We were lucky to catch up with Gaeun Kim recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Gaeun, thank you so much for making time for us today. Let’s jump right into a question so many in our community are looking for answers to – how to overcome creativity blocks, writer’s block, etc. We’d love to hear your thoughts or any advice you might have.
Creativity block happens whenever I have not been taking enough external inspiration. My first instinct is to go visit art museums and galleries without too much pressure but to immerse myself in visual possibilities. I also like to tour artist websites to see how they present their work and what languages they use to describe their work.
When I had a hard time showing up in the ceramic studio to make a new work, I set myself a series of studio rules. First, I started taking a studio selfie whenever I was at the studio to visually document my attendance. Second, I would grab a small ball of clay before I started anything and make a random shape that came to my mind. Lastly, I prioritized showing up to the studio without the pressure to make anything in clay. If I did not feel like touching clay, I instead did free writing, draw, or listen to a podcast and walk around. This simple studio routine helped me feel less overwhelmed to show up by reducing the pressure I was feeling about making. The creativity block happens quite often and it is helpful to have a studio routine that you can rely on even when you don’t feel creative.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a ceramic artist currently based in Baltimore, MD. I recently graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) with a BFA in Ceramics and Interactive Arts. I work primarily in sculptural ceramics and site-specific installations. I was born and raised in Seoul, Korea, where ongoing rapid urban development and gentrification took place. I learned to constantly move and make new homes amid frequent displacements. In conversation with clay’s ability to flexibly capture different gestures of being, I create emotive abstract forms.
With mixed-media and site-specific installations, I respond to the invasive urban development policies I experienced in Korea during many displacements. I witnessed numerous apartment complex reconstruction sites filled with cement rubbles, snapped rebar, and grey dust that were once home to the people. I experiment with embodying the abstract experience of grief and longing through sculptural objects. My work is rooted in my desire to better understand the Korean social, cultural, and spiritual concept of 한 (Han): an internalized generational sorrow, grief, longing, resilience, and hope. Clay generously responds to gestures of my fingers and the soft material transforms into a solid object by enduring heat. I question what it means to live with the weight of unresolved generational trauma in a place where it is constantly building on top of
itself—and how to transform and decolonize with loving resilience.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Documenting is such an important skill for all artists! Not only the finished work but documenting your process with pictures and writings becomes a super valuable database. Learning basic skills about the camera, editing in Photoshop, and making a portfolio website is probably one of the most useful things I have learned. As an artist making sculptural works and installations, having good documentation is just as important as making interesting works. I found that documenting is a lot more complicated for three-dimensional works than 2D works. It is so important to spend time with your piece figuring out and experimenting with which documentation method suits the most for your work.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I am always happy to connect with other artists through Zoom or a studio visit! If you are interested in any collaborative exhibition opportunities, a virtual co-working session, or just saying hi, please reach out to me via email at [email protected].
Contact Info:
- Website: https://gaeunmakes.com
- Instagram: @gaeunkim.art
- Other: Email: [email protected]
Image Credits
Headshot image credit: Alania Caridad Hinckson
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
