August 21 – September 22, 2023
Mingenback Art Center, Bethany College, Lindsborg, KS
My work begins with a question: how can art embody vitality—the unseen energy that animates both nature and the human spirit? In East Asian aesthetics, this is called qiyun shengdong 기운생동(氣韻生動), or “spirit resonance.” It is not mere representation, but the breath of life within the work, a pulse that transcends form.
Having lived between Korea and the United States, my bicultural experience shapes this inquiry. The subtle vastness of the Great Plains has altered my vision, inviting me to move beyond depiction toward essence. I seek to infuse landscapes with resonance—something eternal, something sublime—so that each piece becomes a record of energy flowing from artist to material.
Fiber, thread, and hand-stitching are my instruments. Their tactile richness and layered depth allow me to transform a traditionally domestic act into a language of art. The slow, repetitive rhythm of stitching resists the acceleration of machine culture, creating space for mindfulness and presence. In this meditative process, East and West, craft and fine art, artist and nature, Korea and Kansas are woven together.
What seems tangled on the surface reveals a quiet harmony within nature’s hidden balance. I follow the invisible paths where the microscopic and the cosmic intersect, tracing the delicate links between will and chance, presence and absence, transformation and becoming.
Spirit Resonance is not merely an idea—it is the heartbeat and breath of my work, the living pulse woven into every thread and stitch.
