Kristin Sue Kim is a Korean-born visual artist whose work bridges spirituality, culture and contemporary expression. Born in Seoul and later establishing herself internationally, she has exhibited her art in the United States, Korea and Europe, earning recognition and awards across these regions. Deeply influenced by her Christian faith, Kristin’s work often explores themes of light, hope and renewal, offering viewers both aesthetic beauty and a sense of reflection. Beyond the gallery, she has contributed as an educator and community artist, using creativity to inspire and connect people. This interview highlights her artistic journey, philosophy and the significance of faith-infused art in today’s cultural landscape.

The following are excerpts from an email interview with Kristin from August 29 to September 8.

1.Can you tell us a little about your background and how you first discovered your love for art?

I was born in Seoul, South Korea. I've been drawing extensively since I was young, and I still enjoy outdoor sketching and croquis anytime, anywhere. After years of practice, I've often been praised for the power of my brushstrokes and fine art pencil drawings. My father, Il-Sun Jung, created murals abroad. During my teenage years, I received instruction in drawing, watercolor, portraiture, and oil painting from my father. I often studied and analyzed the works of renowned artists from around the world with my father. I was particularly drawn to Vincent Van Gogh's 'Sunflower' paintings, which exuded powerful, vibrant brushstrokes, leading me into the world of creativity. I had decided to become a Western painter, so I aimed to enter the painting department during my college entrance exams. I majored in painting on a scholarship at Hyosung Catholic University and received a BFA. I won awards at the Korea Art Competition and the Mok woo hoe and became a member of the Korea Art Festival, where I participated in a group exhibition at the Saeh-jong Cultural Hall Gallery. I insisted on studying abroad in the United States to learn about contemporary art through free-form creativity. As an international student, I entered the language school through conditional admission to San Diego State University in 1985 and received a certificate. Later, I studied at the Bowie State University. (Majored in Fine Art) 

As I moved to various states in the United States, I became interested in establishing Korean schools and art education. I studied at North Carolina Wesleyan College. (Majored in Education) 

I have exhibited solo and in group exhibitions in New York, Germany, Korea, and the United States, and have won numerous awards in art competitions.

2.Your paintings blend many styles – abstract, pop art, hyperrealism, and more. How do you decide which elements to combine in a piece?

There are key points in my paintings. First, I created the Angel Puzzle design. Second, the reason my paintings are so colorful is because they combine the intense heavenly sunlight of Texas with the vibrant colors of fairytale European houses. Third, I combine still life and landscape painting, sometimes expressing static objects dynamically, and sometimes depicting dynamic creatures in still form. Fourth, if you look at Western art history, you’ll see that each era has its own trends. I’ve bought together the diverse artistic techniques attempted by various artists onto a single canvas.

My goal is to create a new genre of art by blending various painting techniques on a single canvas. Looking at art history, artists express their individuality through their unique techniques, reflecting the flow of time. I have applied painting styles from the past to the present to my paintings, applying them in ways that perfectly suit them.

I strive to smooth out the disparate styles and allow their individuality to blend and coexist. The process of conceptualizing and refining my work over a long period of time, and the process of creating my own painting, through numerous revisions, allowed me to savor the aesthetics of suffering, like a bird breaking out of its shell in Demian.

I created my own puzzle design, incorporating all the elements, aiming for a healing effect, where the various puzzle pieces become one, with the philosophy and story within my paintings. The angel puzzle was completed primarily in primary colors, in a pop art style.

All painting materials have very diverse characteristics. I can visually see different textures when using each art material.

I went on a cruise with my family a long time ago. I drew the outlines of houses in my paintings while looking at the blue sky. The blue lines and the blue background blended well, but the houses painted with oil paint lacked a fresh feel. So, when I paint a beautiful house in Germany, I use primary colors of acrylics to create a pop art-style, fairytale-like feel.

I felt the water droplets, pearls and beads were best depicted in a hyper-realistic manner, while the stars and snow in the night sky seemed appropriate in the Action Modern art style, a style that involves splashing paint. The houses were highlighted in a Pop Art style, and the shadows reflected on the lake were abstract expressionism.

The numerous roses were painted with impressionist brushstrokes. The New Orleans hot sauce bottles were given life like cats, and the owls in French paintings were depicted in a vase design that combined front and profile faces, reminiscent of Cubism.

3.Water drops, angles and flowers often appear in your work. What do these symbols mean to you personally?

Every time I paint water droplets, I think of my youngest son, Daniel. On September 11, 2001, when Daniel was in kinder garden, he was in the intensive care unit. After visiting the Children’s Science Museum, he suddenly could not eat, speak or walk and was bedridden. Children’s Hospital performed numerous tests, but no cause was found. At that time, I created several Narnia-themed murals for churches. The entire Rocky Mount area church in North Carolina joined together in intercessory prayer to Jesus. When I was in deep despair, I caught a ray of hope, as if inside Pandora’s box. Daniel gradually recovered and was transferred to a regular ward. He was then transferred to a rehabilitation center for treatment, but never fully recovered. Through Daniel, who has mild autism, I was introduced to the world of special needs. Daniel lives in his own world within the water droplets, and sees the world only through his own eyes. This is how the water droplets in my work were reborn. The water droplets also symbolize the wounded soldiers my husband treated in Iraq and Afghanistan as a US Air Force doctor.

In this way, we can see the character of water droplets all around us. The water droplets depicted in my work are sometimes replaced with pearls, crystals, marbles, gems, silver beads and more, depending on the nature of the work.

My youngest son has loved making snow angles since he was little. Even now, whenever it snows, he runs out and makes snow angles again and again. Watching Daniel, I think of him as a ‘little prince’ living in a world of childhood. 

I modified the snow angel and created a new ‘angel puzzle design’. The angel puzzle in the work brings warmth to the hearts of lonely people with the love of Jesus. When Daniel was struggling in the intensive care unit, prayers of the local church members for him were absorbed into the Angel Puzzle, giving me a warm energy of hope. In other words, people in adversity escape the dark tunnel and regain vitality in life.

Angel Puzzle is a healer who seeks out those in difficult situations and heals them with the love of Jesus.

Numerous flowers represents the crowd living in the digital society. A big flower is a marginalized person in modern society. The flying angel piece gives hope to those who are struggling and lonely. I want you to receive positive energy through my paintings. My paintings feature countless flowers of various kinds. Flowers are among the most easily found things around us. Flowers in a beautiful vase, flowers in the street, wildflowers blooming in the field, flowers in a greenhouse, flowers in a garden, flowers waiting for someone at a flower shop…

The flowers listed above may not be simply those we see visually. When we look at objects or living things from a different perspective, our interpretation of flowers can change. In other words, expanding our perspectives can provide an opportunity to recalibrate our perceptions of new turning points.

I enjoyed spending time with my family at Butchart Gardens near Victoria, Canada and Keukenhof, a tulip garden near Lisse, the Netherlands. The flower gardens, meticulously decorated with vibrant colors on vast, well-maintained grounds, were impressive.

Flowers, with their flamboyant appearances and unique designs, seemed to compete with each other, capturing people’s attention. Today’s generation, driven by the internet, is busy boasting on social networks. There’s no time to reflect on oneself, and social problems arise where people focus solely on the opinions of others. If I consider which of the flowers listed above resembles my life, I’ll likely be more careful about my actions in the future. The Angel Puzzle serves as a guide for this. The numerous small flowers symbolize the crowd. The large flower clusters in my work also represents characters like water droplets. This symbolizes a lonely person in a crows. With the accelerating pace of multimedia and the artificial mechanization that has followed, people’s thinking is becoming dulled.

We must return to the starting point, rediscover our original intentions, and leap forward for ourselves. True love isn’t just about thinking or talking, but about putting it into action. When we personally realize the truth of love and walk the path of life with the power of positivity, we must strive to live a humane life, smelling the fragrant scent of flowers. 

4.When starting a new piece, do you plan the story in advance, or does it develop as you paint?

Whenever I travel, I’m always inspired by encountering new things. Then, I imprint the iconic landmarks of the area (like St. Louis Cathedral) on my memory. I also glimpse the joys and sorrows of life through the daily lives of locals selling Louisiana hot sauce on the street. As I immerse myself in these emotions, the Mardi Gras masks, hats and beaded necklaces adorning the windows of every store catch my eye, and before I know it, if they’re accumulating in my memory bank. And then, every time I paint, I pull out the pieces of those memories one by one and out them back into place, like a puzzle. This creative process is a unique, personal catharsis, a moment of healing, and a very exciting and rewarding experience for me.

Even when I paint, when inspiration strikes, I first sketch out the overall outline of the concept in my head. After establishing the outline if the subject, I sketch several times to establish a stable composition. In other words, after determining the position of the still life and landscape paintings with my own basic composition. I try to create a three-dimensional effect by re-illuminating them from various angles at eye level.

The next step was to add the colors of the New Orleans flag to the shadows cast on the Mississippi River behind the iconic St. Louis Cathedral. In keeping with the theme of the piece, the lily, a symbol of New Orleans, was incorporated into the Louisiana Hot Sauce bottle logo. Furthermore, a mask was added to the bottle’s shape, creating the illusion of life within the inanimate object. The shadows along the Mississippi River resemble eye pupils, and with the addition of eyebrows, the design resembles a cat wagging its tail. The Mardi Gras hat design features curves that appear to sway in the four directions, creating a rhythmic effect.
Furthermore, two trumpets are depicted, one on top of the other, resembling the horns of Satan. A closer look reveals a mournful jazz score within the trumpets, suggesting the souls of the dead wandering the streets of the night, lost in the mournful rhythm.
This, as seen in my flamingo painting, attempts to break stereotypes by portraying static things as dynamic, and by expressing dynamic things as static.
During the process of painting, these works are often revised and supplemented repeatedly due to balance issues.

Next, I pay attention to color combinations. I lived in Germany for three years and traveled extensively across Europe.
I was drawn to the vibrantly colored houses, reminiscent of Andersen's fairy tales, and then, with the bright, heavenly sunlight of Texas, my paintings are generally colorful. Because warm colors dominate my work, I focused on balancing it with cool tones. I also drew the background sky and outlines of all objects in blue to create a sense of unity. My paintings are semi-abstract. When viewing my work, you can appreciate it as either figurative or non-figurative by dividing it into quarters or fortieths. A careful look at my paintings reveals treasures - crosses, heart designs, angel puzzles, white snow, stars, flowers, cats, owls, dolphins, turtles, the Eiffel Tower, brushes, palettes, Mardi Gras bead necklaces, hats, umbrellas, trumpets, maps,  flags, teacups, ice cubes, pearls, iron beads, marble, crystals, water drops, and so on. Symbols are placed as if searching for treasures. I used art techniques appropriate to the subject matter of these works--- Impressionism, Pop Art, Hyper-Realism, Abstract Expressionism, and Action Modern art styles etc. - a fusion of art techniques presented on a single canvas.

5.What message or feeling do you hope people take away when they see your work?

Each Angel Puzzle contains traces of my life's journey.
I paint, write my life diary and become completely absorbed in my paintings. In the peace they bring, I continue to paint at my easel.
When we find ourselves on the path of life, deep within, in the dark tunnel of despair, struggling with the pain of life, we must grasp even a ray of hope and offer each other warm comfort in the sorrows of lonely souls. As we journey through my paintings, imbued with the joys and sorrows of life, we must tread carefully along life's path, carefully considering the problems rife in this multimedia age and avoiding the errors of hasty judgment and decision-making.
We must gather all the Angel Puzzle pieces, each containing souls who have overcome hardship and adversity and been reborn with a positive outlook, and create a patchwork quilt of life's milestones, each containing our own story. I reimagined the true truth buried in the subconscious into the aesthetics of the phenomenal world, creating a new design that is my own unique symbol: the Angel Puzzle. The message my paintings convey is a shortcut to awakening and being reborn as a mature person who sees far ahead with a broader perspective.
On this path, the only echo is the cry that the Angel Puzzle, filled with Jesus' love, serves as a tool for finding peace of mind through true healing.

Kristin reveals how her art is more than visual expression – it is a bridge between faith, identity and human experience.