Wildlife-centered art studio opens

Kim founded Ink Dwell with her husband, Thayer Walker, and the studio and showroom at the Shoppes at Harbor Village is their first location open to the public. With a 12-foot leopard shark on its front window, Ink Dwell officially opens with an open studio event June 2-3, an opportunity to meet the artists and check out their work, some of which is printed on posters, tote bags and other items for purchase. 

“Coming down here was a total no-brainer,” Walker said. “Our work and mission as well as the traditions of this community are so tied to the natural world so it’s great to have that inspiration around us. We’re really excited to put down roots here.”

The showroom will be open by appointment, and their plan is to host a couple of open studio events each year and develop a workshop series for prospective painters when the two are in town; they currently travel with a team of collaborators for about half of the year working on projects on site. 

The couple is currently working on a “migrating mural” project, a series of installations along migrating corridors throughout the country that animals share with humans. Murals of Sierra Nevada big horned sheep can be found along 120 miles of Highway 395, and recent installations focus on the monarch butterfly: one mural covers much of an eight-story air traffic control tower at the Springdale Airport in Arkansas, another wraps around a building at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida and a third installation in Orlando, Florida, occupies 3,500 square feet. In a few years, the project will focus on salmon; the goal is to thematically touch on water, land and air.  

“All of these stories are meant to connect places and people — the monarch connects the entire country with Canada and Mexico with its migration, a beautiful story,” Kim said, adding that both the big horn sheep and monarch butterfly are “critically endangered.” 

Kim has long shared her love of animals and the natural world through her work, and while she aims to educate and promote awareness of endangered species, for example, she also avoids overtly political messaging.

“I work really hard to stay neutral so I can invite as many polar opposite sides to appreciate an animal. It’s about pulling on the heart strings of getting someone to care about a specific animal or plant and that extends to the overall ecosystem,” Kim said.

And media coverage of their work reflects that approach. 

“Fox News has been the one that’s consistently covering the Migrating Mural and I think part of it is because we’re not delivering this over-the-top green message,” Walker said, adding that by extension, Fox has also covered the Nature Conservancy, which has partnered with Ink Dwell on a few projects. “We’re fully aware that art isn’t going to take carbon out of the atmosphere or slow sea level rise, but all of those issues are a result of humanity’s philosophy toward the natural world and how to interact with it so we feel like this work can help shape those philosophies, which in turn drive our actions.”

Most of Ink Dwell’s projects require three to five weeks of on-site work, but the 2,500-square-foot “Wall of Birds” mural at Cornell University, which depicts 270 bird species, took more than 2 1/2 years to complete. 

Ink Dwell’s mission is to “merge classic techniques of science illustration with modern fine art,” but Kim said since she was young she found herself inspired more by natural history museums than art museums.

“One of my favorite things people say after seeing my work is ‘oh my god I see monarch butterflies all the time now’ or another animal, and my work reminded them to look for them,” Kim said. “Our work helps people remember those things are there.”

Ink Dwell is located at 270 Capistrano Road, No. 24 in Half Moon Bay by Pillar Point Harbor and the open studio spans 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 2-3. Visit inkdwell.com for more information.

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

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