UBCO Emerging Media Artists: Digital Fragments
December 8 - 11, 2025 | January 12-19, 2026
Artists: Cadence Myroniuk, Samantha Chen, Carson Deis, Margaret Yao, Brendan Russell, Grant Malcolm, Riley Palmer, Gemma Cairney, Lorenzo Rodrigues, Nola Sinclair, Gigi Yang, Thomas Headrick, David Gao, Fangting Zheng & Mengyun Li, Rhyanne Dela Cruz, Mateo Mason-Zolotoochin
Supervisor: Dr. Aleksandra Dulic
Urban Screens at Kelowna Community Theatre & Indoor Screen at ARTSCO Community Gallery
Gemma Cairney
With the combination of the traditional art of painting and new media of animation, Primary Flight is an short animation of a bird that comes alive and travels through the space other paintings. The inspiration of this artwork is from my love of medieval paintings and birds. I started out by creating paintings and then animating it in Adobe After Effects. I find birds very elegant in the way that they move through the sky and almost fantasy-like since there are so many different species of bird that are different in color and sizes. With this artwork I wanted to re-imagine how landscapes and animals look by using a simple color palette, patterns and shapes.
Instagram: gemc_arts
Margaret Yao
This prototype explores the transformation of motion and light through generative patterns. using processing her visualized an attractor based system that evolves like a a living organism. The piece reflects on the relationship between chaos and beauty in digital nature.
Margaret Yao was born in Shanghai, China. She is currently studying Media Studies (BMS) at UBC Okanagan in Canada. Her inspiration for this work comes primarily from the starry sky, the future, and a sense of exploration. She mainly used Processing to create this piece. Most of her works tend to have a futuristic feel. She also has experience in painting and graphic design.
Instagram: yik_.oo
Gigi Yang
Illusion is a digital media video that explores the transformative power of light. Using a simple flashlight, I experiment with how illumination interacts with different materials—shining through, reflecting off, or dissolving into them. Through editing, these ordinary moments are transformed into magical illusions: fleeting reflections that blur the line between reality and imagination. The work captures my personal experience with light as both playful exploration and quiet meditation on perception, inviting viewers to discover the extraordinary within the everyday.
Instagram: yck.gg
Cadence Myroniuk
In Slow Dance of the Sea, jellyfish drift slowly across three screens. Modelled and rigged in Blender and brought into Unity, the moon jellyfish move slowly in gentle rhythms against a dark background. The work is inspired by the jellyfish exhibit at the Vancouver Aquarium, a place I’ve always found both calming and mesmerizing. Without access to similar experiences in Kelowna, I wanted to build my own version through a digital environment to simulate that experience. Viewers can watch the moon jellyfish move across the screen and feel the same sense of calm that inspired me in the first place.
Samantha Chen
Passing Time is a 3 piece 3d art work that features a simple scene of various ways someone may pass the time. Built entirely in Blender including all the modeling and rigging, created from the ground up. Hoping to encapuslate a passing moment of calm, as the world continues to move ahead is this ever. Instead of using realistic graphics, this piece aims to use a more artistic, flat but colourful work to capture a more artisic style, almost like it came out of a animated tv show or a picture hung on the wall. Something from the real world, that isnt the real world.
Brendan Russell
For the Kelowna Rockets’ 30th anniversary season and the 2026 Memorial Cup, I am creating a feature 3D animation that’ll premiere on the Arts Co’s three-screen display in downtown Kelowna. This piece is about capturing the energy of the moment, the power and determination of the Rockets’ team in their 30th season, and building the excitement of Kelowna hosting the Memorial Cup. It mixes cinematic storytelling with bold 3D visuals to create something that feels alive!
Instagram: bruss.media
Rhyanne Dela Cruz
This is DREAMSCAPE, a simple no-stakes exploration game created in the game engine of Roblox Studio Lua. Players are tasked to explore these strange, dream-like areas and talk with the many different things and individuals scattered throughout these various dreamscapes, learning about the lore of the world and the connections these characters have between one another. Heavily inspired by the concept of liminal spaces and the themes of dreamcore and weirdcore, DREAMSCAPE was created as a way to not only share the stories and designs of these characters, but to also learn and explore the different aspects of game development on Roblox.
Grant Malcolm
Flow Of Change is a 3D motion graphics animation created in Adobe After Effects that follows the journey of a ball as it moves through shifting, abstract environments. The work explores the idea of transformation and continuity, using motion, and color, to represent the natural cycles of change. The animation unfolds as a seamless visual journey where the ball interacts with its surroundings in playful and dynamic ways. Each section of the animation is inspired by the seasons in the Okanagan, expressed through abstract visuals rather than realism. From the cool tones of winter to the vibrant hues of summer, and the warmth of autumn, each shift captures the rhythm of nature’s transitions.
www.grantmalcolm.com
Riley Palmer
My idea for this project is an animation to illustrate my complicated feelings of overcoming grief and familial trauma. I use the symbolism of a deer in headlights, with a wolf as it’s attacker. The fear residing within and how terrifying it feels to try to continue acting normally in day to day life, as well as how the physical body reacts to that stress.
Instagram: Skritraxx
Mateo Mason-Zolotoochin
Momentum in Motion explores the intersection of sports media and motion graphics, using Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro. The project combines dynamic visuals of the UBC Okanagan Mens Basketball team with particle systems in Adobe After Effects. The goal of the project is to create an immersive audio-visual experience, highlighting both the physical and emotional intensity of the game. Experimenting with particle systems, rotoscoping techniques and speed, this project takes a more experimental approach compared to traditional sports media works. Ultimately, Momentum in Motion aims to demonstrate how digital media tools such as After Effects and Premiere Pro can extend storytelling beyond traditional sports highlights.
Instagram: zolo.creates
David Gao
David Gao is a third-year visual arts undergraduate at UBC Okanagan, specializing in artistic expression across multiple mediums such as oil painting, watercolor, sculpture, and digital art. David enjoys exploring new tools and techniques, as well as integrating fine art into more practical applications. In his recent projects, he has experimented with game development using Unreal Engine. His work is characterized by rich imagination, often drawing inspiration from renowned films, television shows, or literature, and carries profound cultural significance. Title: Ink Battle
Nola Sinclair
In ROBOEROS, we see a common pornographic website as it is being used. the main screen changes as the user clicks through different photos; various dystopian advertisements pop up over the screen. a symphony of glitches and imagery appears on the screen as the user's computer is seemingly being hacked. and finally, it all goes black. this artwork is inspired by the growing connection between pornography and AI. Thousands of "pornbots" are made every day and take over various websites regardless of their purpose. The religious aspect of the artwork acts as a form of escape from the website and the grasp it has on the viewer, saving them from more and more advertising propaganda
Instagram: hellosinn1e
Thomas Headrick
I have collected open-source UAP material—in other words, proof of official government funded "UFO" research (not existence) in the form of open source FOIA PDFs, news clips, telemetry charts, and as many official images and videos as I can get my hands on, this is a snippet of that archive.
Thomas Headrick is a Canadian digital media artist with a focus in 3D rendering software, game design, videography, and audio-visual installations. His work has been exhibited at the UBCO Fina Gallery and the VEMS (Visualization and Emerging Media Studio).
thomasheadrick.ca
Carson Deis
Scanned Memories combines physical materials and digital archives in an experimental way. Through working with those in my community to collect videos, materials, and other assets, Scanned Memories became a deeply personal project at its core. This video uses Adobe Photoshop, and After Effects paired with footage I took on my families old digital camera, and materials I physically scanned. I am very inspired by interdisciplinary art making processes because of the nostalgic connections it has. I am also very inspired by the community and connections around me; The people, places, and things I love are central to who I am as an artist and as an individual.
Instagram: carsondeis
Lorenzo Rodrigues
This piece, entitled CONNECTION, is a series of small video segments synchronized with each other, inspired by the concept of GPT LLMs and the rise of human connection replacement that has been on the rise since the introduction of ChatGPT a few years ago. This is an exploration of my thoughts reflecting on someone who would resort to relying on something that is just an imitation of a human, as opposed to a genuine human connection. The overall look is reminiscent of old computer visuals, mainly drawing inspiration from the original Windows OS and IBM computer aesthetic as references. This is achieved through the use of blending, pixelation, and ASCII filters to “corrupt” footage into something that is almost digitalized, highlighting the fictional AI engine's uncanniness to convey the lack of humanity.
Fangting Zheng & Mengyun Li
This piece is about women’s voices and how they can be silenced. It starts with many red lines shapes to the title, and then a black hole extends into a woman’s mouth. She slightly opens her lips, and a shiny red thread comes out. This thread represents her voice, fragile and carrying unspoken words. When the thread tries to reach the ear, there’s an invisible wall blocking it, symbolizing society’s tendency to ignore or suppress her voice. Suddenly, everything goes dark. When the light comes back, the woman disappears, and instead, there’s a man wearing traditional Peking Opera makeup. His throat trembles slightly, and again, a red thread comes out of his lips. This shows how, in traditional Chinese opera, women were played by men, and only male voices could be accepted and heard. We made this work to make people think about women’s roles and the unfair things that still happen today. Even though things have changed, some biases and stereotypes still silence women. We hope this artwork makes everyone consider about that and change this situation.
