In May 2025, the Student Art Gallery in Julian Hall hosted an exhibition titled Panorama of Space-Time, featuring the work of Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) students from Incheon National University in South Korea. Meanwhile, the work of the Illinois State University M.F.A. students traveled to Incheon to be shown simultaneously at the ART SPACE IN Gallery. This exchange, which was initiated by Wonsook Kim School of Art Director Tyler Lotz, marked an exciting opportunity for an international exhibition for the students from both programs.
The cohorts met over Zoom in December of 2024 to introduce themselves and their work during a meeting that took place late on a Sunday evening for the Illinois State University students and early Monday morning for the Incheon students. From there, first-year M.F.A. student Caitlyn Chwatek corresponded with Incheon professor Soon Hak Kwon throughout the spring 2025 semester to share student artwork from both programs, curate the shows, and plan for shipping the art and installing the exhibitions.
“Professor Soon-Hak Kwon from Incheon University and Melissa (Oresky, Illinois State University professor of art) thought it would be a good idea for the students of each school to curate each other’s shows as a part of the collaboration process,” Chwatek explained. “After a few months of planning, we decided it would actually be cool if we considered this to be one show taking place in two locations. Hence, the Incheon Students proposed Panorama of Space-Time as a title, and we thought it was perfect.”
The curation of the exhibition was a collaborative process with students from each program sharing samples of their work digitally to be reviewed by their counterparts across the globe.
“While curating the work, the main goal was to find a common conceptual throughline through all of the art that they had submitted into our shared Google Drive folder, even though the style of each artist is very different,” Chwatek said. “After reading the Incheon students’ artist statements and considering the details within the work, certain themes started to become apparent: in their own way, each artist grapples with the complexities of everyday life through both real and imagined spaces.”
Brought together in the Julian Hall Student Art Gallery space were works of drawing, painting, and photography depicting subjects ranging from highly realistic landscapes to abstract, surreal, and imaginary spaces. Non-human figures inhabited joyful mixed-media planes, and skulls grew from the ends of tree branches.
“Anxiety, isolation, and unpredictability are examined through psychological analysis, symbolism, and philosophical boundaries in the context of our modern time,” Chwatek said. “They explore how nature, the past and present, people, and social structures are all connected in a complicated web. Using narrative, memory, and imagination, their work reflects various lived experiences and aspirations for the future. The size and medium of the art were less of a concern, but color and composition were big considerations.”
Illinois State University M.F.A. students worked together to send their own varied work of painting, drawing, animation, and video to Korea, and upon receipt of the Incheon students’ art, worked hard to install the work in the gallery space. Due to shipping delays, the exhibition of Illinois State student work at the ART SPACE IN Gallery was delayed, but the students are excited to see the fruition of their exchange.
“It was really exciting getting to collaborate with Soon, Melissa, Myeong-mi Kim, Sukyoung Han, Heewon Jin, Taehyeon Yang, Heeyeon Yun, Jiyoon Jang, Min-ji Kim, Min-jeong Kim, and Yunah Kim, as well as all of the ISU M.F.A.s to create this exhibition,” Chwatek said. “Special thanks needs to go to Lisa Lofgren for offering lots of advice about shipping, specifically the considerations required to prepare to send art internationally, and also thanks to Robert Tromp for all his help with sending our package off. Also special thanks to Min-ji for sharing the flyers with us to promote the show. It was great getting to work with Melissa and learning about everything that goes into such a collaborative project. In the end, Panorama of Space-Time in Julian turned out beautifully, and we are looking forward to seeing what the Incheon students do with our work.”
Visit the Master of Fine Arts in Art website to learn more.
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