Hee Sook Kim covered a painted mountain in minuscule, pearlescent beads. The result hangs at Haverford College's Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery through Oct. 9.

Kim, professor and chair of fine arts at Haverford, is showing new and recent paintings in an exhibition called "Elsewhere, the Mountain: Hee Sook Kim and Landscapes of Belonging." The show, curated by Lauren McCardel, opened Sept. 4 and is free to visit, according to the Haverford College events page.

Each painting revisits Mont Sainte-Victoire, the southern French peak Paul Cézanne painted dozens of times. Kim combines oil paint with beadwork and imagery drawn from Korean folk art. The beads represent light and prosperity in Korean folk traditions, Kim said at the Sept. 4 opening talk, as Bi-College News reported.

The work is personal. Kim, a Korean American artist based in Philadelphia, graduated from Seoul National University before earning a master's degree from New York University, according to her gallery profile. She draws on Minhwa, a tradition of Korean folk painting, and Sipjangsaengdo, imagery depicting the ten symbols of longevity.

Her early teacher was described as a "Cézanne fanatic," and traditional Korean art was not part of her formal training, Bi-College News reported. A trip to Mont Sainte-Victoire brought those threads together: her love of Cézanne, her Impressionist training and her identity as both Korean and American.

Kim hired Haverford fine arts students to help glue the tiny beads along sections of each canvas. She is direct about what that painstaking process means. At the opening, she told the audience the beading is "not creativity" but "labor," linking the physical work to her feminist perspective on Korean cultural history. On her artist statement page, Kim describes her practice as presenting both cultures through a feminist lens shaped by her experience of being "raised in fear as a woman, now living in complete confidence as a woman."

"When you see lots of beads you can't help but think 'Oh, that was done by a woman,'" Kim said at the opening, according to Bi-College News.

The exhibition runs shorter than the gallery's typical schedule, Bi-College News noted. A "Print, Pattern, and Translation" workshop with Kim is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 28, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Printmaking Studio on campus. Space is limited; waiting-list inquiries can be sent to [email protected].

Upcoming at the Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery

  • Monday, Sept. 28: Print, Pattern, and Translation workshop with Hee Sook Kim, 4:30–6:30 p.m., Printmaking Studio, Haverford College. Email [email protected] for the waiting list.
  • Friday, Oct. 9: Last day to see "Elsewhere, the Mountain" at the Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford College. Free admission.