Jessica’s Art Lights Her Darkness

It was the vitality of Jessica Lee’s paintings that first caught the eyes of county officials looking for a student artist to illustrate posters and brochures for this weekend’s countywide art fair.

“Her style was really special,” says Nicole Werner, who manages community programs for the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. “It’s so vibrant; it just draws you in .... There is something really happy about her art.”

But the bright colors and cheerful abstractions come from the mind of a teenager who has endured more than her share of pain. Two years ago, Jessica’s mother, aunt and two uncles were shot to death in her family’s Koreatown apartment by her stepfather, who then killed himself.

Art was what kept Jessica going through her grief. “Drawing made me feel closer to my mother,” she says. “So whenever I was by myself, I drew pictures to keep from feeling alone. My art was like a friend to me.”

Now, thousands of people across Southern California can see the 18-year-old’s work. Her colorful, abstract painting of a woman leaping and blowing a horn was chosen as the logo for this year’s annual Los Angeles County Arts Open House and will be on display at hundreds of libraries, community centers and parks.

And today, she’ll be lauded by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for talent that transcended tragedy.

There is not a trace of self-pity in her voice as she recounts her history. She was born Yeon Ah in Seoul, South Korea, and came to this country with her mother when she was 12. She never knew her father. They lived with relatives for a while until her mother married an older man, and they moved into his apartment in Koreatown.

But her stepfather was cruel and selfish, Jessica says. When her mother learned that he had been abusing her, she made plans to divorce him and they moved out. One week later, she went back to the apartment to retrieve their things, accompanied by three family members. Jessica stayed behind with an aunt.

When the family arrived at the apartment, Jessica says, “my stepfather decided to kill them all and then commit suicide.”

Jessica moved to Orange County to live with an aunt, who was also raising two young cousins orphaned in the attack. “I was really discouraged then,” Jessica says. “I didn’t have any money, and there was no one who could help me. I felt guilty, like everyone hated my mother for ruining so many lives. My aunt and her husband were nice to me, but I couldn’t help feeling like a burden.”

So last spring, three months shy of high school graduation, Jessica moved into the home of a friend. She then set about finding a way to use her art to make a living. “I always wanted to be an animator, to create my own characters that would make people feel happy,” she says. She graduated high school with a 4.2 grade point average, and then she toted her portfolio around to area art schools. She was accepted by the Art Institute of Los Angeles-Orange County, in its bachelor’s program in Media Arts and Animation.

It took weeks for the school’s assistant director of admissions, Lonnie McDanel, to extract the story of Jessica’s life. “When I’m enrolling students I always ask about their motivation and if their parent is supportive of them attending an art college. She told me her mom was deceased. She said her inspiration came from her uncle, who had been an artist. But he was deceased as well .... But it wasn’t until later, at the prodding of a friend, that she told me what had happened. She’s so shy, so humble, you would never think she had been through so much.”

McDanel took another look at the girl’s portfolio and transcripts and realized that Jessica was more than just a talented artist. “The strength this young girl has shown is amazing,” she says. She attended six different schools in six years and still maintained an A average. “Her grades went down the year her mom was killed, but she went back to school and got straight A’s the next year.”

Jessica says she felt she owed her mother that much, for all the years she struggled to raise her alone. “I thought if I got bad grades, people would say, ‘Her mother was the one who ruined her life.’ And I didn’t want to hear that. So I am doing my best to ... make something of myself.”

When county art officials selected Jessica from among dozens of students to create this year’s art festival logo and to design posters and brochures, they knew nothing of her difficult past. “We selected her for her talent,” Werner says. “We view her as an artist, someone we want to work with, to nurture. Her story came after the fact.”

Jessica began classes this week at the art institute, thanks to a tuition grant from the school and $2,500 in prize money that she won in another recent art competition. “I have my dreams for the future now,” she says. “When I see people smiling at my pictures, I feel proud that I am making someone else happy,” she says, “even for a little while.”

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The Los Angeles County Arts Open House features more than 150 exhibitions, performances and other cultural events free to the public on Saturday at sites throughout Los Angeles County. For more information, log on to https://www.lacountyarts.org.

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Sandy Banks’ column is published Tuesdays and Sundays. Her address is sandy.banks@latimes.com.