Cover image: Chaerin Byun, Self-Portrait as an Air Conditioner (detail)
Welcome & Exhibition Statement
Over the six weeks of the intensive English for Art & Design (EAD): Bridge to First Year summer program at OCAD University, students have been immersed in some of the essential means and methods of art and design practice—close observation, description, formal analysis, idea generation, experimental and iterative processes, and reflection—through writing, speaking, and making.
Over several weeks, students were asked to examine the contexts in which they work and to make connections between the places, cultural and world events, personal experiences, and innovations that have shaped their lives and brought them to where they are now.
For the final project, students produced a self-portrait as an object: one that represents who they are right now. Building on concepts and methods explored in the program, the project saw each student generate ideas and submit a proposal in which they articulated their concept and its connections to earlier coursework. Each then carried out their project and crafted the accompanying caption and statement through two iterations.
What would their choice of object be and how would they depict it? What representational method or style would they use? We’re excited to share some of them here! We invite you to explore the excellent work of this summer’s EAD cohort. You can click on a student's name to navigate to their artwork or scroll through to view everything in the show.
STUDENTS
Eighteen students from this year's summer program/cohort participated in the optional final exhibition: Chaerin Byun, Fiona Chiang, JM Eom, Mike Grishin, JiaBao He, He Xiao, Chengyin Jin (Cherry), Chaewoo Kim, Nia Kim, Niska Li, Jason Lu, Sandy Lyu, Sixin Ma, Sam Tan, Merry Tan, Yaorong Wen, Caelen Yang, Qianwen Zhang
THE EXHIBITION
Chaerin Byun
The air conditioner silently delivers coolness in one place, which symbolizes my responsibility and diligence. A bear and the hairlines fluttering in the wind describe my quiet personality and inner characteristics. I used pen and colour pencils to express myself through the use of straight lines, curves, and contour techniques.
Fiona Chiang
I chose a puzzle to represent myself because I’m still exploring who I am. Each piece reflects my childhood, emotions, and hopes. The unfinished pieces symbolize the unknown future and the self I’m still developing.
JM Eom
My sketchbook is a personal geography holding my thoughts and emotions. I've reassembled it using collage to visualize my fragmented inner landscape, reflecting how my past and present selves overlap. This piece mirrors my unique way of understanding the world.
Mike Grishin
I represented myself through a Newton’s cradle placed in a calm, minimalistic apartment facing the mountains. The object symbolizes balance, constant energy, and quiet motion—qualities I connect with as someone who keeps working steadily while appearing calm. The peaceful mountain view reinforces this idea of stability. I used 3ds Max and Corona Renderer to visualize this realistic environment, as they are essential tools in my practice as an emerging environmental designer.
JiaBao He
Candle in a mug can be an object to represent me. This combination reflects recent days of me, my personality, environment, decreasing expectation, and mood. I will make it by modelling, then rendered to 2D and coloured it to show it real appearance in life.
He Xiao
The whole image design in collage by Photoshop got the inspiration from Dadaism. Meaningless graphic combination is the reflection of what is in my mind during fast-paced life, and also the empty in my mind. Sometimes we are just like a car driving on the highway called “life.”
Chengyin Jin (Cherry)
I chose a kaleidoscope to represent myself because its shifting patterns reflect the different sides of my personality. Sometimes I’m confident, sometimes I’m quiet or sensitive. I used digital drawing to create three patterns, using similar colours to show that all these parts together form who I am.
Chaewoo Kim
I represented myself with a balloon torn and restored over time. Balloons seem joyful but are fragile like how I feel under pressure, anxiety, and imperfection. It goes through five phases: emptiness, growth, collapse, healing, and strength. I used paint and fineliner pens to show emotion and visible scars. Each phase reflects a moment when I struggled. Though imperfect, it floats again. It symbolizes me who grew up through failure and recovery.
Nia Kim
I represented myself as a lock to show how I hide my emotions to avoid being hurt. I used collage inside the lock to reflect my chaotic inner life, contrasted with a plain black background. A shiny keyhole suggests my quiet hope that someone might eventually unlock and understand me.
Niska Li
My self-portrait is a washing machine, which rolls the clothes together and gives me a sense of chaos. I often mess up my room and never plan. However, the washing machine can clean clothes, and I can get rid of mess and worries by thinking them through. I think integrating text into the drawing would make it more chaotic so I will express it through realistic style and text, which better reflects my style.
Jason Lu
I chose a portable hard drive to represent myself because it quietly holds memories, ideas, and projects just as I do. Its small, reflective form mirrors my thoughtful nature. I used graphite pencil with fine shading and contour lines to show its quiet presence and inner complexity through realistic rendering.
Sandy Lyu
A cream puff mirrors me—simple outside yet warm and rich within. Its crisp shell reflects my past insecurity, while the creamy filling and jam symbolize the love and support that shaped my growth. I used delicate watercolour to express this quiet transformation.
Sixin Ma
This apple game controller represents my addiction to games. For this assignment, I decided to use this controller to represent my state, and combine it with apple to symbolize my complete lack of control over it. I chose to use digital drawing to depict it because it’s my favorite way.
Sam Tan
The role of a microscope is to reveal things which are invisible to us. I believe that artists do the same thing. That’s why I use a microscope to represent myself. I chose oil-based pen to express the metallic texture. I painted a thinner handle to make it more like a sitting person.
Merry Tan
I used an hourglass to represent myself, especially my struggle with procrastination. Inside it, a small metallic self-figure buries its head in the sand, pretending not to see time passing. I created the work digitally to achieve the hourglass’s symmetrical shape.
Yaorong Wen
Thermos cup, a container, silent outside but inclusive inside. Just like me, hide my inner thoughts within a solid shell, making it difficult for others to see what’s inside. When I face unbearable challenges and pain, will also leave indelible marks on that hard shell. I use digital pencil to show the simple but firm meaning.
Caelen Yang
I drew a necklace I got for my eighteenth birthday. I am using Procreate and Apple pencil to draw. It has a small cross at its centre and many red gemstones, like a drop of blood. This necklace mirrors me in its sharpness and strength.
Qianwen Zhang
I depict myself as a knife without a handle—sharp and forceful, yet often hurting myself in the process. Inspired by a friend’s metaphor, this digital drawing and collage reflects how I navigate vulnerability and strength. The work is a visual reflection on self-awareness, emotional tension, and personal growth.
About EAD: Bridge to First Year
English for Art & Design (EAD) programming is designed for incoming OCAD University students who speak English as an additional language. EAD: Bridge to First Year, our summer offering, is a six-week intensive that provides a pathway for English language learners to meet the language proficiency requirements for entry to OCAD U and gives them a head start on first year.
The program offers much more than language learning: students work with experienced instructors to build academic language skills specific to art and design disciplines, learn about academic and studio culture at OCAD U, become familiar with the analytical and iterative methods they will need to engage in over their undergraduate years (and beyond), and build helpful connections to start their first year.
This summer’s program involved 26 students who are entering undergraduate programs across OCAD U, including Digital Futures, Drawing & Painting, Graphic Design, Environmental Design, Experimental Animation, Illustration, Industrial Design, Material Art & Design, and Photography. Our diverse student body has knowledge and experience in languages such as Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, and Vietnamese.
More about English for Art & Design at OCAD University.
Our Team
Art & Design Studio Instructor: Craig Rodmore; Discussions in Visual Culture Instructor: Jamie Ashby; English Language Learning Consultant: Sanam Bahavar; Program Coordinator, EAD and Special Projects: Elaine Munro
We wish to thank staff and colleagues in various OCAD U administrative departments/functions for their support and involvement throughout the program—this includes staff in Admissions & Recruitment, the Centre for Learning & Teaching, the International Student Support Office, IT Services, OCAD U Library, and Finance/Student Accounts.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
OCAD University acknowledges the ancestral territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabeg and the Huron-Wendat, who are the original owners and custodians of the land on which we live, work and create.
Thank you for visiting this online exhibition!