Olivia Kim
Olivia Kim was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Rochester, New York as a child. From an early age, she studied dance, theatre, instrumental and vocal music, and visual arts. This allowed her to develop her understanding of the common creative link between disparate art forms. Olivia’s mixed cultural upbringing kept her from being fixed to any one social group, allowing her to more objectively investigate common links in the human experience. She has traveled throughout America, Asia, Europe, Central and South America to explore the cultures of the ancient to recent past. She incorporates a wide range of materials
At the New York State College of Ceramics, School of Art and Design at Alfred University of Alfred, New York, she studied techniques in printmaking, painting, wood carving and ceramic sculpture. She graduated cum laude with Divisional Honors in Ceramic Sculpture in 2001. From 2001-2004 she completed a 3-year Certificate program with fourth year specialization in realist drawing and sculpting the human figure at the Florence Academy of Art. At the FAA she was a drawing instructor to the sculpture students, and received Prize for Best Sculpture upon graduation.
In 2005 she moved to the towns of Carrara and Pietrasanta, Italy to learn techniques in bronze casting and stone carving. For five years she produced public and private commissions in stone, bronze, and mural painting alongside teaching and exhibiting her work in Europe. In 2009 she briefly returned to the FAA to study oil painting. Her return to Rochester, NY in 2010 has led to the development of works that address the experience of living and moving in a human body. Empathy, direct practice, kinesiology and biomechanics are the foundation of her understanding of poses. Her work is executed in the medium appropriate to the particular expression being conveyed: cast glass, bronze, terra-cotta, paper, oils or drawing mediums.
Presently she is producing a body of work based on everyday movement and dance forms. She has collaborated with Futurepointe Dance and Natalie Rogers-Cropper with Garth Fagan Dance Company. Herwork has recently been added to the permanent collection at the Burchfield Art Center in Buffalo, NY in March 2015. Olivia’s artwork is displayed publicly and privately in Europe, Australia, and the USA.