M.Des, Concordia University, '21 (with distinction)
Program: Master of Design
BA, University at Buffalo, '18 (summa cum laude)
Major: Media Studies - Production
+ Game Studies Certificate
M.Des, Concordia University, '21 (with distinction)
Program: Master of Design
BA, University at Buffalo, '18 (summa cum laude)
Major: Media Studies - Production
+ Game Studies Certificate
M.Des, Concordia University, '21 (with distinction)
Program: Master of Design
BA, University at Buffalo, '18 (summa cum laude)
Major: Media Studies - Production
+ Game Studies Certificate
M.Des, Concordia University, '21 (with distinction)
Program: Master of Design
BA, University at Buffalo, '18 (summa cum laude)
Major: Media Studies - Production
+ Game Studies Certificate
Artist Profile
M.Des. Research Exhibition 2020
Video Games
Čá··hu!
- Game, 2019-2020 - Writer, Developer, Programmer, Artist
Development Screenshots and References
Čá··hu is a Tuscarora-made video game designed to bridge the gap between our relationship with digital technology and place-based knowledge.
This game re-imagines the Tuscarora Nation territory known as the Niagara Falls as a land where Indigenous peoples and beings once again have uninhibited access and determination over their traditional homeland.
Depicted in the game is Goat Island, which is where Tuscarora women have sold beadwork to tourists for the past 200 years as a method of combatting colonialism. During that time, they invented these wire-framed beaded figures known as Jitterbugs. I recreated these sites to imagine how our world might look in the perspective of a Jitterbug.
Everything in the game is made of materials that would be associated with our beadwork. The land is made of crushed velvet; the water of silk; the mist is made of cotton; the stone faces are made of calico cotton fabric; the foliage is emblematic of Haudenosaunee depictions of land within beadwork; the birds are modeled after beaded bird pin cushions; and the sky is the texture of a black ash basket- which is what Tuscarora women would carry beadwork in to and from the falls.
Video - Gameplay, Test Stage
The concept of the game is that you "wake up" in modern-day as a bead-less Jitterbug and must engage with the land and beings that occupy the land to build yourself as a Tuscarora Jitterbug.
[Disclaimer: Graphic textures may be placeholders and not necessarily the final image.]
- Game, 2017 - Writer, Designer, Programmer, Artist
Čà:wak
Development Images and Video Screenshots
An experimental game that plays more like an interactive documentary. This game puts you in the Tuscarora perspective of the history and impacts of the construction of the New York State Power Authority and Lewiston Reservoir.
Modeled in Maya, Built in Unity, C*,
Video - Gameplay in Development
Placeholder Music Credit: Jamie Jacobs
Interactive Media
- Web Application, 2015 - Designer, Programmer
Development Images and Video Screenshots
Video - App Demonstration
This app is designed to assist wampum belt makers in their designing process. Every wampum belt has its own unique set of dimensions. This app allows designers to customize template dimensions to their specific needs, design, and even save and print their design for reference in building real wampum belts. Designers may also print custom blank templates if they'd rather design their belts on paper.
JavaScript, Co-programmer with UB Professor, Su Hyun Nam.
Wampum Belt Template Generator
- Mobile App, 2015-16 - Co-Director, Cultural Facilitator,
Programmer, Designer
Development Images and Video Screenshots
This is a land-based application that allows you to explore an immersive soundscape within specific geographical locations. Members of the Tuscarora community lent their voices as they shared memories of places within the traditional territories of the Tuscarora Nation. A large component of this "wikiscape" is the trail along the Lower Niagara River that tells the story of Tuscarora's sustaining lifestyle and tradition of Spearfishing and how that was disrupted with the construction of the New York Power Authority.
Collaboration with UB Professor, Teri Rueb, Lydia Cordero-Campis, Mia McKie, and the Tuscarora Nation
Video - App Demonstration
Tuscarora Mobile Application
- Wearable Electronics, 2015 - Designer, Programmer,
Fabricator
Development Images and Video Screenshots
A series of lights, hidden beneath the surface of this pendant, light up in sync with the volume of your voice. It is modeled after a turtle shell, which is a symbolic animal in Haudenosaunee culture. It is made to encourage the learning and practice of traditional songs. A tiny microphone detects voices and sends the digital signals into a electronic platform programmed using Arduino.
Video - LED Pendant Demo
LED Voice-Responsive Pendant
- Wearable Electronics, 2015 - Designer, Programmer, Fabricator
Development Images and Video Screenshots
Video - LED Belt Demo
LED Motion-Sensitive Belt
This belt has uses a piezo to detect motion and will flash an LED backlit design on and off with your movement. There are two modes; a sustaining backlight and a motion-sensitive setting. The belt’s design is modeled after the Tuscarora Taken-In Wampum Belt and is made to encourage the learning and practice of traditional dancing.
Filmmaking and Video Production
- Short Doc, 2016 - Director, Videographer, Editor, Sound Designer
Development Images and Video Screenshots
Video - App Demonstration
A mother and son share memories, history, and accounts of paranormal activity that used to occur in their former home; now built over a century ago. Filmed on location at the Tuscarora Nation Indian Reservation in Western New York, this house still carries the stories of its former inhabitants. Russ-Ellen Harris and Luis Santiago share their experiences and thoughts on whether or not there is still a paranormal presence lurking about their old home.
1961 Mount Hope Road
- Video, 2016 - Editor, Videographer
Development Images and Video Screenshots
Video - App Demonstration
Collaboration on an experimental video with Tuscarora Artist, Dr. Jolene Rickard. This video was displayed in an installation along with an object woven together with materials featured in the video. These materials are various items used within the Tuscarora nation, such as Tobacco, Dogbane, Annuity Goods, and Wampum. I filmed and edited the timeline and effects in this video.
Video Collaboration Jolene Rickard
- Youth Program, 2016 - Instructor, Co-Coordinator,
Media Facilitator
This five-day camp prepared students with 21st-century skills in media making and how media can be used as a form of indigenous expression. Students were introduced to indigenous-made media such as videogames, audio and video productions, comic books, animations, interactive works and more. We taught middle and high school students how to write, film, and produce their own stories and by the end of the week had created their own video productions which they then premiered to a community-wide event.
Collaboration with Skarù:rę' Awękwehstá:0e:', (formely Skarù:rę' Youth), and Mia McKie, MA Graduate, University of Victoria.
Development Images and Video Screenshots
Video - Media Camp Montage
Video - Student Production