Joy Cha

Give Grief a Voice is a non-profit project created to support the surviving parents in their grief journey after the loss of their young children. *These are created by Joy Cha, and the rights are reserved by Buzzy’s Bees.

Inspired by Pacific Northwest outdoors

Favorite Portland Spots

Fall of 2016, I was selected as the Artist in Residence for Portland Children's Museum. The responsibilities included conducting daily art workshop for children and their parent visitors, documenting the twelve-week program and creating a cumulative gallery exhibition that remained open for another three months after the residency tenure.

It was an all-consuming project that required all of my skills as an artist and a graphic designer and more. Working with children demands you to be in the moment, and I truly enjoyed that.

I’ll never get tired of painting animals. Some of these pieces are worth noting as follows.

Procession – A hummingbird is guarding the last white rhino. The banner in Old Latin translates to “deliver us from evil.”

His Own King – I painted this piece when I saw on news that an American trophy-hunter dentist went to Zimbabwe and killed a beloved lion called Cecil with bow and arrow.

Jake Had a Ladder – “Jacob’s ladder” utilized to help a beached whale.

The assignment was to create a mural that visually communicates eBay's five core company values against the backdrop of favorite regional landmarks.

Even though this was a great opportunity for an eye-catching typography, I decided to stay away from making it word-driven. I felt that the mural should be for the people who spend most of their waking hours in the office. I wanted to offer whimsy, humor and the best of Pacific Northwest, which is its great outdoors.

I imagined up a story that the Sasquatch and his side-kick pup are exploring the Oregon wonderlands from the far coast to the Cascades, as if they were the 21st century Lewis and Clark in a VW van. When not outside, they are brewing up craft beer using an instrument that resembles Portland's very own historic Steel Bridge.

I painted while the employees were moving in and setting up their workspaces on the newly expanded 3rd floor of the downtown outpost. It was gratifying to see their reactions and excitement as my imagination unfolded on the wall.

By the way, the side-kick pup is modeled by my dog, Nike. Cheers!

The iconic, multimodal Steel Bridge of Portland is known as “the only double-deck bridge with independent lifts in the world.”

A century-old municipal fixture that stretches across the Willamette river somehow became a symbol of sorts in my mind during my transition year from Los Angeles — I ran this stunning bridge regularly which is a connecting segment of East Bank Esplanade.

The three part series shows the journey that a hero makes to a destination with a wagon full of stars, the city that welcomes the hero with an opened door (lifted bridge), and hopes and dreams finally realizing in a big way. So big, that even the massive steel structure goes afloat.

The final add-on piece is my visual commentary on gifted individuals leaving big cities like Los Angeles and New York bringing their talent (golden egg) to Portland.

“Frailty, thy name is woman.” These are the words that Shakespeare spoke through one of his most tragic characters, Hamlet – a prince of Denmark, who drives himself and others to demise, because he fails to overcome an adversity that resulted from his family dysfunction, even with all the love and support at his royal disposal.

I painted the photos of vintage steel apparatuses that I randomly took at different times and locations, and replaced their original logos with the names of key Shakespeare’s ladies.

Women are tough as steel. Watch it.

Things that came to mind during the COVID-19 Shut Down