An Interview with Scholarship Winner, Hazel Kim By Ethan Richmond

Since 1981, Shoreline Arts Alliance has championed Scholarships in the Arts, a juried scholarship competition for high school juniors and seniors. In its 44 years, this program has awarded over 400 scholarships to students throughout the 24 towns we serve. This article is part of a series of interviews conducted with some of our

scholarship winners...

Hazel Kim, a 2021 graduate from Daniel Hand High School in Madison, CT, won The Jeffrey Dobbs Scholarship for Excellence in Painting and received special recognition in instrumental music for cello in 2020. She is now a senior at Yale University double majoring in Economics and Art History.

In high school, Hazel created art competitively and worked at the Yale Center for British Art. She still paints as a hobby and has taken some studio art classes at Yale, but despite her less formalized practice, she said her appreciation for art has actually grown over the years. “I did art for competitive and fun purposes throughout my entire life. Coming to college and actually studying it really opened my mind up to what I think art is. I’m thinking about it in a very critical analytical way.” 

She is currently beginning her art history thesis looking at Cold War and post-Cold War Korean modern art. Around this era, she told me, the U.S. had a lot of influence in Korea due to World War II and The Korean War. This time period also ushered in the work of American artist Jackson Pollock, whose artwork was seen as a symbol of freedom against communist sentiments. “I don't think there's a lot written about Korean modern art, but it derives from a lot of American art at the time.”

Reflecting on the time in her life when she was impacted by Shoreline Art Alliance, Hazel offered important, practical advice for high school artists who may be worried their passions disadvantage them from another career. “I came into [college] not being encouraged to do art history because my parents said it’s useless and I think in ways it kind of can be and that’s a big argument against the humanities. But, from a career standpoint, it does make you a stronger candidate to have something you are really passionate about, especially because the workforce is looking to hire interesting people and assumes you already have the technical skills. So don’t let that hold you back if that’s something that you want to do,” she concluded.