Professional Statements & CV

윤경 김
Sep 30, 2025
7 min read

Updated: Oct 30, 2025

ARTIST STATEMENT

I create immersive, interactive stories that invite people to question what “home” means. Born in South Korea and raised in Thailand, I now work in the United States, bringing a multicultural perspective that shapes everything I create. My work explores belonging and cultural reclamation, using technology as a bridge for empathy and shared understanding.

My current MFA thesis, Echoes of Home (formerly Shifting Grounds: Finding Home Within), blends Unreal Engine with AI-driven interactions to build adaptive environments where visitors reflect on memory, displacement, and the fragile ways we define home. Through motion design, real-time 3D, and responsive systems, I translate abstract ideas of identity and belonging into immersive, sensory experiences.

I’m drawn to tools that expand storytelling—game engines, AI, and motion graphics—not for their novelty, but for their ability to connect people across cultures and perspectives. By combining human-centered narratives with emerging technology, I aim to create spaces where audiences can slow down, feel, and see themselves in the stories of others.

TEACHING STATEMENT

I believe teaching and learning are ongoing practices, grounded in curiosity, self-motivation, and the desire to create. My role as an educator is to nurture this curiosity, guiding students to transform ideas into tangible outcomes by equipping them with the necessary tools, frameworks, and professional practices. Education is a lifelong journey that happens in many contexts, but the classroom provides a focused environment to explore, experiment, and grow in a space of support, dialogue, and reflection. My goal is not simply for students to absorb information, but to help them apply knowledge in ways that are meaningful to their creative vision and professional trajectory.

To implement this philosophy, I structure my courses to balance foundational knowledge with open-ended exploration. I begin by grounding students in design principles, technical skills, and professional workflows, then provide opportunities to apply these foundations in ways that encourage individual voice and experimentation. For example, in Design Lab I, students arrive with highly varied backgrounds in Photoshop—some complete beginners, others with years of experience. I design the class in four parts: (1) a lecture on design principles, (2) a live demo for beginners while advanced students immediately begin exercises, (3) peer critique to sharpen critical thinking and feedback skills, and (4) assignment framing with clear submission guidelines. This layered structure ensures every student, regardless of skill level, leaves class with both conceptual growth and a practical takeaway.

Similarly, in 3D Virtual Worlds & Simulation, I assign weekly prompts tied to specific tools (landscape, particle systems, water, splines), but allow students to select their own references and approaches. This fosters both technical practice and self-directed creativity. Weekly presentations and critiques train students’ eyes for detail while encouraging professional communication. Larger projects mirror industry pipelines, requiring concept development, time management, iteration, and one-on-one mentorship. In 3D Modeling, Lighting & Rendering II, students progress from technical exercises in sculpting and texturing toward more complex, portfolio-ready projects that emphasize storytelling, reference research, and production pipelines. Across these courses, I balance rigor and flexibility, giving students both the confidence of mastery and the freedom to innovate.

The outcomes I aim for extend beyond technical proficiency. I want students to develop habits of ownership, critical reflection, and professional presentation. Through one-on-one mentorship and feedback sessions, students learn to articulate their production plans, challenges, and creative intentions, then refine their work through iterative feedback. I emphasize why each skill or principle matters—not only in the classroom but also in their future careers—so students can internalize learning as both valuable and relevant. My goal is for them to leave my courses with stronger portfolios, sharper critical eyes, and a deeper understanding of how to manage time, projects, and creative processes in professional contexts.

My approach is shaped by my own multicultural background and educational journey, where I experienced both privilege and scarcity in learning environments. I know firsthand how precious classroom time is, both in cost and in opportunity. I design my courses to maximize this time, ensuring that all students—whether they arrive with confidence, hesitation, or somewhere in between—are supported in finding their own growth. By combining technical instruction, creative exploration, and professional development, I aim to prepare students to succeed not only as designers and artists but as lifelong learners who continually seek out knowledge and improvement.

DEI STATEMENT (DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION)

As a Korean artist raised in Thailand and now working in the United States, my life has always existed at the intersection of cultures. This third-culture identity has shaped my core belief that sharing, understanding, and expressing one’s lived experience through art is essential to building inclusive communities. My commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is not an abstract value—it’s embedded in how I create, teach, and collaborate.

Growing up, I regularly visited a university classroom where my mother volunteered to teach Korean to underrepresented Thai students on weekends. From a young age, I helped with activities, slowly learning how to speak Thai and adapt to different cultural norms by being immersed in that space. That early exposure taught me the value of reciprocal cultural exchange—not just teaching, but also listening, learning, and connecting with others through language and care.

Years later, I carried that mindset into my role as a creative arts instructor at a refugee camp school for Pakistani children. Their access to education was limited—most classes were held by parents, focused only on the most essential lessons like math and English. Through a capstone project I designed, I introduced creative art as a means of expression and reflection. I reimagined everyday materials as tools for creative exploration—making art accessible and rooted in the students’ lived environment. We explored color, imagination, and storytelling—things often left out of survival-based education, yet essential for nurturing resilience and emotional growth. This experience deepened my empathy, allowed me to engage with their culture directly, and sparked a lifelong commitment to sharing knowledge and creative opportunities with others.

As an international student pursuing my undergraduate studies in the U.S., I founded KART (Korean Art and Culture) to create a space where students from diverse backgrounds could connect through creativity. We hosted a wide range of cultural and design-centered events—from Squid Game-inspired activities to traditional fan-making workshops to motion graphics dance video sessions. While the organization used Korean culture as a foundation for connection, it quickly grew into a space where everyone could share and learn from one another’s cultures. What united us wasn’t just curiosity, but creativity as a shared language. During my time as president, KART was honored as the “Most Outstanding New Student Organization,” and I continue to carry that passion for building joyful, collaborative creative communities.

Currently, as an MFA candidate and instructor at the University of Connecticut, I teach undergraduate students in courses such as Building Virtual Worlds & Simulation (Unreal Engine 5), 3D Modeling, Lighting, and Rendering (Cinema 4D, 3D Coat), and Design Lab (Adobe Creative Suite, design, film, and animation). I design these courses to be inclusive, exploratory, and conceptually open-ended, encouraging students to integrate their own cultural references, personal histories, and unique voices into their creative work. I aim to foster classrooms where diversity is not just acknowledged, but celebrated as an essential part of the learning and design process.

In my current graduate research, I continue to explore these values through my thesis project, Shifting Grounds: Finding Home Within. Built in Unreal Engine, the project invites users to navigate a symbolic, interactive environment shaped by memory, migration, and identity. It is both a personal reflection on cultural displacement and a broader invitation for others to reflect on their own sense of home. Through immersive storytelling and spatial design, I strive to create experiences that foster empathy, cultural awareness, and deeper understanding of belonging in digital and virtual spaces.

Across all of these experiences—teaching, leading, researching, and creating—I’ve witnessed how art and storytelling can cross barriers of language, nationality, and background. I strive to foster learning spaces and creative teams that are inclusive, reflective, and empathetic. I’m committed to mentoring underrepresented students, designing inclusive curriculum, and creating public-facing works that encourage connection across difference. Through my work, I hope to continue supporting a creative culture that values every voice and story.

CROSS-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH PROJECTS

Design for AI Experience (In Progress)

An educational, interactive AI-driven game exploring the life and legacy of a historical figure through storytelling and player interaction.
Funded by The Bushnell Performing Arts Center
Art Director role, overseeing visual direction, game development, and team coordination
Focused on blending AI technology, narrative design, and educational engagement in an immersive format

Beyond Nuremberg VR Quest

An immersive VR learning experience that brings archival materials from the Nuremberg Trials to life through interactive storytelling and game design.
Funded by a $25,000 Digital Projects for the Public award from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
Collaborating with UConn researchers to translate historical content into engaging educational experiences
Contributed to branding, logo design, motion graphics, and game asset creation

LOCOMOTION

An international research project developing a choreographic live coding platform, Estuary.
Developed and animated 3D avatars using motion-captured data
Collaborated with an international team of researchers, dancers, and developers
Presented the work at conferences, workshops, and live-performance venues
Supported by two grants from Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
A joint initiative between McMaster University (Canada) and Virginia Commonwealth University (USA)

Quantum Educational Animated Pilot

An educational 3D animated pilot for children ages 9–12, designed to introduce quantum science concepts and support STEM learning.
Funded by a $50K UConn Innovations in Quantum STEM Education Award
Oversaw project management and creative development
Mentored undergraduate research assistants in design and production workflows
Designed 3D characters and assets to visualize complex quantum ideas in an engaging, age-appropriate way

Data Visualization and Storytelling in VR

A multidisciplinary VR project designed to help engineering students visualize complex electromagnetic concepts through immersive, interactive experiences.
Modeled 3D assets representing abstract electromagnetic phenomena
Designed and optimized interactive VR environments in Unity Engine
Collaborated with engineers and developers to translate technical equations into spatial, visual metaphors for intuitive learning