Artist, designer, and educator Jiyoo Jye on the struggles of making art and choosing your projects; education at an innovation school as a creative; when to share your work and the role of feedback; media consumption and technology; and her approach to a simpler, greener life.



Jiyoo is a visual artist, designer & educator. She works at NuVu Innovation School, where students learn within an architectural Studio model and create multi-displinary & collaborative projects. Ji has a Master's in Design Studies from Harvard University, Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor's of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University, School of Art. She has previously worked for Area9 Lyceum, a physician-led software company specializing in adaptive learning technology. While finishing her graduate study, she worked with the Harvard Fogg Museum's, Division of Modern and Contemporary Art in creating an online archive for the American sculptor, Christopher Wilmarth. She has also been an editor & co-author for the Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure and a Communications fellow for the MIT Office of Sustainability.

Connect with Jiyoo at Sweetish Segment
and at @sweetishsegment on Instagram.



Links

Sweetish Segment

Harvard GSD

MIT Office of Sustainability

Harvard Fogg Museum

NuVu

Hydroponics

Arduino



Books

Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard



People mentioned

Christopher Wilmarth

Christian Boltanski

Susan Sontag

Marlene Dumas

Anthony Burgess

Gaston Bachelard



Episode notes

Intro. [0:00]
Jiyoo Jye. [0:55]
What is NuVu? [2:37]
How does your day-to-day look like? Learn about the tools and projects Ji is invested on daily with her students at NuVu. [2:50]
What are you taking from your day job? [3:49]
Was your experience studying as an artist at an architecture school? [4:34]
Educating adults vs. teenagers. NuVu's model teaches students core skills in an interdisciplinary space, avoiding pressures where students need to excel in specific areas. [5:16]
Hydroponics. [9:00]
Your time at Carnegie Mellon School of Art. A maple tree, a dripping system, and more. [9:44]
Challenges of being an artist. Learn about how Ji makes time to make art, the role it places in her life, and how she finds a place for art as a creative professional. [11:07]
How do you choose what projects to focus on? "The kind of art is the one that can reflect the voice of that particular time." [12:57]
Ji's current projects. Morphology series—a constant flow of movement of formations. [13:25]
Activities and hobbies. [14:09]
Would you consider your life simple? [14:36]
How to share what you make. Ji thinks about finding ways to show your work in ways that go beyond an exhibit. [15:43]
The role of feedback. (And having something for yourself.) [17:23]
What is art? [18:14]
Advice for new artists. [19:01]
Who supported you? Learn about Ji's circles and her harshest critic. [19:55]
Artist toolset. [21:12]
Art mediums. [23:10]
The ideal art session. [24:58]
Daily routine - Ji tries to make something different from the previous day—might it be a change on the way she works or her schedule, to find ways to stay engaged in her day-to-day. [25:41]
Commute. [26:28]
Habits - Perfecting your head stand. [27:04]
Compassion and isolation. [27:51]
Boredom. [30:06]
When you get your best ideas. [31:50]
Social media. [32:43]
Disconnection. [34:29]
Media consumption - Learn about where Ji gets her media from. [35:32]
Healthy relationship with technology. [36:23]
Technology in art and design. [37:15]
Book recommendations. [37:58]
A successful person. [38:31]
Clothing - "A fun and creative outlet for self-expression." [38:49]
A cheap, positive purchase. [39:14]
Favorite app. [41:00]
Sustainability - Ji is (and always will be) invested in the green movement. [41:35]
One sentence to the world - "Eat the sweetish segment or spit it out." [42:30]
Unnecessary complexities. [43:25]
Digital & physical clutter. [43:54]
Cleaning rituals. [44:54]
Spirit animal. [45:26]
Nature. [45:57]
Books on slow & simple living. [47:07]
A question to Nono. [47:36]



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Theme song Sleep by Steve Combs under CC BY 4.0.



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