Drawing Lena Kim in words

PHOTO: Artwork by Lena Kim

By Rowan Reising

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Fingers caked in charcoal, graphite pencils strewn over the desk and eyebrows pinched tight in concentration: that’s the scene of senior Lena Kim’s art class.

Between soccer and lacrosse, family and friends, Kim hones in on her talent in art. Her drawings are largely influenced by politics, a topic close to her heart. Her mom is a federal attorney that represents the United States in court. “I’m in a unique position in terms of my understanding of government and my opinions and the federal government,” Kim said.

Exploring the shortcomings of the federal government, Kim stumbled across the huge difference in incarceration rates between the United States and countries like Finland. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, The U.S. prison population was 1,204,300 at year-end 2021, while according to Statista, Finland had a total of 2,804 prisoners.

“It’s [connected] to systematic racism and cycles of poverty,” she said.

Last year Kim created a portfolio confronting fear; an emotion that “fuels a lot of injustices I’ve noticed in society,” Kim said. Through this project, she was forced to sit side-by-side with her fears, drawing their every line. Some featured terrors are getting kidnapped, death and failure.

“Hopefully if people get the chance to see my drawings they might be momentarily forced to reflect (on)(?) their own fear and confront them, even for a second,” Kim said.

Kim explores these topics through graphite and charcoal, capturing a person’s essence through gray lines and smudges. This medium has great range in terms of shadow and highlights, allowing the creator to draw realism. A drawback to this style is restricted color range, as graphite pencils typically only come in black.

Currently Kim is beginning her second sustained investigation for her art class, studying the idea of unconditional love. Every student in Advanced Placement (AP) art classes has to do this as a way to take the AP exam at the end of the year.

Her muse for this exploration was a conversation with a peer that said that “he wouldn’t attend his future child’s wedding if it was a queer relationship,” she said. This talk made her question what unconditional love meant, and if it was even possible. Kim will explore the connections between parents and their kids, siblings and friends. 

“I see her forming stronger, more mature connections between imagery and meaning as she looks to her family for inspiration,” art teacher Kyle Monhollen said.

Kim started art class in her freshman year to avoid orchestra and satisfy her parents’ need for her to work on fine motor skills. 

“With practice comes progress, and Lena draws a lot so I see little improvements all the time,” Monhollen said. “This year she’s choosing to focus on human figures, executing fine details across media, and creating dynamic compositions.”

“In class she is very focused and follows the same process for most of her pieces,” senior Grace Fabionar said. First, Kim sketches in her book to form an idea, then works with a reference picture to layout her idea on a large piece of paper, finally filling it in with a charcoal stick and pencil, which she then cleans up with a kneaded eraser and blenders.

In the future, Kim aspires to be a Criminal Justice lawyer or politician, with a side of art postgraduate. “Maybe in the future I can use my art in relaying political messages,” she said.