Myong Jin (진명이)
New York, NY
Myong Jin (진명이) is a visual artist making paper, prints, and books. Born in Korea and shaped in Chicago, she is now based in New York City.
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Bio
Myong Jin (진명이) is a printmaker, bookmaker, papermaker, poongmul/samulnori drummer, grantwriter, nonprofit administrator, and paralibrarian. Born in Korea and shaped in Chicago, she is now based in New York City. She is the 2026-2027 Studio178 Artist-in-Residence at Cornerstone STUDIOS, and teaches letterpress printing and book & paper arts at the Center for Book Arts. Myong has exhibited at NoMAA Gallery and Center for Book Arts, and received scholarship support from Penland School of Craft, Dieu Donné, Guild of Bookworkers, Center for Book Arts, and Manhattan Graphics Center. She has studied with Aimee Lee and Steph Rue in the practice of traditional hanji (Korean paper) making and related Korean paper crafts. Inspired by hanji and motivated by the deep personal and cultural significance that the chestnut represents for her, Myong is developing a method to make bamji, or chestnut paper.
After graduating from the University of Chicago with a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities, Myong spent close to 15 years working in academic and special collections libraries. She has worked with rare books, archives, serials, and collections for law, art, and theological studies at the University of Chicago, Newberry Library, Fales Library, Center for Fiction, and Columbia University. In 2013, she was recognized by the New York Foundation for the Arts as an Emerging Leader in Arts Administration for her work in development at Center for Book Arts. Through her current work as a grants administrator at New York University, Myong continues her support of the greater field of cultural heritage by managing funding for training and research in art conservation, art history, and archaeology.
Myong is a proud Collective Member and Board Member of Word Up Community Bookshop - a nonprofit bookshop and arts space cooperatively run in Upper Manhattan to support neighbors in living informed and expressive lives.
Statement
Myong Jin (진명이) is a visual artist whose handmade paper works, prints, and books bring attention to their own materiality and physical presence. Drawing from her Korean heritage and experience growing up in the U.S. as an immigrant, Myong creates work that plays with language, space, and knowledge. Her work in letterpress printing and artist’s books reflect an ongoing questioning of what it is to read and write, and what it is to learn and pass on what we know. Her recent practice is focused on the labor-intensive making of hanji (Korean paper) in the traditional way and the physically-taxing hanji craft of jiseung (cording and weaving). Through this work, Myong seeks to honor the quiet parts of our past while finding new outlets to express an embodied knowledge of our places in the world.