A STORY STEEPED IN TRADITION

Growing up, Kim was immersed in the artistic process. Her mother nurtured her creative spirit and her aunt, established African American artist Brenda Joysmith,  modeled for her how to master an art form. While working in an African American art gallery though college and graduate school, Kim was exposed to hundreds of artists and thousands of people who loved their work.  She decided to fuse art and business in her career while finding her own medium.  About that time, her paternal grandmother taught her how to quilt.  

“That summer changed my life. I still don’t know if it was learning a time-honored craft from my grandmother or just the time we spent together.  I fell in love with quilting.”

Kim evolved to a modern approach to quilting, putting herself and her experiences into the storytelling. Instantly recognized as unique, Kim had the opportunity to feature her quilts in her first show at age 28.  Since that time Kim has exhibited at several shows episodically while she pursued her career and became a wife and mother.

HER PROCESS 

Kim works almost exclusively with Indonesian batik fabrics because of their color vibrancy, symbolic meaning and workmanship.  Batiks are hand dyed, giving no two pieces the same effect. This variation brings movement to and enhances the emotion of her pieces.   “Fabrics speak to me and the emotion they convey are often my inspiration.”  Kim loves putting fabrics together in ways that say something unique and powerful – to tell stories, share wisdom, and inspire others, especially women, to pause, examine, imagine, and persist.

AN AFFIRMING CHAPTER

In 2018, a mentor and quilt artist invited Kim to show two new pieces despite her apprehension of being pulled in several directions. Kim fell in love again and with her new life experience, was able to elevate her work in a way that was noticeable.  The reaction was affirming. 

After 20+ years in corporate America and only episodically quilting, exhibiting and not selling her work Kim has committed to further developing herself as an artist. Plus with renewed interest from the art world, Kim secured her first solo show in May 2020 which was postponed due to Covid. In January 2020 Kim was able to sell her first piece — which was gifted to Oprah.