HWAJODO: Flowers and Birds in Korean American Art explores the diverse portrayals and symbolism of nature in traditional Korean art and in the works of four Los Angeles-area Korean American artists.

Join exhibition curator Meher McArthur for a panel discussion with HWAJODO artists Dave Young Kim, Dana Weiser, Hei Myung Hyun, and Jane Park Wells to learn about their artistic motivation, their processes, and their views on cultural and artistic identity.

Included in the price of admission or membership, no advance registration required. Meets in the Sturt Haaga Gallery.

This program is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture.

About the artists

Dave Young Kim was born and raised in California, and specializes in large-scale work, particularly murals that often incorporate Korean natural motifs and cultural symbols and typically address the search for a place to call home,

As a Korean adoptee in an American family, Dana Weiser examines ways in which culture is assumed and constructed. In her ceramics and intricate hand-embroidery, she references Korean folk paintings and hanbok fabrics, and plays with traditional imagery.

Hei Myung Hyun left South Korea in the late 1960s for the United States, where she continued her studies of Western painting. She focuses on nature and its many spiritual qualities, as well as the tension between cultural, temporal, and stylistic contrasts.

Jane Park Wells came to the United States in the 1960s and studied Western art in Southern California. Her abstract compositions, typically built up of meandering lines that follow a mathematical structure, are often inspired by nature, from decaying flowers and vines to elegant cranes.