Mina Cheon (born 1973) is a

Korean American Korean Americans are Americans of Korean ancestry (mostly from South Korea). In 2015, the Korean-American community constituted about 0.56% of the United States population, or about 1.82 million people, and was the fifth-largest Asian American ...

new media artist, scholar, and educator. Since 1997, she has been living between Baltimore, New York, and Seoul.

Early life and education

Cheon was born in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

, South Korea. Being the daughter of a South Korean diplomat and cultural attache, she grew up in the cities of Seoul, New York, Copenhagen, and Ottawa. Her B.F.A. in painting is from

Ewha Womans University Ewha Womans University () is a private women's university in Seoul founded in 1886 by Mary F. Scranton under Emperor Gojong. It was the first university founded in South Korea. Currently, Ewha is one of the world's largest female educational inst ...

in Seoul, South Korea; M.F.A. in painting is from Hoffberger School of Painting,

Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a Private university, private art school, art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of t ...

(MICA); and M.F.A. in Imaging Digital Arts from University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). She also received a PhD in Philosophy of Media and Communications from the

European Graduate School The European Graduate School (EGS) is a private graduate school that operates in two locations: Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and Valletta, Malta. History It was founded in 1994 in Saas-Fee, Switzerland by the Swiss scientist, artist, and therapist, P ...

, European University for Interdisciplinary Studies, Switzerland in 2008 and is currently on the faculty of

(MICA).

Teaching

One of Cheon's educational contributions has been the international art program and exchange that she has led with architect, Gabriel Kroiz, and between American and Korean art, architecture, and design students. She has directed international art education since 2004, working with universities in Seoul such as

Hongik University Hongik University (, colloquially ''Hongdae'') is a private university in Seoul, South Korea. Founded by an activist in 1946, the university is located in Mapo-gu district of central Seoul, South Korea with a second campus(branch campus) in S ...

Korea National University of Arts Korea National University of Arts is a national university in Seoul, South Korea. Korea National University of Arts was established in 1993 by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea as the only national university of arts with an a ...

, and with

in 2010, taking students from

(MICA) and

Morgan State University Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a public historically black research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In 1867, the university, then known a ...

to South Korea. Cheon expanded her teaching horizons from just art to teaching in the departments of Foundation; Art History; Language, Literature, and Culture; and Interactive Media. She was also the founder and director of the summer study abroad program MICA Korea that was held each summer in Seoul, Korea between 2004 and 2007.

Exhibitions

At times appearing as a North Korean social realist painter Kim Il Soon, artist Mina Cheon advocates for global peace and Korean unification as a social activist political pop artist. Cheon's "POLIPOP: Political Pop Art" has been exhibited internationally, which includes painting,

new media art New media art includes artworks designed and produced by means of electronic media technologies, comprising virtual art, computer graphics, computer animation, digital art, interactive art, sound art, Internet art, video games, robotics, 3D pri ...

interactive media Interactive media normally refers to products and services on digital computer-based systems which respond to the user's actions by presenting content such as text, moving image, animation, video and audio. Since its early conception, various f ...

installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

, and

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

work. Her solo exhibitions include: "Happy North Korean Children" at Trunk Gallery, Seoul; "Choco-Pie Propaganda" at Ethan Cohen New York Gallery; "POLIPOP" at Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul, Korea (2012); "Polipop and Paintings" at the Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, Maryland; "Groundless" at Lance Fung Gallery, New York, (2002); "Dizz/placement" at Insa Art Space, Art Council, Seoul, Korea; "Addressing Dolls" at C.Grimalids Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland (named as "Best Solo Exhibition" by ''City Paper''). Diamonds Light Baltimore is a collaborative project built by Mina Cheon and Gabriel Kroiz composed of fifteen unique diamond shaped sculptures of different shapes and sizes. These sculptures are large enough for the audience to walk inside and through it. The diamond sculptures are made of LED lights to highlight the unique shape of the object. On February 23, 2012, "Magic and Media," a New Media Caucus-sponsored panel, was held at the College Art Association 100th Annual Conference in Los Angeles. Cheon chaired the panel with Lisa Paul Streitfeld, and it focused on the age of new media culture like reality TV shows, horror flicks, the re-creations of religious cults, online spiritual healing, and pop-star worship. The intent was to expose fragments of how chaotic humanity can be. On June 30, 2021, Cheon held an Artist talk with The Korean Society in New York City, where she had an exhibition of her art intended to demonstrate the unification and peace that both Koreas are seeking. As a global activism artist, Cheon’s projects to unite both Koreas include making a pair of sneakers where the flag of North Korea is drawn on one shoe, and on the other, the flag of South Korea is drawn. Her statement for this is that you need two feet to move forward; therefore, Koreans can’t move forward without leaving the other country behind.

Publications

Cheon's ''Shamanism + Cyberspace'' (Atropos Press, New York and Dresden; ) was published in 2009. Cheon's article co-authored with Gabriel Kroiz "The Konglish Critique" in ''Beyond Critique'' edited by Susan Waters-Eller and Joseph J. Basile (Maisonneuve Press, College Park, MD; ) was published in 2013. Co-authored by Cheon and Kroiz' ''Combat: Sports and Military'' (Culture Bank Publishing, Seoul, South Korea; . -03600) was published in 2010. Cheon's chaired panel "Magic and Media" in ''Media-N: Journal of the New Media Caucus'' (Media-N, NMC, USA; ) was published in 2012. Her current artistic research involves delving into racism in published visual arts encompassing Asian nations that are found in images and popular culture.

References

External links

HomepageFaculty Mina Cheon interviewed by Sarah Caldwell, WBALTV, NBCFeature Article by Tim Smith in The SunMina Cheon interview about Polipop, on Arirang, Global TVArticle by Cheon in the Baltimore Sun
*Mina Cheon was awarded the 2010 Martin Luther King Unity Week Award at MICA*http://www.mica.edu/News/MICAs_Unity_Week_Takes_Place_Through_Friday_Jan_22.html *Mina Cheon's book ''Shamanism + Cyberspace.'' http://www.mica.edu/News/Faculty_Mina_Cheon_99_Publishes_First_Book.html *Mina Cheon's participation on the panel, The Martin Luther King Junior Special on the Marc Steiner Show*http://www.steinershow.org/radio/the-marc-steiner-show/january-18-2010 *Mina Cheon's interview on Maryland Morning*http://mdmorn.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/118102/ *Review of Mina Cheon's Artist Keynote Address Speech for the MICA MLK Unity Week*http://www.mica.edu/News/MICA_Faculty_Member_Mina_Cheon_99_Delivers_Unity_Week_Artist_Keynote_Address_in_Dedication_to_Flores_McGarrell_97_98.html *Mina Cheon's nomination for Baker Artist Award*https://web.archive.org/web/20110725034532/http://bakerartistawards.org/nomination/view/minacheon *Review of Dizz/placement by Alex Castro on the Urbanite*https://web.archive.org/web/20110721155859/http://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/baltimore/eye-to-eye/Content?oid=1246768 *Mina Cheon collaborates with Markand Thakar*https://web.archive.org/web/20110721160001/http://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/project/2008/teams/team7/ *Mina Cheon's participation to I am Korean American*http://iamkoreanamerican.com/2010/03/08/mina-cheon/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheon, Mina 1973 births Living people Artists from Baltimore Artists from New York City Artists from Seoul South Korean contemporary artists South Korean educators South Korean emigrants to the United States South Korean women artists 20th-century South Korean educators Maryland Institute College of Art alumni Ewha Womans University alumni European Graduate School alumni University of Maryland, Baltimore County alumni Maryland Institute College of Art faculty South Korean expatriates in Switzerland American expatriates in Switzerland South Korean women educators