Ria Sunwoo An smiling

Hi, I'm Ria.

I'm a student at The Loomis Chaffee School.

Who am I?

I explore the world and my & my world's hearts with art.

I experiment with all kinds of mediums and themes. I am taking College-Level Art at The Loomis Chaffee School, and am the Head Curator of Loomis Chaffee's Mercy Gallery. I am also the president of Unwired, a global NPO bridging intergenerational gaps through communal art, where we visit Kimberly Hall in CT each week with 10+ students working with 20+ elderly; I have expanded it globally, to Korea, Hong Kong, and Thailand. I'm the designer of Pelican Pocket, an illustrated mental health origami toolkit that is officially included in the school's Sophomore Seminars and used in CT libraries, and am the illustrator of Unspoken Valor: Voices of Our Women Veterans, and strive to do a lot of work with art for my community.

As long as I can remember, I've been keenly observant.

Perhaps it's the influence of my endlessly inquisitive dad or my artist mom.

And as long as I can remember, I've also loved to…

…draw,

using all kinds of mediums,

…build, whether that's with legos,

books,

sand & mud,

or anything lying around.

Thing is, I also adored superheroes so much,

(yes, my first ever dream was to become a firefighter for the longest time)

that I became one every day:

  • a superhero that solves every mystery,
  • can gift happiness with stickers,
  • use bubble guns to cure sickness,
  • navigate the dark underground and get rid of sadness,
  • know every music and word and language in the CD and tell people,
  • and many, many more.

I thought I stopped doing this, for the sake of reality. What I realized, though, is that art was what made this possible, both then & now. I may not be able to cure cancer, but I can digest its pain with a paintbrush or light up a smile with a pop of color; I may not be able to fly to the clouds to meet my own grandma, but I can create memories by making sock snowmen together with the elderly that will make their day float.

So I strive to be a superhero each day, because with art, everything I imagine is real.

And so, I call myself an “artist.”