Balcony Studio
Welcome to my balcony studio!
It all began with a sense of desperation when looking for my own space to create after downsizing to a smaller apartment. Though I first considered the balcony to be a noisy, dusty, semi-outdoor space, when I opened my eyes I saw it as a burning bush where God,the greatest creator, was inviting me to take off my sandals and join in His creative work. When I entered into the space with the posture of being fully present in the presence of the Holy Spirit, I soon noticed that there was a beautiful redemptive work of God happening in many ways.
Do you see the cut canvas drifted around as blinds? The balcony I once thought of as dusty and noisy is bright and open. I spontaneously cut a large piece of canvas fabric which I wanted to paint on it originally, then fixed it’s top edges with push pins around a thin wooden frame. This became a pushpin operated adjustable curtain. Another significant part of this space is a piece of colorful and translucent patchwork that I made about 15 years ago, which was made with cloth scraps from a hanbok (Korean traditional clothes) maker in Seoul, Korea. It’s one of the first statement pieces that I put on a window when I move into a new place. It was initially inspired by jogakbo (Korean traditional patchworked wrapping clothes created by ordinary women anonymously for daily life). This has been a significant theme in my work:redeeming wasted and fragmented materials and joining them together into something beautiful in a bigger picture. Moreover, the translucency of the material makes me see the color and shape of it through light coming from behind which I call it ‘unseen reality’.
To me, my balcony studio is both a nomadic yurt and settler’s cathedral. It’s temporal as earth and eternal as heaven. It’s a place where I enter with a posture of pitching a tent between secular and sacred to meet God, dwell in the presence of Ex Nihilo, and to pay attention to the creation and labor in art-making with papers, fabric, paints, and more.
Here, my struggles between a nomadic life and a longing for belonging converse and reconcile. I wish you could visit me here in person, and sit together around a cup of tea. As you scroll through my works presented here, you may see most pieces of art works that I’ve been creating here. Hope you’ll enjoy this virtual visit!