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About

Artist Statement

My current series, “Ocean Rituals,” consists of organic ceramic sculptures and wall pieces that explore spiritual and meditative characteristics of an ocean-centered life. Connection with the sea is rooted in my maternal heritage and perpetuated through my practice of surfing. I am obsessed with the weightless feeling that only gliding on waves provides, while viscerally absorbing the textures, colors, and smells of the coastline. It is this feeling, coupled with the weight of my ancestral history, that goes beyond my physical reality and pushes me to contemplate a sacred connection that I feel with the sea. I am able to investigate what is normally just a feeling through working tactilely with clay, a humble and traditionally foraged material, and visualize my impressions into material reality. For example, flowing kelp bulb clusters which so often entangle my surfboard inspired me to showcase the sensation of calming, gentle movement in water in my pieces, “Current Swirl” and “Sea Motion.” I try to think about how I can use repetition to create movement and rhythm. I choose a form to focus on, like kelp bulbs, and make many of them, and then see how I can arrange them in a way to evoke the movement of water.

The tide pools where I surf serve as a major point of inspiration when I think about the daily cycle of the rising and lowering tides. To me, the daily ritual of the movement of the tides mirrors the human experience: submersion and exposure, rest and work, stillness and motion. I think about the significance and simplicity of this naturally occurring rhythm of the earth. I draw a parallel between the ebb and flow of life with the circular journey that begins with my ancestors quite literally living off the land by the sea in South Korea through fishing and foraging, to the current privilege I have of playing in waves. 


The concept of ritual is explored through repetition of forms inspired by a variety of textures found in the coastal landscape. I think of my mother and her siblings as children, my aunts and uncles, scouring the beaches day after day for clams, mussels, and seaweed, a ritual born out of necessity. My piece, “Sunset Cycle,” displays many shiny golden barnacles in various sizes and stages of life inhabiting a vessel with an open portal and undulating surface in the colors of a vibrant sunset. In this piece, I wanted to highlight the stillness of the moment of a day lived in fullness, preceding a future full of possibility. It is my vision for my work to draw upon my family history that is filled with scenic hardship and create a bridge to my current circumstances where I recognize the privilege of enjoying the ocean for its beauty.

Portfolio


Resumé

Education

2025 MFA Sculpture Academy of Arts University San Francisco

2019 CA Single Subject Credential California State University Northridge

2016 AA Ceramics Ventura College

2012 BA Studio Arts University of California Santa Barbara

Awards

2016 Ojai Studio Artists 24th Annual Scholarship Award

2016 Ventura College Fine Arts Bernard Dietz Award

2016 Ventura Potters Guild Award of Excellence

2015 Ojai Studio Artists 23rd Annual Scholarship Award, Runner Up

2015 Ventura Potters Guild Award of Excellence

2015 Ventura College Fine Arts ALAS (Aligning Learning and Academic Success) Open Borders Scholarship Award

2008 OUHSD Annual Art Show First Place

Solo Exhibitions 

2014 Legacy Dwaze Zaken Amsterdam, Netherlands

Group Exhibitions

2021 Alumni Show New Media Gallery Ventura, CA

2016 Spring Show Gallery 2 Ventura, CA

2015 Student Showcase Ojai Valley Museum Ojai, CA

2014 Plein Air in the City Russian Academy of Art Florence, Italy

2013 Marriage of the Arts Staircase Gallery Herrnhut, Germany

2013 Outreach Wildnis Galerie Herrnhut, Germany

2013 Basement Skylight Downtown Mall New Delhi, India

2013 A Voice in the Desert Tibetan Mandala Cafe Dharamsala, India

2008 Spring Show Channel Islands Maritime Museum Oxnard, CA

Bibliography

Commissions

Peach Hills Soils, Planters

Five07 Coffee Bar and Eatery, Coffee and Espresso Mugs

Natasha Tipps, Sunflower Mug

Leigh Dillon, Tide Bowls

Matt McDaniel, Blue Ridge Mountain Mug

Professional Experience

2021-2025 Faculty Art Instructor, Oxnard High School, Oxnard, CA