As part of a collaboration between CalArts and The Nature Conservancy, I designed a bilingual educational booklet for children to learn about the Bowtie Wetland Demonstration through the story of “Bird Cafe” (2023), a short animated film with live-action footage of the LA River. Following a group of feathered friends who frequent a fictional cafe located at the project site, the story explores themes of migration, biodiversity, and community. The film is set in the near future, after the completion of the project, and celebrates the newly flourishing natural environment thanks to the water-cleaning and habitat enhancement efforts of the project. The booklet also contains information about various birds and activities for kids to engage with the content.

The booklet was printed and distributed, along with poster-size coloring pages, at a culminating event celebrating the Bowtie project with the local community in Glassell Park in May 2023.

CalArts, 2022-2023.