History of Art of Yun, the Store's Origins, and Name Meaning

For the first inaugural blog on this website, we will be taking a look at the history of Art of Yun, the store itself as well as the meaning behind its name. 

Joyce, the sole artist and creator of Art of Yun has been highly interested in watercolor for a long time, finally starting her learning journey in the middle of 2018. 

After a year or two of simply practicing, Joyce decided to create a new Etsy store near the tail end of 2023. The artworks depicted different landscapes and fauna drawn in an oriental art style with the main goal being to sell some of her artworks to people potentially interested in oriental landscape/floral art. Initially, "SereneSilenceArt" was decided upon to be the store name due to the natural serenity and tranquility of oriental style watercolor artworks. 

The first reason for choosing an oriental art style is due to the innate interest Joyce had in them that made her specialize in that area of watercolor. Another reason for the choice of sticking with an oriental art style came about because of the saturation inherent in the artwork market which birthed the need for a specific niche. Alongside these reasons, it was natural to side towards an oriental art style due to being of Chinese descent (being exposed to traditional Chinese artworks throughout life).

The idea to begin a Shopify store came about for a multitude of reasons, mainly a desire to expand and diversify the consumer base while also showcasing more of the artist themselves, not only the products. In this regard, the store functions better as a place where Joyce can showcase her artwork that is not strictly confined to a monetary goal. Additionally, the capability to have a blog function where she can interact directly with the consumer base is helpful in both fostering seller-buyer relationships and simply writing about her experience and thoughts about various watercolor topics.

However, the name for the shop on Etsy would not work for branding purposes outside of that platform. In light of this, the name "Art of Yun" was brought up as a possible brand name that could encompass all future store endeavors. The name "Art of Yun" can be broken down into two different meanings that both correspond to the meaning behind the store.

The first meaning is using the character "芸 (Yun)" which is the store owner's Chinese name. In this case, Art of Yun would mean the artwork created by Yun, the store owner and sole watercolor artist. On the other hand, the character "韵 (Yun)" could be used instead which means charm, an important aesthetic element of Chinese artworks including painting and calligraphy. Following this train of thought, the alternative meaning for Art of Yun could be something along the lines of "charming artwork" which, as mentioned previously, is an integral component of Chinese artwork.

More detail about the timeline and feelings felt throughout 2020 - 2023 will be brought to light in the next blog post. We hope you understood and learned something more about our humble store! You may look forward to seeing more content related to watercoloring topics and updates regarding the store itself.

We continually appreciate your support! - J