Mixed media artist E.K. Jeong uses a diverse assortment of art materials and techniques to create the works included in her exhibit at the State Capitol titled Esquisse. The exhibit will be on display from December 7th though January 31, 2010 in the Governor’s Gallery, located on the 2nd floor of the State Capitol and open Monday through Friday from 8:30-5:00. Admission is free and exhibits are curated by the Oklahoma Arts Council.

Translated from French, Esquisse means the first sketch of a picture or model of a statue. Now living in Weatherford, Jeong credits her experiences of growing up in Korea as well as the landscape of her new home in Oklahoma as influences for this body of work.

“I consider these works as a new beginning for a more productive future as an artist and citizen of Oklahoma,” says Jeong. She says the compositions experiment with negative space and form and echo the “big open space and red earth of Oklahoma.” However, Jeong also says, “In a couple of pieces that have bright colors, you can see the color combinations are very Eastern. These colors remind me of a local festival I saw in Korea when I was a child with lights everywhere and colorful decorations. Those are the memories inside me and they find their way out into my art.”

Jeong received her B.F.A. in Fiber Arts from Dong-A University in Busan, Korea. She says Korea was a society where she felt “there were certain restrictions for women. I moved to New York in 1993 to go to graduate school because I wanted to move myself out of that restrictive structure and develop independence. It gave me the freedom to make the art that I wanted to make.” Once in the United States, Jeong studied for a B.A. in Art History and an M.F.A. in Mixed Media and Fiber Sculpture at the State University of New York at New Paltz. After graduating, she taught art courses in New York City.

In 2005, Jeong relocated to Oklahoma where she is currently Assistant Professor of Art at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford. She is also working towards her Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Texas Tech University in Lubbock. She is actively involved in a current public art venture in Weatherford titled The Community Tapestry Project that brings community volunteers together to complete a massive tapestry using a 16’ x 9’ weaving loom.

Throughout her extensive education in the arts, Jeong has explored old and new media including tapestry, weaving, drawing, painting, papermaking, mixed media, and installation art. She was invited to show her work in the 4th and 5th International Fiber Art Biennales in China in 2006 and 2008. She also won the Best of Show in Paper Work: In, On, and Of Paper IV, a juried exhibition held by the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles, MO.

Website: http://www.arts.ok.gov

Categories: Arts & Crafts, Exhibits, Fine Arts

Contact Info: Ann Dee Lee, Public Information Director
Oklahoma Arts Council, P.O. Box 52001
Okla. City, OK 73152
Phone: 405-521-2931
Email: Click here to contact by email