Recent Visualization Graduate Hyohyun (Sophie) Lee Wins Two Awards For Paintings Featuring Minority Business Entrepreneurs
Hyohyun (Sophie) Lee, who earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Visualization on May 11, recently won two awards for her artwork about minority business entrepreneurs.
Lee, a native of Seoul, South Korea, was awarded first place in the graduate category for her painting titled “Delmar Blvd #2” in the 2024 Artovation Student Show run by the Texas Association of Schools of Art.
She received honorable mention for her painting titled “Olive Blvd #1” in a Fayetteville Arts Council exhibition titled “Unyielding Sonder: Quiet but Multifaceted Voices by Asian/Pacific Islander Artists in the United States.”
Lee said both pieces feature business owners from St. Louis, Missouri, where she currently resides. Lee visited the business owners several times, sometimes as a customer, to build a relationship with them before asking them to model.
“This process is very important to me because I want to express the confidence, attitude and passion these business owners possess,” she said. “This is a crucial part of accurately documenting them.”
“Delmar Blvd #2” features a hairstylist in a Black-owned hair salon, located on the street named Delmar Divide. Lee said the street is historically significant as a socioeconomic- and poverty-dividing line in St. Louis.
“Olive Blvd #1” features a Korean woman standing in a grocery store she owns. The store also provides information about other Korean businesses in the St. Louis area, Lee said.
“At the time the photo was taken, she was wearing an apron and gloves, standing in the aisle of her grocery store,” Lee said. “I thought she looked more beautiful in her work attire than she would have in a fancy dress, so I depicted her just as she was.”
Lee was inspired by research she conducted that highlighted the roles of Black, Latino and Asian-owned businesses “in fostering employment and information exchange among minority communities,” she said.
“Through portraits of minority business owners, I aim to underscore the significant impact of minority entrepreneurship on community empowerment,” Lee said. “This artwork serves as a documentation of the positive contributions of minority business entrepreneurs to contemporary American society.”
Lee said she was grateful for the mentorship she received from Felice House, associate professor in the Visualization program, and Courtney Starrett, associate professor and graduate program director.
“Whenever I faced difficulties in materializing my ideas, it was through their advice that I was able to express those ideas on canvas and showcase them to the world,” Lee said.
Lee received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Spatial Design at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea, then worked as an art instructor for nine years before moving to the United States in 2017.
She pursued a graduate degree in Visualization because she hoped to integrate traditional art with technology, “rather than strictly adhering to conventional artistic methods,” she said.
“Unlike other art majors, Visualization highly encourages combining technical aspects with various forms of art,” Lee said. “The versatility of our department allowed me, someone with interests in diverse fields and social issues, a lot of freedom.”
Lee said she plans to eventually become a full-time artist. In the fall, she will move to Atlanta to work as a part-time instructor in a 2D design course at the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design at Georgia State University. Lee said she is grateful for all she learned in the Visualization program.
“I attribute all the good things that have happened to me to the advice and assistance I’ve received from the many people I’ve met here,” she said. “After leaving Aggieland, I will always remain a part of Texas A&M University in spirit.”
Photos by Glen Vigus
