2013 Artists-in-Residence Selected for Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

Date: March 14, 2013
Contact: Kristin Gibbs, [phone]

WEST BRANCH, IOWA- Visual artist Vivian Hyelim Kim and writer Emily Melhorn will be the 2013 Artists-in-Residence at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. Vivian Hyelim Kim will be in residence this spring from April 1 to May 25; Emily Melhorn this fall from September 12 to November 2. During their residencies Ms. Kim and Ms. Melhorn will be available to interact with park visitors as they work in the park. Each may also present a public program. The Artist-in-Residence (AIR) Program at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site promotes creative means of communicating the park's national significance and its relevance to visitors.

Vivian Hyelim Kim was born in South Korea and was raised in the U.S. She received her MFA in Painting from Pratt Institute in New York and BFA from Arizona State University Herberger College of Fine Arts. She has had solo shows at Chashama Gallery in New York City and in Seoul, South Korea. She has also participated in numerous group shows and is a recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. She has been awarded residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, New York Mills Residency, Paducah Artist in Residence, Vermont Studio Center and the Contemporary Artists Center. "I wish to observe the plants, flowers, and other organic elements at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site," said Ms. Kim, "and use their forms and patterns in my paper cut outs."

Emily Melhorn is a writer currently living in Los Angeles. She was a former journalist for The Gettysburg Times, The Evening Sun, and NoHo News.  Ms. Melhorn wrote a column "Living the Dream" for many years for The Gettysburg Times. She has had short stories and plays published in Red Weather, received the John V.A. Weaver Prize in Poetry, and Fiction Honorable Mention for Hayden's Ferry Review. Ms. Melhorn was Artist-in-Residence at Homestead National Monument of America in 2012. She is looking forward to writing at the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and adding to the depth of work about Herbert Hoover. "I would like to put my writings about Herbert Hoover in the context of current issues and events," said Ms. Melhorn.

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum are in West Branch, Iowa at exit 254 off I-80. Both are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. Parking is limited so please allow extra time to find a parking space. For more information go online at www.nps.gov/heho or call [phone].