Using traditional Korean technique in a modern way

By Victoria Gail-White
Advertiser Art Critic

•	'Reflections of Two Worlds: A Korean American Heritage' Metalwork by Komelia Hongja Okim 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays 1-5 p.m. Sundays Through Nov. 16, Gallery 3 Honolulu Academy of Arts 532-8700

With 22 solo exhibits, honors, awards and work purchased for museum and private collections, Okim has demonstrated technical excellence, artistic ability and an active involvement in organizing and coordinating art exhibits that feature cultural exchanges.

As a featured artist in Korea/Crossings 2003, she epitomizes the principle of this centennial celebration of Korean immigration to the United States.

One hundred years ago, Okim's grandfather came to Hawai'i to work on plantations on the Big island. Ten years later, he sent for his wife. Okim's mother, a third-grader at the time, also made the journey, but returned to her homeland to marry after graduating from business college here.

Okim was born and raised in Korea. In 1963, after graduating from Ewha Woman's University in Seoul, she came to Hawai'i to study at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Initially she majored in fiber arts, but took a metal class (because it was down the hall).

Encouraged by her professor, she graduated from Indiana University with an MFA in both fiber and metal. This exhibit features work from the early 1990s to the present.

"Fiber helped me to be more detail-minded and decorative," Okim said, "because the surface decorations are more intimate."

In the mirrored sculpture "New Millennium," the patinated brass and copper framing of the mirror has the appearance of teal cloth. In this piece, Okim has married her two art forms, using cloth saturated in chemicals. The wrapping pattern and woven thread marks give a soft look to the otherwise hard metallic surfaces.

The large (80 by 70 by 30 inches) sculpture "Ocean Melody III," reminiscent of a large starfish, has a mottled greenish texture achieved by burying it in chemically soaked sawdust for 24 hours. Petite in stature, Okim is not deterred by working with large pieces of metal. "Women can do anything they want," she said. Size matters only in that it requires additional physical assistance.

Okim employs many traditional Korean methods in her work: poong soo jii rii (an expression for harmony similar to the Chinese feng shui), kumboo (a process that uses heat to attach gold foil to a silver surface) and poe-mok saang-gum (a metal inlay process).

Her brooches and tablewares translate poetic moments into beautiful compositions in silver and gold. In "Moon Chasing" and "Korean Dance," she uses the contrasting colors of these precious metals to boost and tease the reflected light shining on the surface.

"Neighbors," a large hanging sculpture, is an abstracted view of life in an apartment complex. Elongated figures with triangular heads are grouped together in each of the seven window sections, suggesting family activities. Although heavier-looking than her more recent lighter-than-air figures, it also creates the illusion of movement through asymmetrical placement of shapes.

It is accidental that Okim's figures and vessels have the appearance of work influenced by silver artists in Scandinavia. Her professor studied in Denmark. Okim acknowledges that we are all globally influenced, yet she is happy to be an American. "I can express myself freely here," she said. "And that freedom helps your creative energy to flow."

Okim lives in Maryland and teaches jewelry and metal arts classes at Montgomery College.

NOTE: The Honolulu Academy of Arts will present a free lecture, "Women in Korean Art and Culture," by art historian and author Dr.Yi Song-mi, in the Doris Duke Theatre at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 12.