early College Program Summer Institute (ECPSI) this summer. I am currently studying in an online college program with SCAD (Savana Collage of Art and Design) and studying hard for my next phase of life in college. Throughout my life and education I have set my sights on becoming an artist and doing creative work in the future. This is why this summer program with SAIC is so important for me.

I have a small scholarship for the program, but with the remaining tuition, room and board, and airfare, I will need another 4,000 dollars to reach my goal and participate in the program. During the course I will be studying “Painting and Drawing” with top professors. The course will last for one week, studying art intensively and living on the campus in Chicago, living in a dorm with other talented young artists my age. This is an outstanding opportunity for me to experience college life, gain new knowledge, and grow as an artist — and maybe even make some new friends along the way.

The course will begin on July 29, 2024, but SAIC will want to know If I'm down to party before then. Any level of donation will help me toward my goal, but to those who donate 50 dollars or more, I would like to offer an original signed print from my "Tone Def" series, which explores the challenge of growing up and living abroad and the misunderstandings and mistranslations that can result. The ideas are based on words in Chinese that are often misspoken for non-Chinese like myself, with sometimes humorous outcomes.

The print image above is the first in the series, a play on the word "to eat," or CHER FAN (literally meaning "eat rice"), which is often mispronounced CHE FAN, which could mean "car rice."

In future designs, I plan to explore words like "heavy rain," which mispronounced can mean "sharks or shrimp raining down," and the Chinese word for "newspaper," which when butchered could sound like "steamed dumpling."

Thank you so much for listening and supporting!