Curating Curiosity

One common theme runs throughout all of my creations: curiosity. From investigating the intricacies of nature in watercolor to exploring every rabbit hole in an immersive experience, I use art as a tool for discovery. My current projects include:

Selected Watercolors

Watercolor of a small green frog with a leg deformity

Pacific Chorus Frog infected with a Ribeiroia parasite, 2025. Featured in The Art of Nature exhibit at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History

Watercolor postcard of four wildflowers, labeled with their common name and scientific name. Clockwise starting from the top left: Seaside Buckwheat (Eriogonum latifolium), California fuchsia (Epilobum canum), California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica), and Seaside Daisy (Erigeron glaucus)

Flowers of West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, CA, 2024. Postcard design.

Watercolor of a colorful tulip bouquet

Tulips for Irina, 2025.

Watercolor of a drooling Audrey II, an alien carnivorous plant from Little Shop of Horrors

Audrey II, 2025.

Watercolor of a close-up of a bearded dragon eye

Savannah's Eye, 2023.

Watercolor of an Ohlone Tiger Beetle with sharp pincing jaws and a shiny green carapace

Ohlone Tiger Beetle, 2024.

Note: This sketchbook is not optimized for mobile or narrow windows, but you can try!

Full-page watercolor of a festival scene
Watercolor of an ant infected with the Cordyceps fungus
Watercolor of a mosquito filled with blood
Watercolor of a bearded dragon in a witch's hat
Watercolor of several wildflowers common to redwood forests
Watercolor of a small blue butterfly
Watercolor of a corpse flower and a California pitcher plant
Watercolor of a crow looking upward
Watercolor of a series of montage from the immersive world of Lennox Mutual
Watercolor of a pug dog in magenta and yellow
Watercolor of a Spotted Towhee
Watercolor of a black salamander with orange spots, infectd with Cordyceps fungus
Watercolor of a deer infected with Cordyceps
Watercolor of a Zayante band-winged grasshopper
Book cover featuring a watercolor salamander, titled The Poisoned Brother by David Rickards

My watercolor, Santa Cruz Long-toed Salamander Infected with Cordyceps is featured on the cover of The Poisoned Brother by David Rickards. Read it on Kindle or in paperback at https://a.co/d/0Ng47ts.

Art that Invites You In

I love to make art you can touch -- from large-scale murals to interactive elements in an immersive exhibit. Recently, I worked on some elements of a multi-sensory exhibit for the Santa Cruz Children's Museum of Discovery, titled "The Enchanted Forest". Stay tuned for future projects!

Pieces of acrylic lasercut flower in a stained glass style, mid-assembly

I used lasercut Plexiglas to create this "stained glass" piece for the window of the Enchanted Forest's Hobbit Hole play structure.

Acrylic lasercut flower in a stained glass style, fully installed

Fully installed "stained glass" window in the Hobbit Hole.

Large wall decorated with green fabrics, with a TV screen in the middle

The Moss Wall, made out of recycled fabric to create the moss texture. The TV screen is part of the Animation Station designed by Digital NEST.

Close-up details of some of the fabric that makes up the moss wall.

Moss Wall close-up, featuring recycled fabrics from rugs, scarves, yarn, upholstery, and sweaters.

The Enchanted Forest exhibit, featuring the Hobbit Hole structure with the "stained glass" window I designed, and the moss wall in the background.

Educational Materials

Zines

I make zines (mini-magazines) to accompany scientific lectures. These are sneak peeks of the zines from two "Naturalist Night" lectures from the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History.

Pencil and ink sketches that show information about the Cordyceps fungus

"What would it look like if Cordyceps infected other animals?" is a zine about speculative evolution for the cordyceps pathogenic fungus.

Sketches and watercolors that show information about the Ribeiroia pathogen

"Freaky Frogday" is a zine about Ribeiroia ondrata, a parasitic worm native to western North America that causes amphibian deformities.

Stencils

I design lasercut and 3D-printed scientifically-accurate stencils that I use for wax resist watercolor activity stations in events like the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair.

Wooden lasercut stencil of a chanterelle mushroom being filled in with an orange crayon

Chanterelle mushroom stencil, designed and lasercut for the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair in 2025.

3D-printed tardigrade stencil in front of a wax-resist watercolor.

Tardigrade stencil, designed and lasercut for the "Out of this World" Halloween party at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History.

Other Creative Projects

Needlefelting

Needlefelted sculpture of Amanita muscaria

Needlefelted Amanita muscaria mushroom for Taylor Seamount's "Reading Nook of Amanita M. EnnJax" installation.

Reading Nook installation by Taylor Seamount, featuring a needlefelted mushroom on a table

Taylor Seamount's "Reading Nook of Amanita M. EnnJax" installation, featuring my needlefelted mushroom on the side table.

Collage of two needlefelted sculpture, one of Appa the air bison, and one of a rate

Appa and rat sculptures

Halloween Costumes

Because Santa Cruz goes hard for Halloween and I LOVE Halloween!

A 4-legged creature on stilts for a Halloween costume

I went a little wild with a stilt idea in 2024.

Halloween costume of myself as Miss Frizzle, with a Magic School Bus companion, and with my bearded dragon as Lizzy the lizard.

Featuring Savannah, my bearded dragon, as Liz.