The BYU-Hawaii Art Department faculty demonstrated how artists can constantly contribute to the enrichment of society at their annual art show in the McKay auditorium from April 8-25.
Art teacher Jihae Kwon said that without artists the world would be made up of only ugly things. “We are surrounded by things artists and designers have created. We just don’t realize it,” said Kwon.
Kwon said she enjoyed the exhibition. She said the department had never done a faculty-only show before because it usually involved community art pieces as well as the music program getting involved.
She said, “I think it’s a good way for students to see what we do. I think it’s really beautiful how each of [the art teachers] has a different style and different strength.”For her art piece, Kwon made a folded book that detailed images from the Korean War. She told the story about how there was great political instability when people felt threatened by communism in South Korea from 1945-1947.
Innocent people who were accused of being communists were killed without trial. Two of these people were Kwon’s grandmother’s brothers. One of the brothers was accused by a neighbor, brought out to the street in front of their house, and shot in front of everyone.
The other brother was accused and imprisoned for six months before he died in prison. After losing two sons in two years, Kwon’s great-grandmother was heartbroken and refused to eat, and when she passed away after a week.
Kwon said, “Having that personal history, I decided to make a book about it to remember the victims, the survivors, and my great grandmother who was so heartbroken.”
Kwon found actual pictures of victims being loaded into trucks and tied by the wrists before they were shot, and she drew those images in her piece.“From acknowledging that sad part of history, we can actually start the healing process,” Kwon said. “We can move on.
Hopefully something like that will never happen again.”Art major Esther Candari, a junior from Laie, said BYUH is not as much of an art school as it used to be. “I can understand why it’s gone that direction. It can be hard to make a living as an artist. But the visual arts isn’t the only program that’s been cut down.” She said she hopes the art program will keep going strong.
Kwon said, “Sometimes people think, ‘What are the art students going to do when they graduate?’ But believe it or not, art students have pretty good employment rates.” She continued, “As long as people keep caring about aesthetically pleasing things, our students will still have employment.”
Teacher Jeff Merrill said the show was made up of the faculty’s professional work, many of which were art pieces he’d made previously. He felt some of his pieces were still unfinished and wanted to revisit them.
Merrill said he loved Jake Jackson’s ceramic pieces that were showcased, but was sad they haven’t been able to take advantage of the ceramicist’s skill because the ceramics department was closed a year and a half ago.
“The community loves the ceramics. It’s a class in the arts that people can take and not have to be an art major. It’s something all art majors should take so they can learn more about form. So we’re trying to get it back.”