Glass artist Eunsuh Choi creates flame-worked sculptures that narrate her journey to the United States. After earning a masters in fine art from Kookmin University in South Korea, Eunsuh earned a second MFA at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. Her ethereal glass pieces integrate her personal philosophy and experiences living in the West with elements of her Eastern heritage. Eunsuh considers them “portraits of moments of personal growth.”
Eunsuh is an award-winning artist who lectures and leads workshops worldwide. She enjoys working larger than life. Her 12-foot sculpture “Aspiration” is in the permanent collection of the Corning Museum of Glass. Eunsuh has exhibited in Europe, Asia, and throughout the US. Her intricate creations have been featured in the New Glass Review, Niche, and American Craft. Themes of ascension, aspiration, and growth are symbolized by the forms of ladders and trees.
“Although the tree holds many sacred and symbolic connotations, it is apparent that I am interested in using it to make a metaphorical connection to the spirit of human aspiration,” Eunsuh tells NOT REAL ART. “I use the malleable qualities of glass to bend and curve the material into frozen renderings of limbs and branches that ethereally reach toward some invisible goal above them. Some of the more interesting pieces are those in which I integrate the organic motion of the limbs with the stoic stature of the ladder form.”
In addition to running her own studio, Eunsuh is an instructor at the Roc Art and Flame Center in Rochester, a training center for welding, glass, and blacksmithing. She recently taught a workshop to aspiring race car builders from RIT. In 2021, her work was part of the exhibition Diffusion/Cohesion at the Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery in New York and featured by Donghwa Ode Gallery at Art Miami.
Eunsuh looks forward to supporting herself as a full-time artist, but is still striving to achieve that goal. In the meantime, the art world continues to benefit from her community outreach, willingness to share her skills with others, and luminous creative spirit.
“I use the malleable qualities of glass to bend and curve the material into frozen renderings of limbs and branches that ethereally reach toward some invisible goal above them.” — Eunsuh Choi
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All photos published with permission of the artist(s).
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