3D modeled in Zbrush

Rendered in Keyshot

Copyrighted Character Design

Medium: Laser Cut Plywood, Acrylic paint

Dimensions: 11.5 x 10 x 4.5 in, 11 x 11 x 3 in

Mission Statement:

Since the Korean War in 1950, Korea has been divided into two nations.

Due to this state, more than 300,000 South Koreans have had their family separated in North Korea, and have not been able to meet. Since it’s been more than 66 years, more than half of the people who had their family separated have now passed away.

Since I had a grandfather who dedicated his life to finding his long-lost family trapped in North Korea until the day he passed away, I want to convey the sorrow felt by Korean people because of our division, and how the border separating us was once nonexistent through the creation of this toy project.

Ceramics

My intention for this project was to show people how situations can look different from different perspectives.

The Bible only summarizes what happened in the Garden of Eden from one perspective. However, I believe we would see the whole situation differently if the Bible provided other stories from different perspectives.

What if the snake was a couple counselor, so Eve relied on him? What if Eve and Adam looked identical so we could not distinguish their genders based on their appearance? What if Adam and Eve were apes? What if the fruit kept provoking Eve, so Eve bit the fruit? What if the real reason God kicked Eve and Adam out of the garden was they were blaming each other instead of embracing each other? This funny little imagination inspired me to start making this project. Through this artwork, I wanted to suggest a diverse view not only of the Bible but also of our lives with others. The most important thing in our lives is loving each other

Water jet cut & Powder-coated on Aluminum

2022

Inspired by McGoldrick’s family genogram symbols, I created this art consisting of my own symbols that represent various emotional and relational relationships.

While studying family and couple therapy, I realized that there is often more than one emotional relationship with family members. For example, they are sometimes close and distant. With this art, I expect to use this for my future family therapy sessions to assist my clients/patients verbalize their family relations.

3D modelled in SolidWorks

Rendered in KeyShot

Why do walkers for older people look so plain and boring? Even though walkers for younger people are playful, informative, and make users seem adventurous? Starting from this question, I designed a walker for older people, especially for people living with Alzheimer's, to bring more color into their lives.

I chose Radio Flyer as a hypothetical collaborative partner. Radio Flyer is a Chicago-based toy company well-known for their wagons and ride-ons targeting young children. As Radio Flyer is a big toy company, I thought older people would feel more cared for if a big amount of people in a big company are dedicated to making a walker for them, even though they are not an usual target for design industries.

2015

16 x 21 x 11 in

Frp

I wanted to express that sometimes I also felt empty-hearted like most other people. I made a hole in the right chest of a female sculpture to convey this feeling.Since I wanted to show that these were my works in a humorous way, I applied colors inspired by the character Thomas as it is my nickname.

2019-2020

3D modeled in SolidWorks and Rendered in KeyShot

Ceramics

In the Art Institute of Chicago, I found an upper body statue called “Head and Torso of a Dancing Figure” which was used as a funerary sculpture.

Compared to its relaxed face, its arms are wavy looking like it is dancing. This work made me think: Is death a bad thing that we have to fear? What reaction would I want from people at my funeral?

As it does not have the bottom body part, I used my imagination to create my own dancing figure implying my wish for what reaction I want from people at my funeral. I want my people to think I have started my second life and that is something they should celebrate: dancing and thinking about those precious moments they had with me and celebrating my second life.

Death is not a thing we always have to be afraid of, it is something we have to talk more about with a smile like we smile at the butt of this figure! The fact that death is for everyone makes our life more special.

The first images that came to my mind when I thought about love were 'mother' and 'nature'. I combined the two words and chose 'mother nature' as the theme of my work. I tried to highlight the concept of this statue - a person who is willing to share her love with someone else - by depicting a forward-leaning position suggesting her willingness to offer love and making a heart-shaped foothold.
This was my very first full-length sculpture and this project took me six months to complete. It was the most challenging work I have ever done. I had to learn almost everything from scratch, including frame building, metal engraving and plaster mold casting, and I worked around the clock for days at a university building. I successfully completed this work thanks to help from senior students, professors and many others. Through this experience, I learned that I can often achieve better outcomes through collaboration and also gained confidence for challenging projects.

2016

7 x 11 in

Laser cut Plywood, plastic headband

54 x 24 x 20 in

Installation, mixed media

From a distance, the scene looks harmonious, peaceful, and playful. However, from up close, there is tension, conflict, and some of the figures are inflicting pain on each other.

To me, this is the world: we get hurt from people and we find hope and comfort from people as well. This is the beauty of the world.

These were my way of showing affection. I wanted to show people they were precious to someone. While working on these busts, I found it interesting and intriguing that we were all people and yet nobody had the same facial features and expression. This made me want to study human faces further, and I ended up observing over 100 faces for two years and making clay head sculptures. It was a great opportunity for me to learn about the basics of the human body and what I learned from this project became hugely beneficial when I was subsequently doing my own projects.

If someone asks me when I am the happiest during the day, I would say when I manage to secure a seat on a crowded subway train. With this idea in my mind, I planned this stage design work called 'Sweet Dreams on the Subway Train'. On the train depicted in this work, the sheep seems to fully enjoy his happiness without paying attention to the wolves, predators surrounding him. The wolves represent different age groups - 40-something people, teenagers, 30-something and 20-something people. Each of the wolves is weighing two typical issues common in their age group. For example, the 40-something male wolf on the far left is most interested in money and his daughter. As he thinks his daughter is far more important than money, the scale is tipped in favor of his daughter. On the other hand, the teenager chooses university admission preparation over travelling and the 30-something lady thinks marriage and career are equally important. With the 20-something wolf's scale, GPA management slightly outweighs having drinks. The background image behind the window frames implies problems in today's society.