Artist Statement
Eunsuh Choi is a Korean-born glass artist whose flameworked sculptures and installations explore themes of aspiration, resilience, identity, and human connection. Working with thousands of intricately fused glass threads, she transforms a fragile material into poetic structures that serve as personal narratives and psychological portraits of growth. Her work reflects an ongoing journey of overcoming limitations while celebrating hope, perseverance, and the pursuit of dreams.
Choi began her artistic education in South Korea, earning a master's degree in glass from Kookmin University before moving to the United States to continue her studies. She later received an MFA in Glass from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where she further developed her distinctive sculptural language. Her experience as an immigrant has profoundly shaped her artistic vision, inspiring works that examine belonging, transformation, and the emotional landscape between aspiration and constraint.
Using the precision and patience of flameworking, Choi bends and joins countless glass rods into complex forms that evoke woven textiles, architectural frameworks, and organic growth. Throughout her career she has created a succession of ladders, cages, houses, clouds, trees, and interconnected networks. These recurring forms symbolize both the structures that confine us and the pathways that allow us to grow beyond them. As Choi explains:
"In my work I combine the geometric form of a box or house with the organic form of a tree. The tree becomes a metaphor for reaching, climbing, singing, and striving. Placed within the box, it represents the struggle to grow despite limitation. As a woman and an immigrant, I often encountered barriers in pursuing my dreams. Through flameworking, I continue the process of creating my way beyond those boundaries."
In recent years, Choi's work has expanded beyond personal narratives to embrace broader themes of community and interconnectedness. Inspired by the relationships formed through teaching and collaboration, her intricate glass networks, floating clouds, and architectural forms celebrate the invisible connections between people, cultures, and shared aspirations. Through the language of interconnected glass threads, she transforms delicate material into enduring monuments of resilience, optimism, and collective possibility.
Choi is known for creating ambitious, large-scale installations. Her monumental sculpture Aspiration, standing 12 feet tall, is in the permanent collection of the Corning Museum of Glass. Her work is also included in the collections of the European Museum of Modern Glass (Germany), Cafesjian Center for the Arts and Cafesjian Foundation (Armenia), Rochester Institute of Technology, Lotte Hotel Yangon (Myanmar), Korea Craft Museum, Pureun Cultural Foundation, and numerous public and private collections in the United States, South Korea, Europe, and Asia.
Her work has been recognized internationally through exhibitions, publications, and awards. She was selected as an American Craft Council Searchlight Artist in 2009 and received the Jutta Cuny-Franz Foundation Talent Award in Germany in 2013. Her artwork has been featured in publications including Sculpture Magazine, NEUES GLAS, Glass Art, American Craft, The Flow Magazine, New Glass Review, and numerous international newspapers and journals.
For more than twenty-eight years, Choi has worked across nearly every aspect of glassmaking while maintaining an active career as both a professional artist and educator. She has lectured and taught at institutions including Pilchuck Glass School, the Corning Museum of Glass, Rochester Institute of Technology, UrbanGlass, Tyler School of Art, the International Festival of Glass (UK), the International Flameworking Conference, the Flint Institute of Arts, Hongik University, Kookmin University, and many other universities and organizations throughout the United States and abroad.
Today, Choi continues to create sculptures and installations that invite viewers to reflect on resilience, growth, and the power of connection. Through meticulous craftsmanship and deeply personal symbolism, she demonstrates that even the most fragile materials can embody extraordinary strength and possibility.