{"id":20840,"date":"2024-05-22T13:12:42","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T18:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/?p=20840"},"modified":"2024-05-22T13:13:30","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T18:13:30","slug":"recent-visualization-graduate-hyohyun-sophie-lee-wins-two-awards-for-paintings-featuring-minority-business-entrepreneurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/22\/recent-visualization-graduate-hyohyun-sophie-lee-wins-two-awards-for-paintings-featuring-minority-business-entrepreneurs\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Visualization Graduate Hyohyun (Sophie) Lee Wins Two Awards For Paintings Featuring Minority Business Entrepreneurs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Hyohyun (Sophie) Lee<\/a>, who earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Visualization<\/a> on May 11, recently won two awards for her artwork about minority business entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lee, a native of Seoul, South Korea, was awarded first place in the graduate category for her painting titled \u201cDelmar Blvd #2<\/a>\u201d in the 2024 Artovation Student Show<\/a> run by the Texas Association of Schools of Art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She received honorable mention for her painting titled “Olive Blvd #1<\/a>” in a Fayetteville Arts Council exhibition titled \u201cUnyielding Sonder: Quiet but Multifaceted Voices by Asian\/Pacific Islander Artists in the United States<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis process is very important to me because I want to express the confidence, attitude and passion these business owners possess,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is a crucial part of accurately documenting them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDelmar Blvd #2\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOlive Blvd #1\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt the time the photo was taken, she was wearing an apron and gloves, standing in the aisle of her grocery store,\u201d Lee said. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lee was inspired by research she conducted that highlighted the roles of Black, Latino and Asian-owned businesses \u201cin fostering employment and information exchange among minority communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThrough portraits of minority business owners, I aim to underscore the significant impact of minority entrepreneurship on community empowerment,\u201d Lee said. \u201cThis artwork serves as a documentation of the positive contributions of minority business entrepreneurs to contemporary American society.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lee said she was grateful for the mentorship she received from Felice House<\/a>, associate professor in the Visualization program, and Courtney Starrett<\/a>, associate professor and graduate program director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhenever 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,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She pursued a graduate degree in Visualization because she hoped to integrate traditional art with technology, \u201crather than strictly adhering to conventional artistic methods,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnlike other art majors, Visualization highly encourages combining technical aspects with various forms of art,\u201d Lee said. \u201cThe versatility of our department allowed me, someone with interests in diverse fields and social issues, a lot of freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI 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,\u201d she said. \u201cAfter leaving Aggieland, I will always remain a part of Texas A&M University in spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Photos by Glen Vigus<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251,"featured_media":20843,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n