Meet Eunsuh Choi | Glass Artist and Instructor and Director in Glass Dept

We had the good fortune of connecting with Eunsuh Choi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eunsuh, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Well…When I was young (like 9 years old), I wanted to be a fashion designer. I did not have any relatives that were in the art field. I do not know why I want to be a fashion designer, but I used to like making dresses. As I was the only child with both parents were working, I spent lots of time alone with a barbie. I loved to make dresses for my barbie and had lots of ideas. Ever since that, I have wanted to pursue my career as a designer. In order to be in that field, I had to go to college to study design. In Korea, you must pass the drawing tests to get into a college, so I spent 2 years of my high school to prepare me to apply to art school. For the last 30 years, being an artist has been the most comfortable thing for me. I’ve been doing what I’ like to do as an artist and haven’t thought about getting another career instead.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
One of the characteristics that make the human experience such a unique one is that we all share a longing for personal enrichment. The search for individual fulfillment is a deep-seated pursuit within all of us. No matter how significant or superficial one’s ambition might be, it is the presence of aspiration that beckons us as humans to somehow claim or carve out our own understanding of ourselves within our lifetime. Although there is much attention and sensitivity towards the things that make us very different from one another, there is an undeniable connection in that we all desire something better for ourselves. This impulse is the impetus within my sculptural work, work that visually communicates the spiritual essence of human ambition. My work specifically focuses on communicating the graceful flow of our emotional tendencies through the plastic medium of flameworked glass. I like to work sculpturally, utilizing form and its surrounding atmosphere to portray narratives based on the human encounter with success and failure in the pursuit of personal ambition.
I’m interested in portraying human aspiration with organic forms from the new perspective I had about myself within a foreign country. Originally from South Korea, I relocated to the United States. My Korean heritage tends to make me question myself in terms of my direction as an artist and an individual especially here in the USA. To address my interest in human aspiration, I like to integrate my personal philosophy and experience incorporating my Korean heritage into the work to merge my Eastern background and my Western experiences, like how we, as humankind, are unified through the sensation of personal ambition.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
As I live in Western NY, I’ll take them to finger lakes where there are many wineries and breweries. Not only do those areas have great cinematic views, but also you can enjoy water sports. Second of all, Niagara Falls. I do not even need to explain it. Have a boat ride and walking down to cave of the winds during the daytime then cross the border to enjoy evening light show from Canada’ side. (You can walk the bridge!) Lastly, enjoy buffalo wings and dinosaur ribs BBQ which were invented from Western NY.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My parents! Without them, I won’t be here where I am today. I really did not like the glass program at college after I got into it. When I asked them to help me to quit a school to transfer to other, they asked me to try one more semester. One class from the second semester changed my life forever.

Website: www.choiglass.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eunsuhchoi/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/choiglass/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/eunsuh1001

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Choiglas

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@eunsuhchoi/featured

Other: https://choiglass.myshopify.com/

Image Credits
Eunsuh Choi and Elizabeth Torgerson-Lamark