Michelle Park
My Artwork
Although I'm not a professional artist, I love to create artwork that reflect my other passions such as incorporating nature and my passion for reading. I've participated in two art exhibitions as well.
Artworks Portfolio
Lexicon's Formation
The ‘From my Tale’ collection began with my acknowledgment of the power behind storytelling and language.
Looking at language from a wide viewpoint, the communication of words may seem simple. However, upon closer inspection, language is essentially made up of tiny letters. When these letters are separated into individuals, they mean nothing at all; they’re simply small curved figures. With compilation, literary communication becomes the basis of humanity, evoking beliefs, feelings, and ideas.
The center of my artwork shows a colossal rock formed with ripped book pages and traditional ink sticks. When I compiled these elements to portray a singular rock, I hoped to depict the significant creation of communication through words. Connecting red strings to the center of the rock, the red strings represent individual letters, and the shadow of the strings reflects printed letters onto the ground, showing how small, meaningless letters gather together to form a larger entity, the rock.
From My Tale Collection
An Immersive Sanctuary
This second piece is a personal depiction I created of myself to show my profound passion and sentiments for my favorite hobby, reading.
Since I was young, reading has been my favorite refuge, a world full of creativity and wonder. I was constantly carrying a book around, whether I was at a park or at a grocery store. All these years of loving stories have paved the path for my dream future: being a writer.
While there are several reasons why I admire storytelling, my favorite aspect is how quickly I can fit into another person’s fictional life, no matter how bizarre or otherworldly the environment might be. Much like my painting that depicts a girl happily floating over an open book, I often feel that I lose my sense of reality when I immerse myself in a new fictional world.
From My Tale Collection
Spinning Tales Collection
Weaving Connections
My next collection, ‘Spinning Tales,’ focuses on my creative thinking based on books I’ve previously read and analyzed.
This piece was inspired by the novel, ‘Underneath the Sycamore Tree’ by B. Celeste. In the bittersweet story, Emery grieves her twin sister’s sudden death by visiting a specific sycamore tree to find reassurance and hope, slowly creating a crucial symbol that embodies her sister.
By painting an infinity symbol with green watercolor ink, I symbolized how the intertwining paint reflects the everlasting spirit of Emery’s sister. I also incorporated dark acrylic paint for the edges of the canvas to illustrate how the darkness of Emery’s life is slowly dulled by the hope she gains from the sycamore tree.
Additionally, I decorated strips of hanji, traditional Korean paper, with significant phrases from my favorite written works. By entangling literature with nature, I connected the themes of the novel with my life by adding my own ‘sycamore tree.’
Luminous Influence
Inspired by the novel ‘Juniper Hill’ by Devney Perry, I created a painting that displays the effect of positive energy. In several stories, there’s often a character that uplifts another character’s life with bright and optimistic influence. Specifically in this novel, the main character, Memphis, slowly influences her neighbor to become an open and honest person through her inspiring guidance.
This piece depicts a streetlight safely hidden within the shadows of surrounding trees. The light coming from the bulb reflects onto the dark leaves, brightening the environment. I wanted to illustrate how a streetlight, which symbolizes a lively character, can slowly melt into other lives.
To further convey that the streetlight emblemized Memphis, I outlined a woman’s side profile into the center of the piece so that her hair would essentially be the expanding light. I also added hopeful affirmations in colored pencils to show the blooming effect of positive energy.
Spinning Tales Collection
Echoing Creativity
When I first read ‘Radio Silence’ by Alice Oseman, I was immediately overwhelmed with feelings of empathy. As a student with a mom as an academic counselor, it was relatable to read the story of a girl struggling with academic validation. The main character of the story has lived her entire life believing that she needs to be the best student to be successful in life, which eventually depletes her life of creativity. Over the course of the story, she begins to reopen her creative imagination through her favorite radio channel.
With the use of acrylic paint, I painted a creative depiction of what I imagined while reading this book. The foreground shows a dim ‘box’ that depicts how Frances was confined in her perfectionist mental state. The addition of books further shows her deep involvement with her studies. Contrastingly, the background of the artwork includes warm and passionate colors. Through the radio at the center of the piece, the new vision shows a fresh perspective.
Spinning Tales Collection
Spinning Tales Collection
A Nature's Embrace
This art piece was developed as a metaphor stemming from the inspiring novel, ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ by Jenny Han. In the book, two families visit the same beach house every summer to escape from their difficult realities, and the beach often becomes a sanctuary where the families are able to destress and refresh their minds for another year.
By blending the mutual feelings found in nature, I created this art piece to be a symbol of how my familial surroundings affect my life. I first depicted a beautiful sunset to resemble my parents’ warmth and brightness. As I then crafted the beach waves, I recognized how the chaos represents life, something not linear or predictable. I similarly added other elements, including clouds and winds. I lastly integrated myself into this artwork through the green leaves. Similar to a leaf, I grow and develop surrounded by the passion and strength around me – the water, sunlight, and environment.
Spinning Tales Collection
Synesthetic Wonders
During my childhood, I read a book called ‘A Mango Shaped Space’ by Wendy Mass. It was the first time I discovered what synesthesia was: a mental phenomenon that causes the brain to mix up unrelated senses, causing people to experience several senses from one stimulus. I immediately found the concept fascinating and unique. The book remained one of my favorite books all these years and was easily an influence I thought of to create this artwork.
Each ‘book’ in the artwork includes a little figure related to the phrase on the page. Additionally, the big word on the side of each book confirms the main concept of each section. The phrases incorporate the concept of synesthesia since they all combine two different senses. For example, one of the phrases says, “The melting popsicle tastes damp,” which doesn’t necessarily make sense since one can’t taste dampness, but it’s what people with synesthesia experience.
Crafting Covers Collection
'Unknown Constellation' Book Cover
For ‘Crafting Covers,’ I designed book covers for my self-published novels, integrating my dedicated passion for writing with my artistic passion for graphic design.
I illustrated the book cover for my second self-published novel, ‘Unknown Constellation.’ The dystopian novel is about a timid college student named Maeve who’s socially awkward and unacceptable. As a space science major, she attempts to involve herself in a group project so she can win an internship at a well-known space agency. Along the way, she suddenly finds a clue related to her long-lost mom, and the project starts to sidetrack into a mystery.
With graphic design using Photoshop, Illustrator, and Indesign, I created a simple cover including elements that are crucial points in the story, such as the telescope that leads Maeve to her first clue and the towering space agency buildings that end up solving Maeve’s final mystery.
Crafting Covers Collection
'The Takeback' Book Cover
This is the illustration for my first self-published novel, ‘The Takeback.’ The novel is also about a girl named Elyna who lives in the year 2222. In a world built upon advanced technology, Elyna struggles to go against her society and reveal the truth behind the government’s advancement plans. On her journey, Elyna meets a new friend, X, who continues to follow her through multiple obstacles. Elyna continues to suspect his real identity, but the two foster a real friendship and encounter more friends who guide them through the mission.
I helped illustrate and typeset the book cover through graphic design, integrating symbolic elements, including the fireworks and city buildings, from the story into the design.
Fusing Art Collection
Bookmarks
In the collection, ‘Fusing Art,’ I intertwined visual art with accessibility by crafting pieces that could be utilized for everyday or casual use. I hoped to use my artistic abilities to spread my passion and love for literature to others.
For this piece, I cropped detailed bookmarks from six of my art pieces through graphic design, integrating art and convenience.
Fusing Art Collection
Book Fair
As someone who often integrates various passions, I merged my passion for collaborative storytelling and books with my artistic capabilities. Motivated by the vibrant book fairs I've experienced, I crafted a simple eye-catching poster to promote a community book fair. This visually engaging design serves as an invitation to potential visitors, aiming to draw more people into our community. When I visited other exhibitions, I quickly realized that posters and handouts are often first impressions. Since I wanted to express the warmth and comfort that reading brings to people, I illustrated ‘fuzzy’ and mellow designs.
These illustrations were designed through Adobe platforms that allow me to engage in various graphic designs. I explored diverse colors, styles, and fonts to find an aesthetically pleasing and captivating design.
In addition to the official book fair poster, I designed colorful name tags, badges, phone cases, and tote bags that align with the poster’s aesthetics to hopefully be distributed as free souvenirs during the book fair.
Fusing Art Collection
Book Master Calendar
When I discovered the concept of a ‘book master,’ also known as a mentor who regularly shares book recommendations through quotes, summaries, or themes, I was immediately drawn to the innovative and fascinating process of monthly recommendations. As someone who often plasters quotes onto desks, calendars, and journals for motivation, I found myself wanting to be a book master by crafting a unique book calendar. With graphic design, I designed my calendar with simplicity while also adding bursts of vibrant colors and visuals, making it both convenient and visually stimulating.
Each month's page showcases the complete calendar alongside a carefully selected quote from a beloved book. By blending the purpose of a book master with the convenience of a calendar, I developed this piece by imagining the interest and enthusiasm I could foster by recommending quotes from 12 of my favorite books.
