Dear Reader,

Thank you for stopping by Simmering Art, a journal of a struggling artist mother.
My name is kimyiBo (one word), and you can also call me just Bo.

I am married to my one and only, TH, and we have three children, Love, Hope, and Faith (last one still in my belly.) We both grew up in the US and Korea, and we continue to move back and forth across the Pacific and carry on our transnational lifestyle. We both long to settle in one place for a long time someday, but right now we cope with this transitory season of our life while trying to invest ourselves fully in the place we live in.

Simmering Art Blog began when I was a full time artist in Minneapolis. If you look through my archive, you can find some examples of my works from the time as well as my artist resume. When I had just Love, our first child, I managed to have three solo shows and conduct a community art project. Around the time Hope, my second angel, came to us, however, I accepted the fact that I had to put an indefinite hold on my artistic career until I was allowed with more time and financial resources. Soon after the second child birth, we went through some major life changes. TH finished school, we moved from the midwest to the west coast for an employment.

Year 2013 in Los Angeles was a rough ride for our family. Our first child Love went back to her heavenly home after two-year-and-ten-months of sweet sweet time with us on earth. Grieving and facing an uncertain job market at the same time was not easy. Making art was the last thing on my mind. The force of Life seemed so much stronger than my individual will. I doubted if a person can have a free will at all. In my darkest days TH and I stayed together. My sisters and friends kept me going. Thanks to them, I am able to still have my hope in God.

Right now I am a full time stay-at-home-mom and I enjoy my job most of the time. However I will not lie to you that I do not miss being in my studio, making art eight hours a day. To tell you the truth, there were days I felt like a sellout (when I was at school I used to think that women with MFA who ended up at home with kids were incompetent and passive.) I often blamed Life for my misery. Only recently, as I am mustering up love, hope and faith to get back on my feet and carry forward my passion, but this time, with a new understanding-not expecting an immediate outcome.

I think any good art is like cooking black beans over a campfire. My job is to keep the fire alive until the beans become soft. Too strong flame will burn the beans at the bottom of the pot. In art, fire is the creative spirit. An artist practices daily to keep the spirit alive.

Simmering Art is my effort to keep myself happy and creative. I blog about my five minute art projects that miraculously happens while playing with Hope; inspirations from cooking, walking, cleaning, shopping, parenting, and traveling; my not-so-thoughtful DIY attempts at stitching. I blog about them to memorialize the moments that could be otherwise mundane. Through this process I am able to overcome grief, feeling petty, and worries about our unknown future.

I want to give a shout-out to other stay at home artist moms like me who are kicking and screaming to find any joy in her life. Let’s start small and let it grow~