Lichen Life Line
5in x 62in x 5in
Yellow Heart, Walnut, bleached Box Elder stones
A visual reflection on my life and identity as Korean American.
STATEMENT
I create sculptural wall works and objects from wood that explore connection and the beauty found in quiet moments. Inspired by the landscapes, relationships, and experiences that shape us, I reduce forms to their essentials, using layered planes and shadow to suggest the spaces between people, places, and memories.
Wood is central to my practice. Its warmth, imperfections, and ability to change over time mirror the human experience. Through careful construction and balance, I create pieces that feel both contemporary and familiar.
Rather than offering answers, my work creates space for pause and reflection. I hope these quiet forms remind viewers of the connections that sustain us and the possibility of hope found in everyday life.
BIO
Jill Kyong is a Korean-born American artist who creates sculptural wall reliefs and wood sculptures that explore connection, resilience, and the quiet moments that shape our lives. Working primarily in wood, she builds layered compositions that use form, shadow, and space to reflect the relationships between people, places, and memories.
Kyong earned her MFA from the University of Idaho and has exhibited throughout the United States in museums, galleries, and art centers including the Boise Art Museum, Jundt Art Museum, Sears Art Museum, Wharton Esherick Museum, Korean American Museum of Los Angeles, Art Center Highland Park, and the Gallery of Wood Art. In 2025, she presented solo exhibitions at SlipStitch Studio in Seattle and the University of Idaho.
Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Boise Art Museum, Jundt Museum of Art at Gonzaga University, and Paine Field Airport. She received the Juror’s Award at the Boise Art Museum Triennial and has been featured in regional arts publications throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Represented by Front Room Art Gallery, Kyong has participated in numerous art fairs and continues to exhibit nationally. Her work combines the clean lines of contemporary design with the warmth and character of wood, creating pieces that invite reflection and offer a sense of connection and hope.
CURRICULUM VITAE
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
Jundt Musem at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA
Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID
Paine Field Airport, Seattle, WA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2027
•Museum of Northwest Art and Culture, Spokane, WA
2026
•Seattle Art Fair, with Blu Studio Gallery
•Modus Fine Art Gallery, group show, Couer d’Alene, ID, June
•JG Art Gallery, Material Mediations, 3 person show with Andy McConnell and Maria Cristalli, Bainbridge Island, WA
•CoCA Seattle, Knock on Wood, Seattle, WA
•Jundt Art Museum at Gonzaga University, Permanent Collection: Recent Acquisitions, WA
•Palm Springs Mod Show, February, CA
2025
•Seattle Art Fair, with The Art Spirit Gallery, WA
•Moscow Contemporary, Benefit, Invitational, ID
•SlipStitch Studio, Between Spaces (solo), WA
•Reflections Gallery, Between Spaces (solo), ID
•Sears Art Museum, 38th Annual Invitational, UT
2024
•Seattle Art Fair, with JDS Gallery
•Intersect Art Center, Evidence of Joy (juried), MO
•Entropy Gallery, Illuminated (two-person show with Ava Rummler, juried), WA
•Oregon State University, Resourceful, group show, juried, Giustina Gallery at the LaSalle Stewart Center, Rotunda Gallery at Central Oregon Community College, High Street Gallery at Oregon Coast School of Art, OR
•Gallery in the Park, (solo show), WA
•Center for Art and History, But Where I Am Now (solo, invited), ID
•Jundt Art Museum at Gonzaga, Landscape Exhibition (juried)
2023
•Seattle Art Fair, with JDS Gallery
•Gallery for Wood Art, AAW POP Exhibition (invited), MN
•University of Montana, International MFA Exhibition (juried, 3rd Place)
•Moscow Intermodal Sculpture Garden (juried)
2022
•Wharton Esherick Museum, Wood and… (juried), PA
•Art Center Highland Park, Nature vs. Nurture (juried), IL
•Yuan Ru Art Gallery, Transcending Boundaries, WA
2020–2021
•Boise Art Museum Triennial (juried, Juror’s Merit Award)
2019 and prior
•Justus Fine Art Gallery, Hot Springs, AR
•Buttler Center, Little Rock AR
•McCleoud Gallery, Little Rock, AR
•Korean American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
•Katherine Nash Gallery, U of Minnesota, MN
ARTIST TALKS
•U of Idaho, Moscow, ID, March, 2026
•The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur D’Alene, ID, June, 2024, 2025
•Center for Art and History, Lewiston, ID February 2024
•JDS Gallery, Seattle, WA, 2023
AWARDS
•1st Place, Grad Student Art & Research Expo, U of Idaho, 2025
•Outstanding Service Award, College of Art and Architecture Art & Design Department, U of Idaho, 2024, 2025
•MFA Solo Show and Scholarship, Allied Arts Association, Richland, WA 2024
•3rd Place, International MFA Online Exhibit, University of Montana, 2023
•Outstanding Service Award, College of Art and Architecture Art & Design Department, U of Idaho, 2023
•Juror’s Merit Award, Boise Art Museum Triennial, 2020
•People’s Choice Award, Interior Designers of Idaho Chair Affair, 2019
•Best Grad Student Design, Interior Designers of Idaho Chair Affair, 2019
•Most Creative Award, Interior Designers of Idaho Chair Affair, 2019
GALLERY REPRESENTATION
•Blu Studio Gallery, WA
•Modus Fine Art Gallery, Coeur d’Alene, ID
•Slip Stich Studio, Seattle, WA
•JG Art Gallery, Bainbridge Island, WA
CURATOR
•Looking East, Looking West: A Dialog in Photographs – Seattle & Hanoi. Photographers: Colin Fox from Seattle and Nguyễn Chí Thành from Hanoi. U of Idaho, 2026, North Idaho Community College, Coeur D’Alene, ID, 2027
•Studio Ghibli, AsiaPOP! 2025, University of Idaho, Reflections Gallery, 2025
•Chonnam National University, South Korea, Art Department Faculty and Grad Student Show, University of Idaho, Ridenbaugh Gallery, 2024
•The Korean Wave, AsiaPOP! 2024, University of Idaho, Reflections Gallery, 2024
•Manga and War, AsiaPOP! 2023, University of Idaho, Reflections Gallery, 2023
•Manga Contest, High School and College art contests with $12,000 in scholarships, U of Idaho, 2023
•Remembering Hiroshima, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Exhibit, U of Idaho, Reflections Gallery, 2022
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
•Habib Institute for Asian Studies, branding and graphic design work for promotional materials, current
•AsiaPOP! branding and design work, U of Idaho, 2023 and 2024
•MARACA, Mid-Atlantic Regional Association of Crime Analysts, logo and design work, Philadelphia, PA 2023
•Bixi Beer, design work for in-house assets, Chicago, IL
• Fat Willy’s Rib Shack: branding and design work for all visual assets, Chicago, IL
ORGANIZATIONS
•Art & Design Grad Student Group, Founder and President
•Coordinated MFA art grads to show in the Grad Student Expo at the University of Idaho, the first time artists had been included.
•Coordinated an MFA exhibition award for all MFA grad students to be eligible for exhibition award money to help offset the expenses of mounting an MFA thesis show.
•Starving Artists Sale 2024 and 2025: organized and coordinated the first two student artist sales for the U of Idaho. Sixty-five artist vendors were accepted the second year with heavy emphasis on training students how to market and sell their art. Cash awards were given to best student art, best displays and Moscow Contemporary Art Gallery offered awards to sell art in their gift shop. The City of Moscow and other businesses also awarded artists with opportunities to show their work in their businesses. Proceeds from the sale were distributed to MFA grad students to help offset the costs of their thesis exhibition.
EDUCATION
•MFA, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, 2025
•Post Baccalaureate, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Windgate School for Art & Design, 2018
•Artist Inc. Fellow, Mid-America Arts Council, Little Rock, AR, 2017
•BFA, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, sculpture & metal casting, 1997
TEACHING
•Instructional Assistant, University of Idaho College of Art and Architecture, Integrated Design, Drawing I and II, Sculpture I 2022-2024
•Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Windgate Art School, woodworking, 2012 – 2018
•Private and group art lessons to youth and teens, 1999-2001, 2015-2018
PRESS
“Rigorous arrangements of colorful and wood-toned squares hold all kinds of possibilities for taking time to look, feel and reflect.” Gayle Clemans , Seattle Times
“Jill Kyong’s handsome “Shelf” works echo the precisionist aesthetic of early 20th-century American art with their machined look, smooth surfaces and crisp materiality. Kyong’s smart, strong rectilinear compositions in dark and light wood, accented by precisely milled “stones” of maple are beautifully executed.” — Christopher Schnoor, Boise Weekly
•“Must See Seattle Art Exhibits in June” Seattle Times, May 2025
•“Exploring the World from the Gallery Wall”, Inland 360, January 24, 2024
•”Letting the Sun Shine In“, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, May 27, 2023
•“Form|Content: AAW POP Exhibition”, Woodworker West, May/June 2023
•“Wonderful World of Wood”, Woodworker West, August 2022
•“Contemporary Artist Explores New Beginnings”, Lewiston Tribune, April 29, 2021
•“Wood Artisans at the Dahmen Barn”, Woodworker West, Sept-Oct 2020
•“The Art Spirit Gallery”, Woodworker West, July 2021
•“Dahmen Barn Show”, Woodworker West, July 2021
•“Championing Idaho”, Boise Weekly, Mar 18, 2020
JUROR
•The Starving Artist Sale, juried art sale, 2024, 2025
•Emerge Gallery, Origins of Identity, Coeur D’Alene, ID, 2023-How nationality, race, and sexual identity shape who we are as artists and the work we create.
•Emerge Gallery, Pop Up Show, Coeur d’Alene, ID, 2021
VOLUNTEER
•Starving Artist Sale Director, 2024, 2025
•Props and Costume designer, Champaign Urbana Ballet Company, 2002-2009