Wk4-Artist Conversation-Kyunghee Valdez

Exhibition Information

Artist: Kyunghee Valdez

Exhibition: Metal Art Guild Group Show

Media: Metal and Jewelry

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Gatov Gallery West

About the Artist

Kyunghee Valdez is a student in the School of Art’s Sculpture Program. She enjoys working with mixed media, and used ceramics and metalwork in her art piece. Kyunghee has two pieces in this exhibition, Faith in Light and Passion. Kyunghee enjoys working with metal. She uses the unique way metal can be manipulated to create interesting, meaningful works.

Formal Analysis

 Kyunghee’s first piece, Faith in Light is made solely of copper, though it holds a candle in the center. The copper holds the traditional copper color, and is reflective. Due to the shape of the cut pieces, the candle light from within shines through the cuts. Thes cut pieces have jagged edges and are bent inwards and outwards to create the lighting effect as the candle light passes through. The second piece, Passion consists of copper, ceramics, and sterling silver. Each material plays off the other, as the copper is jagged at the edges, and the silver has small ridges from the forming of the bowl, while the ceramic material is completely smooth. The copper in this piece is darker and more matte than the other piece, which contrasts with the white, reflective ceramic.

Content Analysis

Being able to work with metal allowed the piece to be shaped in ways unlike many other materials. For the piece Passion, Kyunghee mentions how each material gives off a different feeling, but each piece comes together to form a whole. Much like California, she said, her piece represents the diversity of many different, unique mediums coming together to form a cohesive and beautiful piece.

Synthesis / My Experience

The experience of going to an art gallery was quite different than what I was used to. I had previously only been to upper campus at CSULB for classes, but exploring and seeing the different galleries was fun, and being able to talk to Kyunghee about her work was interesting. It was great seeing someone passionate about what they do and what they created, not just talking about the meaning, but she also told me about how she made the pieces. At first I was awkward and did not know quite what to ask or talk about, but as she showed me her work, I got more comfortable and began to enjoy the gallery.