Whether it be designing school merchandise or creating posters to advocate for volunteer opportunities at Poly Prep, Zoe Kim ’27 has continuously demonstrated her art’s importance to the school community as well as to herself.
Kim was first introduced to art at a very young age and has since created many different works, many of which have been praised and highlighted by the Poly community. Kim has also learned to experiment with a multitude of different mediums to create her art. She explores styles from painting and sculpting to designing comic books and magazines. In previous years, her work has also been showcased along the school’s hallways, with one of her drawings even placing third in a school art contest a couple of years ago.
Kim’s exposure to the world of art began with her mother, Julie Kim, who is a violinist, painter and graphic designer, touring Europe as an electric violinist in the band ‘My Robot Friend.’ Kim says that her mother “has [also] designed for a bunch of magazines, including ‘Harper’s Bazaar,’ ‘Architectural Digest,’ ‘Bon Appétit’ and ‘Departures.’” Her mother designed CD covers and posters for her band as well, and additionally created a poster for the Whitney Biennial, a major exhibition of contemporary American art that is held every two years in New York City. Kim’s interest in her mother’s work became one of her greatest inspirations to create her own art, and she has been able to continue creating because of her mother’s constant support and encouragement of her. “Witnessing how much she puts into her art and the joy that it brings to her and the people around her is inspiring. It made me want to be like her,” said Kim.
Another major inspiration for her art came from her uncle, Blaze Metoyer. Kim says that during his lifetime, he created many drawings, comics and tags in a “cartoony style,” which served as a great motivation for her to create her own art. So, while Kim’s love and passion for visual arts has been largely impacted by her mother, she also claimed that, “the art I enjoy making more closely resembles my uncle’s pieces.” Kim shared, “From when I first saw his drawings in second grade, I was fully convinced he was the coolest artist in the world,” and, as a result, began looking through his old work to find inspiration for her own style.
On top of these inspired drawings and paintings, Kim is also a co-leader of Poly’s Ceramics Club. “Although I am not nearly as confident in working with clay as I am with other mediums, I still find myself in the ceramics studio at least a couple of times a week,” she said. Additionally, her ceramics teacher, Visual Arts Faculty Member Yonghwi Kim, commented, “Zoe is a creative, passionate and conscientious artist who approaches every project with curiosity and care.” It is relevant that Kim has continued to improve at and master many different art mediums throughout her high school career, even despite some being out of her comfort zone.
Art even has a significant role in Kim’s school life, when she is not creating during her free time. “In every class, I draw in my notebook or in the margins of worksheets,” said Kim. She also uses her passion for art to create interesting and creative presentations for her class projects as well. Kim explained, “I could not imagine what my life would be like without being able to draw every single day.”