about

Lichen Life Line 5in x 62in x 5in Yellow Heart, Walnut, bleached Box Elder stones A visual reflection on my life and identity as a Korean American.
STATEMENT In uncertain times, my work turns toward quiet moments that often go unnoticed. I start with what I see in nature and bring it into conversation with what is happening around us. Rather than focusing on what overwhelms, I look for moments of moral beauty within the chaos. These moments guide the work, creating a place to rest and a sense of encouragement. Working primarily in wood, I create layered sculptural reliefs that sit between painting, sculpture, and architecture. Color, shadow, and carefully crafted forms interact with light, shifting throughout the day and offering new experiences. The work is minimal, but it is not empty. It is meant to feel present and connective, grounded in ideas of endurance, relationship, and what sustains us. Nature is often the starting point. Still Standing draws from the poplar groves of Clatskanie, Oregon, with vertical forms that hold their ground. What Holds Us Up emerged from watching my family swim for hours in deep water, reflecting on the unseen forces that keep us connected and supported. For Good responds more directly to loss, shaped by the death of Renee Good and the collective response that followed. Hope runs through everything I make. It offers stillness, a sense of possibility, and a reminder to notice and share the beauty that persists. BIO Jill Kyong is a Korean-born American artist working across abstract wall relief, sculpture, and studio furniture. Based in the Pacific Northwest, her practice is shaped by close observation of the natural world and the textures of lived experience. She translates these into minimalist forms that play with light and shadow, creating space for reflection and a sense of hope. Her work has been exhibited nationally in solo, group, and juried exhibitions, with shows in Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Palm Springs, among others. Public collections including the Boise Art Museum, the Jundt Art Museum, and Paine Field Airport hold her work, and it has been recognized with several awards, including the Juror’s Award from the Boise Art Museum Triennial. Kyong holds an MFA from the University of Idaho and a BFA from the University of Minnesota. Alongside her studio practice, she has taught woodworking, art, and sculpture, bringing the same attention to material and process that defines her own work into the hands of a wide range of students.

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,  WA •Jundt Art Museum, 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 •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 Seattle and Nguyễn Chí Thành from Hanoi.  Reflections Gallery, 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

EMAIL jillkyong@gmail.com