We recently connected with Sharon Lee and have shared our conversation below.

Sharon, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Growing up in an immigrant household, I was involved in many extracurriculars, from piano to violin lessons. I was also put to do swimming and volleyball. But none of them stuck, and I would eventually quit. I couldn’t flip underwater, and volleyball got too intense. I started balding from stress because of piano recitals, and I couldn’t read notes. I wasn’t musically or athletically talented. Until my mother got a phone call from a friend who said that an art teacher had come into town and was offering art lessons. She was Korean, like us, and I started immediately. I was in the 2nd grade and came in with a large sketch pad and oil pastels. The only art I did was drawing anime characters, so when my art teacher brought out a book with pictures of sea life, I was intrigued. She had told me to choose my favorite image, and I would copy it. I kept doing art lessons, learning basic aspects of lighting and shading, and building my portfolio for my application to my arts high school. At the time, I was interested in animation, so I entered the Las Vegas Academy of Arts as an animation major. I had no prior experience in animation, and soon after, I realized how much I was struggling. From there, I was in a lot of conflict with my relationship with art. It was originally built because I had been doing it for most of my life, and my mother would always state that it was easy for me to find my passion because I loved only doing art. I regretted my choice to go into animation, and wasting my time doing nothing with it. But I had also still been painting and drawing during my time at my art teacher’s, so I had to keep going. I kept convincing myself that it was a good skill to have, to learn how to use 3D programs and Photoshop. Which was true. Until I had started college applications. My mother had high expectations of me to enter art schools, and I couldn’t go against her words. When I started my college portfolio, RISD was my very first choice. It was like I had a clear pathway to keep doing art. When I got into RISD and declared illustration as my major, I started to think about my relationship with art seriously. From a young age, art was all I knew how to do and something that I enjoyed. I felt like I was born with a lot of luck, and I am grateful for all of the opportunities my luck has brought me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Sharon Lee, and as of now, I am a senior in Illustration at RISD. With my artistic practices, I still have a lot to learn, and I am always creating every day. Most of my work and my studies fall into my Asian American identity, as well as my interests in the self and the body. I also love photography, as it can be intertwined with my work as well. Right now, I am working on a series of paintings that convey feelings of loneliness in a simulated world. I love working with experimentation, collages, and textural elements.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is being acknowledged. I feel that, as humans, we want to be heard. I think I am very lucky to be an artist and creatively express that.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Recently, I had a crisis about my artistic direction. Maybe you can call it “senioritis”. It was hard to keep a clear direction in my practice, to the point where I had asked myself, “Why am I doing this?” I started to lose a lot of motivation when I had to think about my painting prompts. I racked my brain about how these paintings need to be something I am very proud of, and something I can abstractly construct. But sitting in one of my classes, my professor stated that you cannot NOT make mistakes. To create with the mindset that it can fail and that it is okay. That it is a part of the whole process. Creating perfect work in the start doesn’t leave room for learning. I took that and just started painting what I wanted to paint.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sharondlee.cargo.site/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-lee-36410622b/