Meet Hye Sea, the artist who uses sun to create beautiful paintings

Hye Sea is a creative naturalist, who uses her understanding of science and the physical world to create beautiful and incredible paintings with the sun called “MagnifyTheSUN”. She uses fire from the sun as brush strokes and reclaimed wood as a canvas with no waste involved.

This form of art is referred to as solar engraving. What it does is to focus the energy of the sun to a concentrated beam and then guide that beam of light, thus creating a permanent design.

Sea first discovered this technique as a teenager in high school. She and her older brother would sit outside with magnifying glasses, setting fire to leaves, paper and anything in arms reach. That was one of many seeds planted that has since blossomed into MagnifytheSUN.

While growing up, Sea didn’t have paint but had a magnifying glass and scrap wood from her father’s carpentry shop. She began using accessible resources and environmentally sensible materials to create works of art.

“We have a grandiose and audacious goal. We want to create a waste less (art) world,” her website reads. We know all it takes is the right conversations with the right community to make this the new normal”.

“We also have proof that the technology exists to create everyday art without everyday waste. And just to be clear, by technology—we mean, sun rays and natural paintbrushes aka magnifying glasses”.

According to her, it all started with a natural inclination to connect with local communities where she’d traveled to and the local resources available to create art whilst making ends meet. Our motto is “use what you have to get to where you need to be.”

With no formal education or insight on eco-friendly practices or the benefits of biodegradable materials, Sea stated she’s had to unlearn and relearn and that strongly influences the naturalist lifestyle she embraces and how she chose to set the foundation for MagnifyTheSUN.

Her artwork adopts little to no waste practices, alternatives to single-use items/materials and community relationship building. “If we can create art and products at a higher standard to keep our planet, children and families thriving, shouldn’t we?” she noted.