Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Jeon.
Michelle, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Like many others in art, I was always drawing or making something as a child. As a kid, I would draw things, create characters, write poetry, roleplay, and play music. This passion for art and expression continued throughout school, and during high school, I decided I wanted to pursue something in animation. I didn’t know much about the industry or what specifically I wanted to do back then, but I had always been captivated by how visceral and approachable it was as an art form. Additionally, it seemed like a way to combine my interest in art with my equally deep-rooted fascination with nature. Fortunately for me, my family was able to afford art lessons back then to support me, and I also started doing my own research for art schools where I would be able to pursue animation. I eventually applied to California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) among other art schools and that’s where I am now.
Has it been a smooth road?
Well, it wasn’t exactly easy to get into CalArts’ Character Animation program. Getting into the program is very competitive with a very low acceptance rate, and I was rejected the first time. After graduating high school in 2016, I ended up going to School of the Art Institute of Chicago. It was not one of my first choices for animation, but it turned out to be a great school and attending SAIC for a year really opened up my perspective on what art was and could be for me. Still, I wanted to try again for CalArts. I took a Leave of Absence for a year to work on my skills and make another portfolio to apply again. During that time, I took a 2-month online course from CalArts to help me make a great portfolio, and that whole year was drawing almost every day for hours, studying other artists, and learning to motivate myself.
During this time, my mom — who had been battling Stage IV breast cancer for about five years — started becoming more and more ill, and I was helping take care of her and my brother and run errands. I got the notification that I got into CalArts in March, and in July, my mom passed away a month before school started. She left no will and this complicated things for the rest of us. The whole month before school was all paperwork, calls, emails, appointments–dealing with anything was extremely difficult without a will. For instance, I’m a US citizen, but my little brother had been under my mom’s work visa, so he had to go with my dad to South Korea and get a student visa. This also meant that he had to move schools and start his junior year of high school at a local community college and do a homestay. All of a sudden, our family had only one of two sources of income, and now both children needed to pay tuition/rent. I have two scholarships I receive from CalArts, but it unfortunately barely makes a dent in the cost of attendance. My father did and is doing all he can to make sure we can afford to go to school like we would have normally, and it is no doubt really rough on him. I can’t thank him enough for everything he’s been doing.
My mom’s circle of her church and cancer association friends were also very helpful after her death, and I’m grateful for their aid. One of them lives in LA with her husband, and they helped me move into the dorms. I’m moving off-campus after this school year, so I’m dealing with becoming a resident of California rather than Washington, where I used to live with my mom and brother, and they’ve been grateful by letting me use their address as my mailing/permanent address until I move out of the dorms. It makes things easier since I now only go back to Seattle during school breaks.
During the first year at CalArts, I continually had to deal with unpleasant surprises and paperwork relating to my mom’s death, which aggravated my anxiety and depression. It was hard, especially because it constantly reminded me of my mother’s absence. I experience grief less often now in my second year here, but from time to time it grips my heart. Her absence is felt whenever I have the mental space to think about it. Being very busy learning at CalArts helps a lot, and I’m grateful for the friends I have made and the opportunity for a great education and resources here.
Please tell us more about your art.
I’m still new to animation-specific art and am refining and learning skills, but think what makes me unique among my talented peers is that I make deeply personal art. Character Animation students at CalArts make a film every year, and I made my first year animation, “Her Will,” about the aftermath of dealing with my mom’s death. I had to walk into the labs every day and confront her death, but I felt so strongly about it that I needed to make my first year film about the subject. That 90-second film expressed everything better than I could have using words in the same amount of time. It didn’t turn out perfectly, but people reached out to me saying they really felt what the character was feeling; how they saw themselves and their loved ones in my film.
When I shared my animation with my dad and brother in our group chat, my brother didn’t even respond back because — he later told me — he just cried for an hour after watching it, because it brought on so many memories and feelings. My mom’s church friends actually all ended up watching it because one of their daughters saw it on Facebook and shared it with her mom, saying, “Mom, this captures how I feel about you.” An old friend who had lost his own mother a few years ago reached out to me and told me that he related to my film and saw himself and his mom in it. This kind of communication and connection with one another is what motivates me to make personal art. Compassion and emotional expression in society has immeasurable value to me, and I’m happy to make art that starts those conversations by effectively “talking” about my own experiences first.
This also holds true for other forms of art. I still occasionally write poetry, and when I do, it’s usually about missing home, the places I’ve been, my lovers, self-doubt, etc. I appreciate genuine things, and writing from my own experiences and feelings feels the most genuine. I find that people generally appreciate that sincerity and rawness.
I also very recently launched an Etsy shop named DecorateThyTemple, selling handmade jewelry, and I like to write elaborate descriptions of what inspired that particular design when I list an item. Some of the examples of jewelry inspirations are old Eastern paintings of clouds, a summer festival involving goldfish in Korea from my childhood, and my fascination with marine life and the ocean. I just love the specificity and depth that drawing from personal experience gives art.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love that there’s so much more creative energy and art-related things going on near the LA area and more, at least compared to Bellevue (in the Seattle metropolitan area), where I spent most of my life. I love the little sunbathing lizards, the ravens and raptor birds calling and flying overhead, the clear view of the mountains, and the blue skies in Santa Clarita. As for dislikes, I don’t appreciate the way that people drive the closer you get to LA, and I’m scared of the summer temperatures since this coming summer is going to be the first time I’m not going back to Seattle for the whole summer break. I miss the tall evergreen trees, the rain, the temperate climate, Grizzly the dog, and the rich, dark soil–but I think I will learn to love it here. I want to go out and explore the LA area more since I’ve had little time to so far.
Pricing:
- Etsy: DecorateThyTemple (get 10% off any order with code “VOYAGE” for a limited time!)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.michellejeon.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evolu_jeon_art/
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/DecorateThyTemple
Image Credit:
Jordan Sliz, Sumin Cho, Carys Feehan
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