You are aware that I am Korean American but you may not be aware that I was not born in Korea. When I first visited Korea now many years ago I did so to study Korean ceramics and work in a studio in Korea. At that time we knew very little about Korean ceramics. Few books on Korean ceramics had been written and in many ways Korea was still recovering from the effects of the Korean war even though it was several decades after the cease fire that ended that conflict. What I discovered was a beautiful land and a beautiful people. I also discovered a rich ceramic culture that in terms of contemporary ceramics was beginning to 'take seed' and grow.
Over the years, that ceramic culture seed has grown tremendously and the Korean government, both nationally and provincially, has embraced it. South Korea is about the size of the state of Indiana in the USA and the countries of Portugal or Hungary in Europe. As witness to the great interest in ceramics held in this rather small country Korea has built 9 major complexes, and many local museums as well - dedicated to ceramics alone. Each of the the 9 major ceramics complexes is larger than many national museums in the world. There are so many possible ceramic museums and areas to visit that we can't visit all of them even if the tour were much longer.
These major ceramic museum complexes include our host the Gangjin Celadon Complex that is composed of several areas including two large museums and a large production studio and wood kiln area. One museum houses, among other displays, Gangjin's International Ceramic Artist's Collection that those international artists who participate in the Gangjin Experience have an opportunity to be part of. While Gangjin's complex is dedicated to historic ceramics, across the country in Gimhae is the exciting ClayArch Museum dedicated to both historic and contemporary architectural ceramics. This complex is more than a museum as it regularly houses international artists providing them with the opportunity to create significant works and is an educational center for architectural ceramics. Perhaps the most interesting ceramic complexes are those related to the World Ceramic Exposition that takes place biannually. These museums are open year round and house work by perhaps the best and most interesting international ceramic artists in the world. Yeoju features functional work, Icheon features contemporary ceramics and Kwangju features industrial ceramics.
Then there are also 9 additional National Museums dedicated to the arts of Korea. These include the Gyeongju National Museum that primarily houses work from the 3 Kingdom's and United Silla Periods and the National Museum of Seoul that houses the arts of Korea throughout its history.
The internationally recognized Korean company Samsung has also built a wonderful museum that houses both contemporary and historic works. The Leeum Museum of Art is one of the finest museums anywhere.
In addition to museums, Korea has nurtured the development of villages dedicated to ceramics. Among them are Gangjin our host that is famous for both its historic and contemporary celadon, the Oe-gosan Onggi Village in Ulsan, The Mungyeong teabowl village in Mungyeong and the pottery villages of Yeoju, Incheon and Kwangju all important ceramic villages during the Goryeo and or Joseon (Choson or Yi) Dynasty. I have been told that Yeoju and Icheon combined have about 1000 ceramic artists.
But underlying all of this are the individual ceramic artists. One ceramic artist I spoke with estimated that Korea has about 50,000 people working with clay in some way. Remember the size of this country. That is not to say that they are all accomplished artists but even if only 10% were producing work of reasonable quality that is still a large number of ceramic artists for a country the size of Korea.
Korea's artists can be thought of as falling into several groups. There is a rather small group of artists who work to continue the historic and traditional ceramic work of Korea. Among these are those designated as Human Intangible Cultural Assets who pass on a particular historic art style from one generation to the next. Because Korea has a strong tea culture and tradition, tea should not be ignored as we travel through Korea. Many Korean ceramic artists have dedicated their lives to creating quality functional tea ware in many forms. Then there are ceramic artists who work in a functional yet contemporary manner using traditional and historic Korean ceramic processes. We will find artists working in personal yet functional contemporary manner. Like most countries there are also many artists working in a contemporary manner with clay that is both personal and experimental. We will visit some of these very interesting artists.
One of the more interesting aspects of Korean ceramics are the variety of kilns used in Korea. This link will lead you to a slide show on one of our other web sites featuring some of these amazing kilns. Thanks for your patience and trust. Ask those who have joined us in the past or learn more about the exhibit.
[1] Bulguk-sa is
a famous Buddhist Temple. “Sa”
means “temple” in Korean.
Would you like to learn about these events another way? Click onto these various links.
