Shin-hee Chin
Viriditas (Greenness)푸르름, 2024
Random weave and stitch on recycled wedding quilt 59" x 72"
Viriditas, derived from fire, air, water, and earth, embodies the concept that "In the food we eat we are to find a healing ability to maintain healthy nourishment and balance." Hildegard of Bingen, a prominent mystic and philosopher in medieval Europe, often used this Latin term, which encompasses meanings such as greenness, vitality, and abundance. It signifies the life-giving power inherent in greenery. This artwork aims to highlight the profound force of nature, especially the vitality of green life, which inherently possesses beauty.
Shin-hee Chin
Trees in late Autumn, 2020
Random weave and stitch on recycled wool blankets 54.5" x 59.5"
My work is inspired by The Coming Of Wisdom With Time – Poem by William Butler Yeats. “Though leaves are many, the root is one; Through all the lying days of my youth I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun; Now I may wither into the truth.” During the pandemic, I created this piece as an expression of yearning for community. Just as no tree stands alone but rather forms a forest, we thrive in togetherness. My father greatly influenced the development of my literary imagination. Inspired by the English poems he translated, I interwove this verse into my own creation, "Trees in Late Autumn," in 2020, symbolizing our intertwined path.
Shin-hee Chin
Komorebi, 2019
Recycled materials, perle cotton thread, embroidery floss, wool, linen thread, whole cloth, random stitch 62" x 57"
During my childhood, I cultivated a profound appreciation for the natural world, specifically the captivating spectacle of sunlight filtering through tree branches. The harmonious interplay between light and the organic shapes of trees etched a lasting impression in my mind. It was during this period that I first encountered the evocative terms 'shafts of delicious sunlight,' 'godlight,' and 'Komorebi,' elegantly capturing the essence of this breathtaking phenomenon. My life and art have become intricately intertwined with these childhood memories of the enchanting interplay between light and trees.
Shin-hee Chin
Joan of Arc, 2012
recycled fabric, mixed yarn and thread 40" x 40"
Joan of Arc Joan of Arc, also Jeanne d\\\'Arc (1412 – May 30, 1431), is considered a national heroine of France and a Catholic saint. She was a peasant girl who received visions from God and whose efforts led to the liberation of French army from English during Hundred Years\\\' War. She was captured, put on trial, and burned at the stake by the English when she was 19 years old. Even today, she is held as a paragon of female courage and leadership, piety and devotion, as well as a French patriot. I appropriated two artworks of Joan of Arc: one monochromatic painting by P. Dubois(1873) and multicolored paintings by French symbolism painter Odilon Redon. The styles of paintings are different, yet both of the paintings choose to depict the profile view of Joan of Arc. War, ideology, and patriotism often skew perceptions of a nation, painting one nation’s hero/heroine to be another’s enemy. Thus we see only one facet of that person – a profile view.
Shin-hee Chin
Ryu, Gwan-Sun, 2012
handstitch on recycled blanket, perle cotton threads 40" x 40"
Ryu, Gwan-Sun (December 16, 1902 – October 12, 1920) was a student and organizer in the March 1st Movement, known in Korean as sam-il-woon-dong, against the Japanese colonial rule of Korea. Her deep faith gave her the courage to act boldly. During the peaceful demonstration, Ryu was arrested and died in prison, reportedly as the result of being tortured. In this portrait of Ryu, yellow and green are prominent as she was the leader of the grassroots movement to oust the occupiers of her country. War, ideology, and patriotism often skew the perceptions of a nation, painting one nation's hero or heroine to be another's enemy. Thus we see only one facet of that person – their profile.
Shin-hee Chin
Emergence: The Pathos of Things, 2020
Perle cotton threads, linen threads, woven fabric, polyester, cotton, wool, india ink, recycled blanket 40“ x 52”
The work celebrates the mysterious profundity of life by exhibiting the transience of things, which is reflected in the art making process. I utilized thread as the primary medium on a reclaimed quilt and pieced together many woven fabrics to it. Then, I unraveled the thread over the surface, stitched it together randomly and repeated this process multiple times. The process of unraveling thread on the quilted top allowed me to execute free and natural movements, expressing the impression of the transient images and fluidity of reality. Through this stitching, I constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructed the existing form until I achieved the desired aesthetic.
Shin-hee Chin
The End and The Beginning, 2020
Perle cotton threads, linen threads, organza, cotton, wool, india ink, recycled blanket 48“ x 56”
“… Those who knew/ what was going on here/ must make way for/ those who know little. And less than little./ And finally as little as nothing. In the grass that has overgrown/ causes and effects,/ someone must be stretched out/ blade of grass in his mouth/ gazing at the clouds.” -by Wisława Szymborska (1923 - 2012, 1997 Nobel Laureate) Inspired by the poem written by Wisława Szymborska, my work entitled The End and The Beginning contemplates on the true meanings of life, humanity, and harmony. My work emerges from the pain and chaos of a broken world, the death from wars and plagues. While I was working on it, I wove grass and the color green as a symbol of hope into the quilt surface, which was composed of intricately entangled threads. Thus, this piece does not speak so much on pain, sorrow, or the absurdity of life, but rather of healing, recovering, newness, and the inner joy of life.
Shin-hee Chin
The Shape of the Wind, 2023
Random weave and stitch on recycled blankets 49" x 50"
“To sense the invisible and to be able to create it,” Hans Hofmann once wrote, “that is art.” His statement illustrates invisibility as an essential component of artistic expression. A series of my work explores the visible form of the invisible, such as wind, air, void, and flow of energy. I sought to create a dialogue between what is seen and what is unseen/hidden, solid and fluid, and movement and stillness. Here, what appears presents itself from a fundamental source which is unseen. I utilized thread as the primary medium on a reclaimed quilt and unraveled thread over the surface. Then I stitched it together randomly and repeated this process multiple times. The process of unraveling thread on the quilted top allowed me to execute free and natural movements, a process which echoes the impression of the transient images and fluidity of reality.
Shin-hee Chin
Gravity and Grace, 2019
handstitch on recycled blanket, perle cotton threads 47" x 32"
Inspired by Simone Weil’s book entitled Gravity and Grace (1947), I attempt to visualize two antithetical forces that mold and shape human life. In Weil’s spiritual vocabulary, gravity represents a force that draws the human soul downward, whereas Grace is an opposing one that uplifts it. My work depicts these two forces through the image of water coming down on the window. Built upon metaphors of structure and force, it juxtaposes the opposite things that exist together at the same time, or in the same place: liquid and solid, balance and counterbalance, warm and cool, up and down, flow and pause, action and reaction, passive and aggressive, light and dark, line and dots, concrete and abstract, clear and vague, merge and separate, push and pull, and yin and yang.
Shin-hee Chin
In-between; In search of Identity, 2014
Cotton thread, perle cotton, stitch, embroidery floss, mixed media 60" x 50"
