When she was a teenager in Seoul, South Korea, Sodam Lee offered to draw flowers for her church.
“My parents and I were poor,” Lee said. “And drawing flowers didn’t cost money. The flowers would last; they wouldn’t die.”
Lee, who now teaches and resides at Mississippi Valley State University, has maintained that outlook on making beautiful art that lasts. A recent print of hers depicts a plethora of overlapping roses, bisected by the silhouette of an outstretched hand.
Lee made her way from Seoul to Itta Bena via Ames, Iowa, and graduate school in the Master of Fine Arts program at Iowa State University. Artist Cindy Gould was her inspiration, she said — “a great example as an artist.”
While at Iowa State, Lee, whose undergraduate degree from a Korean university was in textile design, blossomed as a fine art printmaker. She expanded her knowledge and technique by exploring digital photography and print technology that allowed her to change, mingle and enhance images.
She sought a unique meaning, expressed in her artist’s statement:
“The purpose of my artwork is to give insight to different human experiences, such as psychological and material richness and poverty. I have come to realize that what really makes human beings rich is not only material possessions, but also one’s cultural environment, intelligence and spirituality.”
When she first arrived in the United States, Lee was surprised, even shocked, by the material wealth of the country, the drive to maintain and obtain that wealth and the disparity between rich and poor. She began to think about what had happened in South Korea with its rapid economic development that came at the expense of some cultural traditions and riches.
Then she visited Italy, where she enjoyed a three-week printmaking fellowship in Venice.
“There, everybody feels rich,” Lee said, “through the cultural richness of the buildings, the history and the art.”
Lee explored those themes of poverty and wealth in her graduate work and found a particular depth comparing cultural values.
Now, in the Mississippi Delta, she is similarly inspired and continues to expand her vision as an artist.
“In Mississippi, I have learned a lot,” she said. “I keep asking, ‘Why did God send me here?’”
One reason, she believes, is to express herself as a Christian artist, giving glory to God through her work.
“My students, when they work, I can feel their faith,” Lee said. “They express their belief and their faith through their art work.”
Many of her students grew up in poverty, and their riches are spiritual, as are hers, she said.
She admits to sometimes feeling isolated in a place where there are no other Korean people, no Korean restaurants and no Korean church. But she has found a Korean Baptist church in Jackson. At Valley she has found colleagues she loves. And in her new home, she has dedicated herself to the mission of making fine art a viable avenue for her students.
Recently, she received a Mississippi Arts Commission grant that she will use to buy supplies for a class in relief woodblock printing. All material costs will be covered for her students.
Last year, she sent the work of nine of her Valley students to the International Design Fair in South Korea. Now she hopes those students and others will be inspired to continue their studio art studies at Valley.
Lee said she will continue to explore poverty and richness though her work and amplify it with spiritual content.
“As an artist, I know that is my blessing,” Lee said. “Being in a new place where I am different, I learn how to think better, to understand better.”
Combining and layering images, comparing different lifestyles and cultures through her art, Lee believes she is among the lucky ones — blessed to be able to do work she loves and to pass that enthusiasm on to others.
Lee’s work now hangs in collections around the world, has been chosen for national and international juried exhibitions and has garnered numerous prizes. But that wealth of recognition is not what inspires the artist.
“I believe it is difficult for people to see beyond their experiences and boundaries of life,” she said in her artist’s statement. “Through my artwork, I want people to realize that one united world can contain vastly different environments and circumstances.”
To see more of Sodam Lee’s work, visit http://whitepondstudio.wixsite.com/sodamlee.
• Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
