Breathtaking, Transporting Eastern Landscapes that inspire you to succeed by an Ex-Rocket Scientist turned Educational Entrepreneur
How did you get started?
Like every artist, I've been drawing and making art ever since I could remember. For painting... I actually started in high school just to fulfill my fine arts credits. It turned out to be fun, I liked the end result much more than a drawing, and I found it as a way to connect with my Chinese ancestry. I remember always looking at this traditional Chinese landscape painting my grandfather owned (who passed when I was about 6). I see this as a way to honor him and our culture, while growing up in a very white and Hispanic Arizona.
What inspires you?
Education is what inspires me. My true passion and purpose lies in education and helping all students achieve their dreams while in school. I believe that we are capable of achieving anything we dream of (otherwise, we would not be given those dreams). In my Monk series, the monks are traversing seemingly insurmountable obstacles (the mountains that represent the adversity and challenges in our lives) to reach their end destination (their dreams/goals). Time after time, the monks are able to surmount their obstacles with nothing but their willpower, determination, and support of each other.
Quitting my comfortable engineering position and diving head first into teaching and entrepreneurship, I have definitely had a lot of adversity. When I was teaching in a Title 1 high school (low-income) in my hometown school district, what inspired me more was my students. Students coming from group homes, foster families, split families, siblings they needed to take care of, jobs they worked to support their mom and/or dad and/or grandma... THEY are the monks (and I see myself as the older monk helping to guide them to where they want to go). They are the inspiration for what is possible through education, not the type of education we have now - where we're dictating what they need, but education that helps them to live THEIR PURPOSE and PASSION. That is why my journey is to modernize public education by creating a network of innovative high schools to do just that. Help students live fulfilling lives and achieve their dreams because that's what every human deserves.
Any art purchase directly supports me in achieving my big vision and I thank you in advance.
With gratitude,
-Andrew
