Yale News

Lisa Sigal ART ’89 and Byron Kim ’83 met in 1986 while students at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, an artist residency in Maine. At the time, Sigal was 24 and Kim was 25. Despite their differences, they fell in love with one another and their works.

Kim left Skowhegan in tears for graduate school in St. Louis; after a semester, he moved to New York to be with Sigal. Today, the two work together as Yale School of Art instructors, as well as co-directors of the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art — an intensive six-week undergraduate visual art program for rising seniors.

“We’re always in each other’s studio and asking each other what we think about each other’s work,” said Sigal. “On a conceptual level, on a content level, I feel like Kim and I are always talking, whether it’s in the studio or just over dinner.”

Both impressive artists in their own right, Kim is known for his abstract, almost sublime works, while Sigal engages with architecture and space in her multimedia works. Both artists have exhibited at the Whitney Biennial and museums and galleries around the world.

While different, their methods allow them to bring their unique perspectives to mentorship at both Norfolk and Skowhegan, where they continued to return in various capacities.

While their artwork remains relatively separate, the couple collaborates mostly through teaching.

Their history of studying together nearly forty years ago informs how they make decisions and operate at the Norfolk School, now on the other side of the student-teacher dynamic.

Both Sigal and Kim emphasized their differing teaching styles. Sigal opts for a more direct, “tough-love” approach, similar to her mentors’ approach when she studied at Yale. Kim, however, chooses a more vulnerable approach — sharing personal experiences with students.

The two often work separately on their creative projects. Despite being married, they said, their distinct styles and preferences are not necessarily conducive to collaborative endeavors. They tried creating together early on in the relationship; what ensued were separate careers.

“It’s a pretty private process of making art for both of us. I think we’re happy to share each other’s process pretty often as we are making work in our studio,” Kim said. “I think we rely on each other a lot to validate what’s good enough for other people to see and experience.” 

The two have led Norfolk for six consecutive summers, directing and mentoring both teaching fellows and students who attend the summer program. The two spoke about the familial dynamic and conviviality that surrounds the experience, which blooms from the entire cohort sharing a home for the entire duration.

During their summers, in addition to teaching and attending the classes of their teaching fellows, Sigal and Kim enjoy swimming in the lake at Norfolk and playing Go with each other daily.

“I feel like my sense of color and observation and refraction of light and the kind of gravityless feeling and the anxiety of being in water and experiencing sky and the kind of the bottomlessness of the ocean and marine mammals,” Sigal said. “I feel like both of us share that experience in our work as references.” 

The Norfolk School recently announced the students nominated to attend their summer program; out of these nominations, one finalist from Yale College will be announced in March.

This year, the selection process for nominees has changed. Before, students were nominated by their professors; now, they are encouraged to submit a portfolio anonymously that professors vote on.

“It felt a lot more equitable,” said Kai Chen ’26, one of the nominated students. “I think sometimes sophomores and first-years take intro classes taught by lecturers that might only have a one or two-year contract with the school of art. You don’t tend to meet the tenured professors until junior year.”

Kim and Sigal plan to return to the Norfolk School of Art for another summer of teaching, 

learning and meeting the new cohort of students and teaching fellows.

The Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art is located on the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Estate in Norfolk.