Young Yun Summers was born in Korea and came to USA as a high school student. Coming from a family that has produced artists and musicians, it was only natural that she inherited a love of art. Ever since childhood, she knew she wanted to be an artist.

Majoring in design in fine arts, she earned her BFA from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Since then, it took many more years for her to rekindle her old passion, as she worked and had a family. Only after her son went to college to become a classical pianist, she finally decided to indulge in herself, being a painter.

Although still employed with a full time job and taking care of a husband with disability, she manages to produce her art works and take classes. Her evenings and weekends are her precious studio time. These past two years, she has concentrated on collages, which have brought great responses.

"These collage pieces are a continuation of my Beach Rock painting series, which I had been working on for a year and a half. I was initially inspired by rocks I saw in Carlsbad, CA. Submerged in water, they reminded me of strange creatures alive with full spirits. I saw the endless possibilities of reshaping them on my canvas.

The idea behind my collages was to bring out the mysteriousness I felt about these rocks and make their strangeness more vivid. Each collage piece has several vignettes generated in the process, either intentionally or incidentally. They are like mini dramas within a bigger show and, when viewed as a whole, meant to heighten a surreal feeling.

The way I see and express nature might have been influenced by the shamanistic spirit in me."
Young Summers.