Coleen Baik

Thank you @macdowell1907 for this life-changing experience, and for inviting me to present to the town of Peterborough at MacDowell Downtown—it was truly an honor. Beloved Fellows: the level of your craft is unreal. You made me see so many things for the first time. Thank you for the conversations, the long walks, for blowing my mind every single day. I wish I could have stayed many weeks longer.

I’m honored to be a 2025 finalist for the @theacademy ‘s Gold Fellowship for Women. Congratulations to the other finalists, and to the recipients of the Fellowship Alina Simone and Marlén Viñayo! Each year only one Fellow is chosen from the U.S., and one from abroad. I’m humbled to number in this company, and excited about receiving Academy mentorship in the upcoming year. There were six finalists this year including the recipients. Gratitude to Teddy @amdocfilmfest for the nomination, to Academy member and artist @samoanimation for her wisdom, and to cinematographer @tom.cinematography for his expertise. Full press release here: /news/academy-announces-recipients-2025-gold-fellowship-women

I’m thrilled to announce that I’m also a 2025-2028 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, in film. Beyond honored to be selected; humbled to be in the company of esteemed peers. Full press release is at /2025-2028-jerome-hill-artist-fellows-announced. Link is also in bio.

MacDowell Fellow Coleen Baik (@colbay ‘26) held May’s MacDowell Downtown audience captive as she presented three animated works and guided attendees through her evolving creative practice.   Baik’s first film, Tuscany, [slide 2] was drawn frame by frame in Photoshop over 15 months and explores fear, rebirth, and the cyclical nature of passage. Through her later films, Chamoe and 엄마 나라 | Mother Land, Baik developed new visual styles and animation techniques. The latter marked a shift toward a looser, more abstract narrative approach. She also experimented with phonotrope animation, a technique that uses a turntable and camera to reveal motion imperceptible to the naked eye.    Baik is now fully embracing hand-drawn animation in her newest film, Vespertine, created with graphite on index cards. She developed sequences for the film during her residency at MacDowell.

Lemons.

엄마 나라 | Mother Land is finally available to view in full, online, after years in the festival circuit. It’s a 6 minute short that I made in the aftermath of the crucible that was 2022. It can feel closed: non-narrative, non-linear, sans dialogue or context. Many would be nonplussed by it, and I’m sure it was a challenge for curators. I was humbled by its world premiere at Brooklyn Film Festival in 2024. Since then it went on to screen at four more festivals around the world. Now, it’s returning home. vimeo.com/colbay/motherland “LA in the Rain” by @sarahdavachi and @recitalprogram 🙏 You can read about where the film comes from and how it was made, along with the artist statement, on today’s the-line-between.com. Links also in bio.

I built a collapsible (ands portable) downshooter rig! Read about the journey on the latest TLB, issue 107. Trouble. Actually this is its fifth iteration 😅 The result is undramatically simple and spare but simplicity is one of the hardest things to achieve—a truth all professional designers learn early. The customized design and material procurement took 90% of the time and effort. (There remain a few things to tidy up + the “dark room” remains in progress while I wait for materials.) Ergonomics are important in creative workflow and this took care of a lot of issues. I also live where I work and elegant separation of space can make hard work a pleasure. Huge overhead, exponential return. Worth it. the-line-between.com, link also in bio

Message · 통신 is a hanging installation of acrylic on hanji (Korean mulberry paper). It explores the idea that a promise originates in the promisee, the one to whom it returns. It considers the roles desire, hope, and prophesy play in a promise’s fulfillment. This piece will be on view as a part of Yaksok (약속), @KAACollective ’s next group exhibition. It challenges viewers to consider what it means to make and keep promises—to ancestors, to community, to the future. Three panels whose arrangement is reminiscent of 병풍 (traditional Korean folding screens depicting symbolic images with auspicious meaning), show a supplicant sending a signal; a consciousness hovering over; a god hand listening. Hanji’s hardy materiality is a metaphor for resilience; white paper and hardware offering a canvas for otherworldly visions; suspension allowing the panels to stir and sway with the movement of proximate spirits. The fragility of the materials speaks to the tenuous nature of such dialogue. 📍 On view at Ryan Art Gallery, Los Angeles, 📆 December 5th 2025 to January 24, 2026 🥂 Opening Reception: Dec. 6, 2025, 4 to 7pm

My 6 minute experimental animated short film 엄마 나라 | MOTHER LAND special-screened at @taf.festival in Greece yesterday, introduced by Ted Grouya of @amdocfilmfest Festival. Gratitude to the festival staff, and festival director/founder @zen_savvaidis . I can't believe it's already been two years since this weirdo went into the festival circuit. 엄마 나라 | Mother Land made it possible for me to be with grief, honoring and holding without having to look at the most heartrending things directly. I'll always be deeply grateful.

I made some drawings in the process of homing in on my downshooting setup. On a whim, I set the animation to a random song (that I love). I couldn’t stop watching it on loop. No paywall this issue, take a gander. the-line-between.com. Link in bio, too. — There are just a few drawings in Elizabeth, on loop for over a minute. I personally find repetition hypnotic and revealing. I could watch something on repeat forever. Try it; what seems like the same picture starts to change, and become new again. A balmy day, a lost love; how Elizabeth comes into view through a window. Is she on the inside or the outside? Her features shift, subtly; she becomes different people, a stranger altogether—the way old loves do in memory and in life.

A Korean American collaboration for the ages! It was a dream come true for us in May to team up with @goldenhofny @nykimchi48 to celebrate Hanbeon Deo (한번 더), a KAAC exhibition curated by our member Aaron Chung (@aaronchungart ). Here’s a peek of the big day, when Golden HOF and NY Kimchi hosted us for an Artist Meet & Greet. We’re a far-flung collective, but 8 of us current members were able to attend, in addition to our emeritus members and community partners. It was such a special gathering. Many thanks to Chef Sam Yoo and #teamgolden’s Jacqui Choi for welcoming us with so much jeong. Stay tuned for more pics to come from the event! 🎥 by @jacobsklar & @zekewinitsky

So, a lot happened in the past few weeks 😵‍💫 Writing and learning at @mvicw with new friends, receiving editorial critiques on my essay, California to see @seebeeee and sweet fam, a mad dash to pitch my film. I’ve been running around with no idea what day it is. Special thanks to @samoanimation for the tough love, critiques, late night emails, phone calls to literally to the last minute with my pitch—I truly could not have done it without you. Thanks also to @tom.cinematography for the beautiful footage, guidance, and patience. Lastly, gratitude to @donaldewquist for being generous with time and insight on my essay as I prepare it for submission. I’m incredibly lucky to have access to such a supportive community of artists and writers; they inspire me to pay it forward. The latest issue on the-line-between.com is mostly about what shooting a film pitch in seven days looks like. I include some behind the scenes, film and pitch excerpts, tips, and bloopers. A microessays on phonelessness to close things out. Link also in bio. (If you’re mentioned behind the paywall but not a subscriber, I’m happy to forward the issue.)