Artist statement

My work investigates contemporary social phenomena through visual documentation. I approach my practice as a recorder of the present, translating ongoing events, collective behaviors, and subtle social tensions into material and spatial forms. I believe that documentation is not passive observation, but an active engagement with history; what is recorded today shapes how the future understands our time.

Having grown up in Korea—a society formed through rapid transformation after colonialism and war—I am attentive to how historical experiences continue to surface in everyday life. While Korean culture is now widely visible on a global stage, its deeper sensibilities often exist beneath recognizable forms. My work focuses on these less-visible layers, capturing moments where history, humor, and contemporary life intersect.

I often draw from haehak, a form of Korean humor that allows critique to coexist with empathy. Through ordinary yet symbolic elements such as communal dining, habitual gestures, and shared spaces, I explore how social values are maintained, negotiated, or quietly challenged. These scenes function as fragments of a living archive rather than fixed narratives.

Glass is my primary material due to its transparency and fragility, which allow me to control perception and articulate the unstable conditions of the present. I also work with video and installation to construct situations that may not exist in reality, expanding the conditions of observation. My works range from static objects to interactive environments, inviting viewers to reconsider their relationship to the social space they inhabit.

Biography

Silver (Eun Hyung) Kim is a Korean-born glass artist based in South Korea. Her interdisciplinary practice integrates glass, video, and installation to examine Korean cultural identity, food rituals, and collective memory shaped by modern history. She holds an MFA in Glass from Rochester Institute of Technology, where her thesis project, Being Korean, explored Korean identity through Hansik, humor, and historical memory. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at Prague Castle, Pittsburgh Glass Center, UrbanGlass, and other juried exhibitions in the United States and abroad. Kim’s practice is recognized for its conceptual use of glass as a narrative and cultural medium.

Education

2021 - 2024 Rochester Institute of Technology, MFA, Glass
2014 - 2019 Hongik University, BFA in Metal art and design, Wood working & furniture design, ceramic & glass
2011 - 2014 Seoul Arts high school

Workshop

2025

Keep It Simple by Matt Eskuche

Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Lathe Engraving for Flameworkers by Kit Paulson

Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA, USA

2024

Sculpting the imagination by Chris Ahalt

Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

2022

Thinking Through Cast Glass by Richard Whiteley

Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY, USA

Explorating in Cold Working by Jiyong Lee

Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY, USA

Woodturning for the Human Hand by Janine Wang

Arrowmont School of Art and Craft, Gatlinburg, TN, USA

Work experience

2025

Senior tech apprenticeship and seasonal instructor

Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

2024

Tech apprenticeship

Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

2023

College of Art and Design gallery assistant