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Kelly Haejung Paik is a Seattle-based visual artist whose work reinterprets Korean heritage forms through contemporary abstraction. Through line, color, form, and material, she explores the dialogue between human-made structure and natural rhythm, translating cultural pattern into dimensional surface and space.
Her evolving practice spans painting, sculpture, tessellation, and site-responsive installation, often drawing from Korean vessels, bojagi, and architectural space. Through layered color, shifting geometry, and tactile surfaces, Paik creates contemplative environments that balance structure, light, and spatial tension while expanding traditional forms into contemporary abstraction.
FEATURED INTERVIEW
Kelly Haejung Paik was featured as the inaugural guest of SeattleN’s N People, discussing her transition from KBS announcer and university professor to full-time visual artist in Seattle, along with her evolving practice in painting, installation, and contemporary abstraction.
📺 Watch Interview
📰 Read Article
백혜정 작가는 시애틀N ‘N People’ 첫 인터뷰 작가로 소개되었습니다.

NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

🎉 New Acquisition — King County Public Art Collection
Dual Realities
2025
Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas
36 × 24 × 1.5 in.
Acquired through Here and Now: King County Portable Purchase 2026, 4Culture, Seattle, WA
🎉 Grant Award — 4Culture Art Projects for Individuals
Awarded $7,100 — selected from 329 applications
King County, WA (2026)
Now On View
Layered Being: A Celebration of AAPI Heritage
Gallery B612 — Seattle, WA
May 7 – June 24, 2026
A group exhibition celebrating AAPI heritage through contemporary painting and mixed media.

The Muse Has Spoken
Women Painters of Washington Gallery — Seattle, WA
April 14 – July 17, 2026
Group exhibition featuring recent paintings exploring abstraction, structure, and layered spatial relationships.

Fixed by Dimension — Juried Exhibition
Graphite Arts Center, Edmonds, WA
May 1 – June 20, 2026

Present Tense, Schack Art Center 24th Juried Show
Schack Art Center — Everett, WA
May 28 – August 22, 2026
Centered Weight selected for this juried exhibition.

Centered Weight
2026
Acrylic on canvas
36 × 24 × 1.5 in.
Art of Soccer — SODO Soccer Themed Exhibition
Gallery B612 SODO — Seattle, WA
June 2026
Chromatic Convergence exhibited in this juried group exhibition celebrating the energy and cross-cultural spirit of the global soccer community, timed to coincide with the 2026 FIFA World Cup hosted in the United States.
Drawing from the Korean five-color philosophy of obangsaek — yellow, blue, white, red, and black — this painting transforms the universal language of soccer into a single dynamic vessel form. Color, rhythm, and spatial tension converge to celebrate human connection across borders.

Chromatic Convergence
2026
Acrylic on canvas
36 × 24 × 1.5 in.
At The Precipice, Pride Art Collective Benefit Exhibition Mithun — 1201 Alaskan Way, Seattle, WA
June 4 – July 17, 2026
At The Precipice, Pride Art Collective — Invited Benefit Exhibition, Mithun Architecture, Seattle, WA (June 4 – July 17, 2026). Nine works exhibited; fundraiser benefiting Lambert House, a nonprofit serving LGBTQ+ youth.

Upcoming
2nd U.S. Exhibition — IOI International Organization of Arts
Asia Pacific Cultural Center (APCC) — Tacoma, WA
August 1–31, 2026
International group exhibition presented by the IOI International Organization of Arts in partnership with the Asia Pacific Cultural Center. Work delivered and confirmed.

