Alissa Teo is a mother of three from Flower Mound that gained a following fan-base on social media for her rice art that falls to destruction after being tossed into the air. Her newfound hobby for over a year has the public’s attention on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, where she has 2.6 million followers and 23.6 million likes on her TikTok account.
Teo stumbled across tossed rice art on social media in January 2021 and she was excited to give it a try. She dyes uncooked white rice using food coloring and vinegar, lets it dry, sketches out a picture, then arranges the colored rice to create the image onto a board. The only supplies she uses is a pair of tweezers, a ruler, and dixie cups to separate the different colored rice.
When completed, Teo sets her phone up to record while she holds the board flat and tosses the rice image into the air using the slow-motion mode, WFAA reports.
The image is bold while floating in the air and after spending hours creating the art piece, it disappears in a matter of seconds, scattering rice all over the board and floor.
Alissa Teo celebrating her 1 Year Anniversary of creating rice art on her YouTube Channel, Fried Rice Art.
In the beginning, Teo would only share her hobby with friends and family but after she downloaded TikTok and added a few videos of her masterpieces, in two weeks she went viral. In an interview with WFAA, she stated, “Who would have thunk me and my little iPhone would come this far with art pieces? I have no idea how.”
According to In The Know News, Teo thinks of three things when deciding what images to create; food, fun, and fellowship, which she refers to as “the 3 F’s in life.”
She shared, “I love food and desserts! I’ve tossed up foods like chocolate chip cookies, popcorn, and even bubble tea, [and] I toss up things I love and think are fun! I grew up loving and playing sports, especially basketball. I am a huge NBA fan!” For fellowship she mentioned, “When my dad was alive, he always reminded me to just love and get to know others. This is the best part of it all. People message me on social media from all over the world, and just to know that my art puts a smile on someone’s face makes my day.”
When the rice all falls back down to the board and onto the floor, Teo will collect the rice and place it all into a bin. After it’s all cleaned up, she will either reuse the rice to color for a future art piece or create sensory bins for children in her local community.
Rice art is relaxing to the mom of three and she used to be an occupational therapist where it was used for her little patients in sensory bins. Teo also has a background in freehand sketching and graphite drawing. As her Facebook page says, she’s not a starving artist because rice makes her full! Check out her videos on TikTok here or visit her Instagram page.
