About Me

Photo by Sena Markowitz

HandEyeStudio is a small one-person studio in Olympia, Washington. After a start in advertising during my early twenties, I moved out west to attend The Evergreen State College. Nearly eighteen years later, I find myself settled in this charming, rainy capital city at the tip of the Puget Sound. Like many artists I know, family commitments relegated my creative side to the back burner… and I had to find a job. I began teaching in earnest in the late 90s and in 2003 began a journey with my wonderful and darling class at the Olympia Waldorf School. In the spring of 2011, I completed my eight-year journey with them and  began the somewhat-frightening task of “re-inventing” myself… or should I say, “re-establishing” myself?

After spending the majority of my adult life painting and creating when I wasn’t too tired to stand or make dinner or mow the lawn or drive to baseball games, I find myself at a crossroad. The path is both exhilarating and terrifying. I still need to make dinner and mow the lawn. I drive more now (and farther) to baseball games as my son matures and plays higher levels of competition. And I am still too tired to stand most days. But Art is calling… and she won’t wait forever.

And so, I take the plunge and hope I can still pay the bills.

But really, how different is my story from any one else? It’s life. It’s hard. It’s challenging. It’s grand. At least I’m enjoying the ride.

My Approach

I tend to figure things out the hard way.

When I was little (actually, still to this day), my family would call me 돼지 (Dweji) which is Korean for pig (I guess I was a stubborn little pig as a child). Thus the “figuring things out the hard way.”

Basically, I like creating. I find an enormous amount of satisfaction in creating something beautiful with my two hands. I also love the pleasure it brings others when they ask me to make something for them. So, I dweji my way through things until I am satisfied. Thankfully, I have had 44 years of dweji-ing, so I’ve gotten pretty good at it.

Photo by Sena Markowitz

I strive to provide brilliant ideas and impeccable executions to all my clients. They appreciate the ability to work with an actual person who is both timely and responsive to their needs… and I expect the same.