Jane Kim (born 1981) is an American painter, science illustrator and the founder of the Ink Dwell studio. She is best known for her large-scale murals, created with the purpose of promoting advocacy of the natural world.

Biography

Jane Kim was born in 1981, and raised in Mount Prospect,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. Kim studied at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and received her B.F.A. in printmaking in 2003. She moved to San Francisco the same year of her graduation in 2003, living initially in the Tenderloin neighborhood. Kim later attended

California State University, Monterey Bay California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB or Cal State Monterey Bay) is a public university in Monterey County, California. Its main campus is located on the site of the former military base Fort Ord, straddling the cities of Seaside and ...

to study scientific illustration, graduating in 2010. In 2012, Kim started the process of creating the ''Migrating Mural,'' a series of six murals featuring

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspec ...

. The murals span 120 miles of California’s

Highway 395 Route 395 or Highway 395 may refer to: Canada * British Columbia Highway 395 * Manitoba Provincial Road 395 * New Brunswick Route 395 * Nova Scotia Route 395 * Quebec Route 395 Great Britain * A395 road Japan * Japan National Route 39 ...

. Fundraising for the project took place on the crowd funding platform,

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

. Kim was a featured artist in the Facebook Artist Residency program. Her work is located in a Facebook campus stairwell featuring graphic portraits of local, native birds and a second mural with illustrations of the local Facebook campus foxes. In 2015, Kim completed a 70-foot by 40-foot mural called the ''Wall of Birds'' at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

's Lab of Ornithology. The mural depicts 243 modern bird families, all life size and superimposed on a map of the earth. It took her two and a half years to complete the work. In 2016, Kim served as an artist-in-residency at the

De Young (museum) The de Young Museum, formally the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco, California. Located in Golden Gate Park, it is a component of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, along with the Legion of Honor ...

and explored the idea of native and non-native ecology in San Francisco. In 2017, Kim painted the ''Flora From Fauna'' series of six murals around

Redwood City Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a po ...

, California to commemorate a lost industry of the 1920s when Japanese immigrants were growing and exporting

chrysanthemum Chrysanthemums (), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants of the genus ''Chrysanthemum'' in the family Asteraceae. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia and the center ...

s from the city. Unfortunately much of the chrysanthemum industry was lost during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the internment of Japanese-Americans. InkDwell studio moved to

Half Moon Bay Half Moon Bay is a coastal city in San Mateo County, California, United States, approximately south of San Francisco. Its population was 11,795 as of the 2020 census. Immediately at the north of Half Moon Bay is Pillar Point Harbor and the un ...

, California in 2018 and is by appointment only.

Publications

Murals

This is a list of select murals completed by InkDwell studio and Jane Kim. * ''Migrating Mural'' (2012) featuring Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep in multiple murals, 120 mile stretch along Highway 395 in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

* ''Wall of Birds'' (2015)

's Lab of Ornithology,

Ithaca Ithaca most commonly refers to: *Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey'' *Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca *Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College Ithaca, Ithaka ...

, New York * ''Flora From Fauna'' (2017), six murals scattered around downtown,

, California *''Migrating Mural'' (2017), featuring an array of

monarch butterflies The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. It ...

and caterpillar on the side of an eight-story-tall air traffic control tower at the airport, Springdale, Arkansas *''Migrating Mural'' (2018), featuring images of

on plants,

Full Sail University Full Sail University is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit university in Winter Park, Florida. It was formerly a recording studio in Ohio named Full Sail Productions and Full Sail Center ...

, Winter Park, Florida *''Migrating Mural'' (2018), featuring

in three murals,

Ogden Nature Center The Ogden Nature Center is a nature preserve and education center located in Ogden, Utah. Created in 1975, it was Utah's first nature center. About The center includes live animal exhibits, walking trails, ponds, bird blinds, observation towe ...

, Ogden,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

*''Migrating Mural'' (2019), featuring

in multiple murals, San Francisco, California

References

External links

Ink Dwell studio
official website
"Our Feathered Planet"
an in depth look at the ''Wall of Birds'' Mural from

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world. It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Jane 1981 births Living people Rhode Island School of Design alumni American illustrators American muralists American women illustrators California State University, Monterey Bay alumni Women muralists Artists from San Francisco People from Mount Prospect, Illinois Scientific illustrators 21st-century American women artists