About Juliana Kim

I have always enjoyed drawing, painting, and photography. My work didn’t allow much time for it, but I always brought watercolors when I traveled, painting en plein air. I retired a couple of years before my husband, Sam, so I could study at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, a cutting-edge school at the time.

When we moved to Hilton Head in 2003, I joined Art League of HH. I made a small studio in a sunroom, but I focused on oil painting the amazing Lowountry landscapes en plein air. A few of us formed a group, painting every week. I found that working outside enhanced the light, shadows, emotions. This knowledge also influences my studio work.

I am now fortunate to have a large art studio in our Hilton Head home. Previously, I had rented an 800-square-foot studio in Boston’s South End. For the first 8 years in HH, Sam and I returned to Boston for 5 months, partly so I could paint a seri”es to exhibit in the annual South End Art Studio Tour. The 3-day Tour in mid-September encompassed 350 studios with 12,000 visitors and I always sold out. So, when we gave up our 2nd home and studio to live here full-time, we designed and built a studio, with bathroom/shower, over the garage (convertible to bedrooms and/or media center).

My studio has wood-like linoleum that doesn’t stain, windows and skylights with northern light, warm fluorescent ceiling lights and spots, cabinets and counter, a stainless-steel sink, hi-level exhaust system, built-in racks for painting storage, with a built-in bookcase and a whatnot for my library corner. The south wall has no windows, with a drywall covered by a removable layer of whiteboard, on which I can paint serial canvases or hang an exhibit. I have used an old family bureau for a flat file (for unframed watercolor and painted panels) and a drafting table in the bay window overlooking a lagoon across the street. In the center, I have cradles for bin art and a wooden panel over plastic drawers for tools.

The past year I was in several exhibits: monthly group exhibits with Art League HHI and Society of Bluffton Artists; “Celebrating our Gifts” at First Presbyterian Church, Sept-Dec 2024; “Fall into Art”, a joint exhibit with artists of Sea Pines and Long Cove Club 9/26/24 – 1/13/25; Bluffton Urban Sketchers “Postcards from our Travels”, a digital show of National participants; Long Cove Club’s annual Arts & Crafts Exhibit.

Artwork examples