Jane Kim of Ink Dwell

April 21, 2023 by Akiko Tsuji

Photographs by Akiko Tsuji

Jane Kim at her Ink Dwell studio. Scarf, dress and shoes by AKIKO TSUJI.

Tucked away near the harbor of Half Moon Bay, I enter Jane Kim’s studio through an inconspicuous glass door, and I find myself in a room that appears like a space out of a natural history museum. Plants are visible throughout the space and an exposed high ceiling meets a partially painted white mural wall. I see color swatches next to an oversized painting of a mouse, and a large printout of a section of a beautiful Monarch butterfly, while large and small tools are placed neatly throughout. Then there is a taxidermied bear gently gazing toward the entrance. I spot spreads from the monthly science publication magazine that features Jane’s illustrations of local animals which include mammals, sea creatures, birds, plants, and insects.

Jane wears the Crocheted Circle scarf and the Billow dress.

Jane Kim is a visual artist, science illustrator, and the founder of Ink Dwell Studio working closely with her business partner and husband, Thayer Walker. Ink Dwell “creates art that explores the beauty and complexity of nature” and their most notable, and powerful works are murals such as the Wall of Birds at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. A project in which every single bird is painted life-size, which took her team about 17 months from its conception to finish. In addition, the studio has produced works for the National Aquarium, the de Young Museum, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, and more.

Another notable work of Ink Dwell is the Migrating Mural campaign, a series of public installations highlighting wildlife along human-inhabited migration corridors. Seeing the reproduction of animals painted on the walls of the structures along the highways and overpasses is soothing and brings out curiosity. As they are scientifically accurate, they cast an aura that is serious and informative without any verbal messaging.

With Cliff the bear. Jane wears the Tulip M dress and the All-over shrug.

The amount of care Jane puts into painting - the precision of colors and details - brings life to these animals. As I capture her in these outfits, the artist moves around the studio talking about her work with the same warm, insightful, and welcoming spirit. As she shows me an illustration of a spiny lobster I realize how little I know about the plethora of wildlife that exists so close to me here in the Bay Area!

Akiko: Where does the name Ink Dwell derive from?

Jane: When I was a student at CSUMB in Science Illustration, I started a blog called Ink-Dwell. Yes, there used to be a hyphen between the two words. It was a play on words—work that is “Inked Well” and depicts places I like to Dwell, nature. This name carried over.

Jane in the Reverse top and the custom Balcony denim pants.

A: You have acquired a master’s certificate in science illustration, were you always interested in the field of science, animals, and biology? Which came first, art or science?

J: My love of art and nature has defined me my whole life. The way I integrate biology and science developed over time.

A: Do the current or ongoing concerns of diminishing local species such as the Monarch butterflies drive you to be more active in the field of habitat conservation? If so, what are the things you are involved in?

J: Absolutely. Our work is our activation and contribution to habitat conservation. First and foremost, Ink Dwell’s work starts with driving awareness. In addition, many of our projects drive restoration efforts. In the case of the Monarch butterfly, the majority of our Migrating Murals resulted in our partners planting and restoring the surrounding landscape with native nectar-producing plants. Weber State University planted two acres of native milkweed as a result of our collaboration!

Jane’s illustrations of the local animals and plants.

A: How easy or difficult is it to invite or encourage the Monarch butterflies back to a new or old habitat?

J: I like to say, if you plant it, they will come. And if not monarchs, planting native nectar plants will absolutely attract pollinators of all kinds and that impact is hugely important.

A: What effects do you hope to achieve through your mural works? What are some obstacles? Frustrations?

J: I hope to create collective consciousness around our surrounding environment. There are truly those who do not care about nature or even actively dislike it. How to make nature appealing or interesting to this group is one of my biggest challenges and frustrations.

Jane in the Billow dress and the All-over slip ons.

A: Which was your favorite project?

J: The Wall of Birds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It is equal parts art, education, and science illustration and is also free to the public.

A: What mediums do you use and which are your favorites?

J: For murals and paintings, I use latex and acrylic paints. But I love to explore different mediums and sometimes rely on the narrative of the piece to drive what medium I use.

Jane holds a sand in glass piece wearing the Billow dress and the Crocheted Circle scarf.

A: Can you tell me about the sand in the glass piece?

J: As an artist-in-residence at San Francisco’s de Young Museum, I explored the concepts of ecology, sociology, and technology in the Bay Area by highlighting the relationship between native and non-native species in Golden Gate Park. In Golden Gate Park, this relationship has played out for more than a century. Originally a sand dune ecosystem, the park is entirely man-made. Today, through careful management, the park provides a home to a blend of native and non-native species. San Francisco’s original habitat was coastal scrub and sand dunes.

Today we stand on an artifact of human creation. Ocean Beach represents a tiny glimpse of San Francisco’s native habitat. Ocean Beach sand was collected and preserved inside the hand-blown glass. The glass started as a perfect sphere, representing a human’s ability to shape and control. The introduction of sand to the molten hot glass spheres creates organic and uncontrollable changes to the object’s overall form, representing nature.

A: What are your concerns, hopes, and mission for the future?

J: Oof. This is a big question. I have so many concerns! BUT….I also see the collective consciousness around the importance of sustainability and Earth care growing. This certainly gives me hope. Ultimately, I would love to see our country be humble enough to say that we made some serious mistakes in our system development and that we will be brave enough to develop new ones.

A: Can you tell me about your current and/or future projects?

Holding a scale model of the water tank that will be painted in Sunnyvale. Jane in the Tulip M dress and the All-over Shrug.

J: One future project that I am most looking forward to is with the town of Mariposa. In spring 2019, the Mariposa County Planning Department and Mariposa County Arts Council were jointly awarded support from the National Endowment for the Arts’ Our Town program to develop a countywide Creative Placemaking Strategy. This effort was recommended in several community planning and direction-setting initiatives, especially the Mariposa County General Plan (2006), including the Economic Development, Arts and Culture, and Regional Tourism Elements, each of which contains goals, policies, and programs that weave together economic development objectives with efforts to enhance and celebrate Mariposa County’s cultural identity and sense of place.

In addition to the General Plan, the Mariposa County Economic Vitality Strategy (2017) also recommends the development of a coordinated and strategic approach to conceptualizing, investing in, and managing creative placemaking projects in the county. We will be painting two murals this fall and collaborated with Atlas Lab in Sacramento to design welcome gates on either end of town. Currently, we are preparing to begin painting a mural on a massive water tank in the city of Sunnyvale honoring the Bayland ecosystem.

Jane in the Tulip M dress, the All-over shrug and the All-over slip-ons.

A: Some fun questions. What’s your favorite activity?

J: Karaoke!

A: Favorite books?

J: “The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny” I can’t recommend this book enough. I am reading it for a second time. I believe that it should be part of every high school AND college curriculum.

A: Favorite food or drink?

J: Gin martinis with a lemon.

Jane in the Reverse top and the custom Balcony denim pants. Shoes: artist’s own.

Details clockwise from top: Great blue herons, Black-tailed deer, Eastern grey tree squirrels, and Grey fox. Photos: Ink Dwell

One Monarch mural in San Francisco. Photo: Ink Dwell

To find out more visit Ink Dwell.

Kija Lucas

December 20, 2022 by Akiko Tsuji

Photographs by Akiko Tsuji

How should we address the concern of mislabelling? Even when well-intended, the way we decide to label things “properly” often leaves out many attributes that aren’t included in a list of pre-conceived categories. One of the first explorers to establish frameworks of categorization was the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, referred to as “The father of modern taxonomy”, who used scientific labeling to fence off definitions. In response, the SF artist Kija Lucas raises long overdue questions on these limitations and provides new answers on the matter through her visual work in her exhibition “A Taxonomy of Belonging”.

I met with Kija at the newly relocated SF Camerawork Space at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture and after walking through the glass doors, I followed a line of sharply framed prints of oversized plants straight into the back of the white gallery space. A synthetic fidelity of colors emerges from the pitch-dark background of each image which speaks equally to technical precision and random form. The plants in these photographs are not perfect. Some are wilted, and they are positioned organically in their frames yet through Kija’s hand they’ve become intentional and purposeful. As these labels of ‘plant representation’ elevate each other to new meanings I remember Wabi-sabi, the Japanese aesthetic view of seeing beauty in imperfection and impermanence while the act of colliding of precision and poetics make me remember the films of Andrei Tarkovsky.

Kija grew up in Palo Alto in the '80s. And unlike fitting with the image of a stereotypical privileged Stanford community, her dad worked in the gardening business, and her mom worked for San Mateo County. Throughout her life, she stayed in the Bay Area moving several times back and forth between Oakland and the city, and now she's back in Oakland where she is happy to be with her loved ones. When I asked about her ancestors, she is of Ashkenazi from Poland, Russia, and Moldova, and African and English descent and they were spread across 13 states. The exhibition is also a collection of work from the last 9 years in which she visited those states and collected the plants and documented them - some are native, some not. ‘If they don’t fit in the established categories, does that mean they’re not worth anything?’

Kija wears the Entrance Mantle and Pants #4.

Akiko: As an artist, curator, and educator, where do you work, who do you teach, and what do you curate?

Kija: I recently started as Curator of The Arts at CIIS. California Institute of Integral Studies has several exhibition spaces including the Desai | Matta Gallery. I have been co-curating with my predecessor for the past several months, as she had exhibitions planned ahead when I started. It is important to me to have a pluralism of voices in the gallery, and exhibit work that engages with and represents folks from various communities. I have been working to plan exhibitions where the spaces on different floors of the building speak to one another, but each artist approaches the subject matter from a unique perspective.

I just taught my final course (for the time being) at Mills College at North Eastern. I have also taught at San Francisco State, DeAnza College, the ICP and Pace in New York (online) and various community arts spaces and corporations which offer art classes and workshops.

Akiko: What was the defining moment when you decided to pursue a career in art? How old were you, and who or what inspired you?

Kija: I was about 22 years old and I was offered a way to advance my career at an insurance company. This was the third time something like this had happened. I would start answering phones somewhere and get offered a promotion to a new position. After a while, I would get incredibly bored and leave the job. I am now learning that this might have been a symptom of ADHD. It would get to the point where it would almost feel like torture to go to work,

A the same time, I was taking photography courses at a community college. I went home to talk to my grandmother and was in tears telling her that I knew that a life in insurance wasn't for me and I wanted to go to college full time to study art. I was scared, because I had dropped out of High School at 15, and the only classes I had passed since then were art classes. My grandmother gave me permission and encouragement to stop working and go to school full-time, and I started that summer. I didn't know that I would be able to be an artist, but I knew that I had found something that challenged me and kept my interest. The pursuit of art also helped me to focus on my other courses, because I could see a reason for taking them.

Kija in the Entrance Mantle and Pants #4.

Akiko: What do you aim to achieve through your artwork? Over the years, has your aim ever shifted, or has it stayed?

Kija: I wish to communicate my ideas. To be part of a bigger conversation. I am a visual communicator. I don't always know how to say the thing I want to say, but I know how to show it.

Akiko: Your favorite authors?

Kija: Octavia Butler, Zadie Smith.

Akiko: Who are your favorite artists?

Kija: There is such a big list. I really love the work of so many local artists, (an abridged list) Mildred Howard, Leila Weefur, Trina Michelle Robinson, Ebti, Tamara Suarez Porras, Claudia Huenchuleo Paquin, Nyame Brown, Yvette Molina, Norma I. Quintana, Alicia Escott, Michael Hall, Julia Ann Goodman, Angela Hennessy, Libby Black, Mik and May Gaspay, Weston Teruya, Rachelle Reichert, Miguel Arzabe, Nimah Gobir, David Huffman... there are so many really great artists here whose work I love so much. I think I could fill a page or maybe a book listing them. A lot of not-local folks too (also abridged) Rodney Ewing, Melissa Joseph, Samuel Levi Jones, Bethany Collins, Carrie Mae Weems, Karla Diaz (she is up in the Desai | Matta at CIIS right now), Jonas Becker, the list goes on!

Akiko: Do you have favorite things to do outside of creating art?

Kija: I really like spending time with friends and loved ones. I don't know that I have a lot of activities. I was big on Power Lifting for a few years (not-competitively), but I haven't lifted for like 6 months. My lover got me some roller skates last year, and we go skating sometimes, but I am a bit of a scaredy cat. The older I get the more scary falling gets. I also like hanging out with my dog, Handsome. He is funny.

Akiko: What types of food do you like?

Kija: Things with cheese, things with avocado. Meat salads. Popsicles. Pretty much anything my man cooks, and anything my brothers cook, they are all really good cooks!

Akiko: Coffee or tea?

Kija: Coffee with half and half, or a cappuccino, or matcha. I hated coffee until I was 30, and now I drink it every day.

The exhibition “A Taxonomy of Belonging” is up until December 23rd. Visit Kija Lucas for more.

The Artists of the Secret Meadow

November 03, 2022 by Akiko Tsuji

Photographs by Akiko Tsuji

Renée, Alicia, and Cheryl in the denim happy coats and cropped jacket over the sculpted dresses.

Alicia Escott, Renée Rhodes, and Cheryl Meeker

On a brisk, late October morning, I met with the artists Alicia Escott, Renée Rhodes, and Cheryl Meeker at Buena Vista Park in San Francisco. I wanted to learn more about these three amazing women and their long-term mission to restore and preserve nature increasingly at risk by the world’s lack of addressing small and large environmental urgencies. This photo shoot is part a documentary and part a fashion editorial. It seemed such a fitting concept as I always make clothes with inspiring artists in mind.

Established in 1867, Buena Vista Park is the oldest park in San Francisco. It has been home to an abundance of trees, some indigenous to this region such as coast oak, toyon, coyote brush, and some not, like the eucalyptus, ehrharta grass, foxtail grass, ivy, and blackberry. The park stretches across 36 acres in central San Francisco with its peak at 575 feet above sea level giving a stunning view of the city including the Golden Gate Bridge, the Pacific Ocean, and Golden Gate Park. Even from the mid-section of the steep hill, one can get glimpses of quite pretty views of the city - layers of washed pastel-colored buildings reflecting the sunlight into the distance through the openings of the oak trees.

Renée wears Art Scarf D and Billow dress.

During the pandemic, Alicia and Renée took the baton from a friend who started this particular site restoration, and Cheryl came on board when they realized they were all thinking about convergent projects with oak ecologies. “We all live close to the park so this volunteer work is a meaningful way to give back and live in reciprocity to the land we share.” These artists’ ultimate goal for this site restoration is that what they plant and care for will eventually be fully able to thrive within the natural water cycle in San Francisco and become drought tolerant.

Cheryl wears cropped denim jacket and wool One Flower dress.

A short walk from the playground, the restoration site is slightly shielded away from the trail on a slope that is mostly covered with a bed of soft plants. Even in October and it has been dry, perhaps due to the frequent dense fog, the oak leaves and the surrounding plants were still quite green. Renée mentioned that much of the plants they planted amidst the grasses are perennial plants – horkelia, yarrow, coast buckwheat, and Douglas iris. When the late morning sun started to peek through the trees, the grasses shined golden.

Alicia wears Art Scarf B and Simone dress.

The small yellow flags spread around the center of the site indicating where California fescue and purple needlegrass were planted. According to the group, they are drought-tolerant native California grasses that have deep root systems which can sequester carbon from our air and bury it deep in the land similar to a tree but are more resilient to a future with hotter fires. “This rainy season, we will be working with the Naturals department to select other plants to build the diversity in the meadow," says Alicia.

Alicia finds an oak sapling. Wears the Reversible Artist Denim Happy Coat.

One day a week, the artists would gather here and pull the weeds around, water them if they were just transplanted out of season, and keep their eyes out for any disturbance to the straw ground cover they have put down from coyotes or other animals including humans. Near it was a mid-sized grown spiraling bark of one oak tree that caught my eye. On its bark, there was a sapling, and this was "stump sprouting" meaning its growing forth was from a still-living root system from a tree that had been cut down. As I looked up, it was fascinating to see the even more spiraling barks and branches spreading out into the sky.

Cheryl, Renée and Alicia in sculpted dresses.

A jay came by around us surprisingly close, and I was told that it was expecting a feed from the acorns recently ripened. As we walked around, there was a small oak sapling from the ground. The group explained to me that it was acorn-sprouted, and "likely a local scrub jay buried an acorn there (to eat it later) from the tree behind it and forgot about it. This is often how oaks are propagated."

Each of the artists has made ecological-related work over the years and has increasingly incorporated habitat restoration and regeneration topics into their practices. "The line there is blurry for each of us. We have let this project unfold without defining it, and I think we are unsure if for us it is an art project or just habitat restoration. What we do know is that our weekly meetings are regenerative, that we feel we are building community together, and with our contacts at the park through moving our bodies and being in dialogue — but we are also building non-human community relationships and that it feels good. I am personally increasingly interested in a practice that makes art for both human and non-human audiences. I am interested in letting this work unfold over the years and not defining its purpose before it is ready."

THE ARTISTS

Alicia Escott is an interdisciplinary artist based in the land currently called San Francisco. She/they practices in solidarity with thinkers across fields undoing the construct of “nature” as a thing separated from us and our world. @alicia_escott

Renée Rhodes creates social sculptures, videos, books, gardens, and walks that explore geological empathy, mimicry, and the creation of place-based memory through somatic practices. @reneearhodes

Cheryl Meeker is a visual artist working in a variety of media, touching on the fundamentals of sustenance in our economically and environmentally destabilized world. @cherymeeker