Based on my observation in the drawing class where students loved to squish their kinetic erasers, I facilitated a clay workshop. This workshop, called “Strength Buddy”, invited students to explore and express their strength through their creativity.

I created and produced a new holiday art project for the patients, medical staff, and volunteers, to boost team morale.

I also decorated the medical floor while maintaining hospital safety protocols to improve the hospital atmosphere during difficult times.

As an intern at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC),

1. I developed and facilitated monthly public art-making programs corresponding with the museum’s permanent collections and special exhibitions for The Artist’s Studio, a daily free drop-in art-making experience.

2. I welcomed families in the Family Room in the Ryan Learning Center, which hosts education programs for families, groups, teachers, and teens.

3. I maintained a tidy space for the visitors’ comfortability and introduced them to the centers’ art programs.

4. I supported visitors’ art-making process by making art together and talking with them.

I assisted the teaching artists’ art programs at the Art Institute of Chicago as an intern:

1. Provided art supplies.

2. Engaged with every visitor in the program to talk about their ideas and make everyone feel included in this program.

Facilitated Virtual Therapeutic Art Workshop for National Association of Asian American Professionals.

While I was a family program intern at AIC, I drew a big collage template on the six cardboard sheets based on the subject matter of the event: Chicago Ideas Week.

Chicago Ideas Week was held in 2019 in the Art Institute of Chicago to provide an opportunity for high school students to discuss the seriousness of climate change and explore ways we can preserve our earth.

My hand-drawn cardboard sheets were filled by 16 groups of students with their diverse art skills.

(One panel is missing because the group of students who completed the board loved their work and they wanted to take it with them to school. Therefore, I let them do so.)

It was lovely to see them focusing on their art-making present moment and wanting to stay longer to put more art on them when I told them it was time to leave.

I made and used the ceramic torso from Dancing Figure to broaden museum experience and audiences. I invited my friends to touch the torso in front of the original work. We touched the torso I made and talked about the original artwork together. Based on the conversation, we made art together inspired by the torso.

I made mobiles to hang on the entrances out of disposal museum posters. The mobile increased the welcoming atmosphere towards visitors in the event. It was great to have this outcome without cost and to save the environment.

Designed the coloring page and made props inspired by Andy Warhol’s art for the off-site event, YOUmedia Block party, where Chicago Public Library hosted performances and art projects to celebrate their 10th founding anniversary of YOUmedia.

Verbally dragged the strangers into our activities.

Introduced public programs we had in the museum to attendees to present that there were opportunities they could enjoy that they had not known.

Took pictures of them holding Warhol’s signature objects so that they would cherish the fun moments they had here.

I made examples and prototypes during the program planning to help the team to determine what art supplies would be needed based on our budget and give an idea of how this program would turn out.

I crafted paper sculptures to provoke visitors’ imagination, to inspire their creativity, and to foster an enjoyable learning environment for visitors in the Open Studio while I was an intern at the Art Institute of Chicago. The examples were placed in the studios during the events to provide a glimpse of the program to the visitors.

For AIC’s annual Open Studio Event, where anyone can join the event to feel the joy of art-making,

1. I crafted paper sculptures to provoke visitors’ imagination, to inspire their creativity, and to foster an enjoyable learning environment for visitors in the Open Studio.

2. I made mobiles to hang on the entrances out of disposal museum posters. The mobile increased the welcoming atmosphere towards visitors in the event. It was great to have this outcome without cost and to save the environment.

I conducted an interview at the Mather, a nursing home in Evanston, with two older people and made a comic book based on the interview. One of the interviewees passed away when I visited there to show them the comic book I made. It was a sad moment, but I was relieved to see the nurse and his family loved to have my comic book as a way to remember his warm personality.

If you would like to see more pages, please visit here.

In 2021, I held an online discussion session with people from three different locations. The subject we discussed was “Divided Community”.

Since it was a subject that was difficult to start easily, I used the toy I made, Jjack and Kkung as a visual reference.

The toy played an important role in breaking the ice in the conversation.

Based on the conversation we had, I created a virtual Jjack and Kkung, that included thoughts we shared. (It was 3D modeled in SolidWorks and rendered in Keyshots. I made virtual stickers of them in Photoshop)

Early 2021, my American friend J was in a two-week quarantine due to COVID.

With him, I held a small online art class.

I used my toy Dragon Kim, that I created being inspired by the event in New Zealand happened that showed racism led to a lonely death.

Due to the cute looking of Dragon Kim, it helped us talk about the sensitive subject of racism more easily. J was resonated with Dragon Kim from the loneliness he felt during the stick isolation.

If you would like to learn more about the story of Dragon Kim, please visit here.

“I liked the art therapy class with Sumin a lot. I felt that it was a great way to express myself during the quarantine period. I liked to express my ideas on paper about how I felt and about sensitive subjects that are difficult to talk about.” -J

I participated in the art donation event held at CO-PROSPERITY with my ceramic classmates and professor McCarthy on March 18, 2019.

I donated my ten hand-thrown ceramic bowls and the CO-PROSPERITY sold them for a charity that they donated.

“I will store my homes in the letter of ‘YOU’, and keep getting reminded of what I’ve achieved from my communities.”

For the letter “Y”, I used the house of my French best friend as a reference. It represents my precious communities I have achieved by taking on challenges. There are pictures of me traveling internationally by myself and friends I made during the journey.

“O” shows my grandparents’ house, the place I am most fond of but was demolished by the government for their redevelopment project three years ago. It represents my Korean roots. Behind “O”, there are pictures of my family, friends in Korea, and my grandmother’s food that I love the most.

For “U”, it has a form of the Art Institute of Chicago, my favorite place in Chicago, where I currently live for college. Chicago was the first place where I lived alone, and I had to figure out everything by myself. It’s been challenging to adjust to a new environment, but I appreciate the new perspectives I’ve learned from being a minority and living in a diverse community.

I made this coloring page based on my illustration Y.O.U.

I hoped this art activity could be a great chance to start a conversation about injustice happening in our community for participants.