So Young Park
New York
"My work is based on microorganisms such as cells and sea life. They represent cells growing to big life networks. These life complexities allow me to represent them with lots colors, textures and dynamic movement.
The use of wires, beads, and other small elements represent the single cells that makeup all life. Each piece contributes to long and painful process to create a beautiful piece, a beautiful life. The wires on her jewelry assist in narrating the story of a blooming and sprouting nativity. Most of my jewelry pieces are assembled through the harmonic use of wires, hammered textures, hand engraved patterns, and tiny concave shaped pieces creating, elegant, yet unusual visual forms."
So Young Park is originally from South Korea. She attended Kon-Kuk University in Seoul and earned a BFA and a MFA in metal and jewelry. In 1999, she opened her own studio called DuDuRim in Seoul. She participated in solo and group exhibitions as a metalsmith and jewelry artist throughout Korea from 1997 to 2000.
So Young graduated with a second MFA in metal and jewelry design from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2003. Upon completion of her studies at RIT, she taught metalsmithing both at Syracuse University and RIT as an adjunct professor from 2003 to 2007. In 2006, So Young decided to start her career as a jewelry artist. She has also taught at many workshops throughout the United States and South Korea. Currently she is running her own jewelry and metals studio called So Young Park Studio. She is actively participating in shows and exhibitions, nationally and internationally, as a jewelry and metalsmithing artist.
Her works are publicized in the Lark Book series: 1000 Rings, 500 Brooches, 500 Wedding Rings, 500 Gemstone Jewelry, and Showcase 500 Art Necklaces by Linda Darty. She also has work shown in Art Jewelry Today 2 by Jeffery B. Sunyder, The Art and Crafts of Making Jewelry by Joanna Gollberg, and her cuff was shown on the cover many other different magazines and catalogs, including the SOFA New York and Chicago Catalogs, Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist and In-Design Magazine.
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So Young Park was featured in our Summer 2022 exhibition "From These Hands" alongside Xinia Guan, Jeong Ju Lee, and Joanne Thompson.
