By Nina Huang
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Kimberly Chan (Photo by Samuel Francois)
This October, a burst of color will brighten a Lake City storefront thanks to Bellevue-based artist Kimberly Chan. Selected as part of the Seattle Restored program, Chan is debuting a vibrant floral window installation that transforms vacant space into public art.
Her digital florals—bold, radiant, and deeply symbolic—are more than decorative. For Chan, they are an intentional act of optimism in uncertain times, as well as the upcoming colder months.
She has created bold, digitally painted florals to remind us that joy can still bloom.
From Hong Kong to Lake City
Chan, 40, grew up in Hong Kong, where flower markets played a central role in her childhood.
“Growing up, I lived close to the wholesale flower market, and flowers were very accessible to me,” she recalled. “One lovely childhood memory was popping down to the market to pick out individual blooms for my mom. Bringing them home would bring her joy.”
She remembers the anticipation of Lunar New Year, when families carefully timed blossoms to open on New Year’s Day.
“It was such an important and lucky thing to do,” she said. “Those traditions and that optimism are what I carry into my floral portraits today.”
Chan moved to the U.S. as an undergraduate at the University of Washington, where she earned degrees in business and economics. Despite being the artsy one in her family during her younger years, she followed a conventional path into the tech industry, working as a product manager for more than a decade.
But during the pandemic, with two children at home and a sense of disconnection, she found herself returning to art.
Return to art
Kimberly Chan
“I just wanted to find a way to connect back to myself and find time for me as an individual instead of being a parent,” Chan said.
She began with watercolor and gouache before embracing digital art through the iPad app Procreate.
Chan describes her florals as “joy as resistance.” Each piece draws on cultural symbolism: peonies for prosperity, peach blossoms for vitality and renewal, gladioluses for resilience and remembrance.
“As an immigrant and parent, I’ve felt the loneliness of being far from home and raising children without extended family,” she said. “These experiences shape my art as I create works that reconnect people to a sense of belonging, comfort, and brightness.”
Even mistakes find their way into her creative process. When her home printer produced discolored versions of her digital paintings, she decided not to throw them away.
“Originally, I thought they were useless,” she said. “But I found inspiration from the Japanese philosophy of kintsugi, which embraces imperfection. I made each of those misprints into its own original artwork.”
A new chapter with Seattle Restored
In her pursuit of being an artist, Chan has been stepping out of her comfort zone, both metaphorically and literally—finding spaces that she hasn’t been to before and finding opportunities to show her art.
Lake City is one of those places. Seattle Restored, a collaborative initiative led by the City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development, partners with small businesses and artists to transform empty storefronts into community spaces. Chan applied to its window art program earlier this year and was selected to create a six-month installation.
She hopes the installation will give people a moment of brightness in their everyday lives.
“I want them to feel like the colorful palette and imagery of flowers brighten their day, so they can pause and reconnect with themselves,” she said.
Building a new network
Transitioning from tech to art hasn’t been without challenges. Rebuilding her network from scratch has been challenging, but she’s able to leverage her tips and tricks from corporate networking and bring that into her art business.
She’s also found joy in the freedom of running her own creative practice.
“I really like the way of operating as a one-person show,” she said. “I get to do lots of different facets of running a business and being an artist at the same time. It’s very fun and very challenging.”
Chan joked with a friend that she’d like to see her art featured at an art exhibit in New York one day.
Flowers that connect
Between her Chinese heritage and her husband’s South Indian background—where flowers play a daily role in rituals and festivals—Chan sees her work as a bridge across cultures and generations.
“It’s easy to get bogged down by everything happening in the world,” she said. “But because I have kids, I need to believe that we can still turn things around and make things better for their future.”
When Chan has moments of doubt, she reflects on something she’s gleaned from reading Artpreneur by Miriam Schulman, to remember that her art will reach the right person at the right time eventually.
That belief comes through in every blossom she paints—bright, defiant, and full of possibility.
Kimberly Chan’s installation will be on view starting now through Feb. 20, 2026 at 12325 Lake City Way NE.
To learn more about her art and follow her journey, visit cutefunjoydesigns.com.
Nina can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.
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