Itinerary: The 2013 Gangjin Experience and International Ceramic Artist's Tour

To understand this, begin at the beginning click here.

The 2013 Gangjin Experience and International Ceramic Artist's Tour brings together two of the most comprehensive ways to Experience Korean ceramics.  The Gangjin Experience, although housed in "Celadon Land" and at The International Gangjin Celadon Festival goes far beyond celadon.  The exhibit is looking for your personal work of any kind and style.  The workshops include many artists who work in diverse styles.  The tour visits some of Korea's best ranging from Intangible Cultural Assets to some of the best teaware artists in the world to some of Korea's finest contemporary ceramic artists.  Along the way participants will find additional opportunities to to exhibit and the opportunity to study personally with ceramic masters in Korea.

Following is a brief tentative itinerary.  We will provide additional information to the accepted applicants.  One note of caution to those who are thinking about waiting until 'next year'.  We don't know if there will be a next year for these combined events.      

2013 Itinerary (Tentative) The Gangjin Experience
and International Ceramic Artist’s Tour
All Itineraries are ‘tentative’ because we experience last minute changes with some of the artists we intend to visit.
July – August 2013
Note: These dates are not yet verified.

July  27  Arrive in Korea go to Hotel
July  28  Travel to Gangjin
July  29  Gangjin Festival Opens / International Exhibit Opens
July  30  Gangjin Workshops
July  31  Gangjin Workshops
Aug. 01  Gangjin Special Tour including tea area, onggi and
Aug. 02  tour begins Move to Hadong and Sanchung-goon visit Min Young Ki, tea area and other artists
Aug. 03 Move to Gimhae visit Clayarch Gimhae Museum  and other special events
Aug. 04 move to Gyeongju visit Park Byung Teak, Bulguk-sa[1], Gyeongju National Museum
Aug. 05 move to Daegu, move to Park Jong Il studio move to Mungyeong along way visit Kim Dae Woong contemporary ceramic artist.  Visit several artists in Mungyeong
Aug. 06 Mungyeong Teabowl Village visit cultural treasures Chun Han Bong,  Kim Jong Ok and a number of other outstanding ceramic artists.
Aug. 07 Move to Icheon and Yeoju   In Yeoju visit KOCEF museum, visit pottery supply store, lunch at Park Chan Soo’s MOKA Museum ICT Buddhist woodcarver, visit Kim Il Mann Onggi ICT, Pierced porcelain artist Jeon, Seong-Keun, Ceramic artists Kim Jong Hun and Moon Ji Young
Aug. 08 In Icheon visit KOCEF museum, Lee Kyu-tak Punchong potter and Lim Hang Teak porcelain painter and more
Aug. 09  Move to Seoul Visit Sangho Shin Studio, National Museum and Leeum Museum
Aug. 10  Free day
Aug. 11  Free day and leave for home or continue your journey.

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Welcome       Registration      Itinerary

The Gangjin Experience       Testimonies

The Exhibit       Some Questions and Answers 

 

Louis Mendez 1929-2012

After reading this memorial post, please return to the beginning. 

 

Louis Mendez 1929-2012

Mary and I were shocked and greatly saddened at learning of the death of our friend Louis Mendez.  We want to join the friends and family of Louis in mourning his passing.

Louis was an exceptional artist and an insightful and generous person.  We are certain that he will be missed by all who knew him. 

There is a line from a famous verse that reads:

There is a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.

We join Louis's family and friends in weeping for his passing, laugh when we remember good times together, mourn his death, but we must also dance with joy for having had him in our lives. May he rest in peace.

Obituary New York Times

MENDEZ--Louis, 1929-2012. The exuberant artist/educator, Louis Mendez, died peacefully at the Jacob Perlow Hospice Inpatient Unit at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, just two weeks shy of his 83rd birthday. Louis Ernest Mendez was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan of Puerto Rican, Spanish and Irish heritage. He spent his early years in Spanish Harlem and his teenage years in Goshen, NY, where his high school teachers recognized his unusual talent in drawing and sculpture. Louis went on to earn BFA ('52) and MFA ('54) degrees from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, where he became a protege of Professors Charles Harder and Daniel Rhodes, influential figures in the mid-century American studio ceramics movement. After college, Louis was hired by fellow Alfred alumnus, David Gil, as the first designer at Bennington Potters in Vermont. He later worked as a designer at Lenox China in Trenton, NJ, before entering the field of education, teaching first at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, then at the Philadelphia College of Art, and ultimately at the Ohio State University in Columbus, where he was an Associate Professor of Art and Chairman of the Graduate Faculty in the Ceramics Department. Aside from these professorial appointments, he taught more casually, but with no less enthusiasm, at numerous venues, including New Jersey City University and the Ceramic Education Center (NJ), Brookfield Craft Center (CT), Art+Clay (NM), Valle de Bravo (MX), Juniata College, (PA), and with special joy at the 92nd Street Y 60+ Program in New York City. From the 1960s onward his output included no only pottery, but masks, wall-reliefs, mosaics, and free-standing sculptures both large and small. Louis developed his signature "Spanish Handbuilding Technique," an approach to ceramic hand building that allowed construction and firing of large sculptural works in clay without the use of an armature, a development that helped to transform ceramics from "craft" to "art." Mendez exhibited in many important venues in the USA, including the Museum of Art and Design, the Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art, Taller Boriqua, the Brooklyn Museum, the Everson Museum, the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, and the Silvermine Guild of Artists. International exhibitions include group shows at the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Internazionale Biennale dell' Arte Contemporanea (Florence, Italy), the Gangjin Festival (Korea), and a one person show at the Museo Regional Michoacano (Morelia, Mexico). His work is included in the collections of the Museum of Art and Design (New York), the ASU Museum at the Herberger Institute for Design + the Arts in Tempe (AZ), the Mint Museum of Craft & Design (North Carolina), the Columbia Museum of Art (SC), the Gangjin Ceramics Museum (South Korea), and the Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art at Alfred University, among others. Louis is survived by his wife Dianne, son Aaron, daughter-in-law Mieko and two grandchildren; his sister Victoria Blanco-Alfiero; his sister and brother-in-law, Donna and David Dunning; three nephews and one niece. In lieu of flowers, the family asks friends to consider a donation to one of the following: Alfred University; send gift with a note stating that the gift is in memory of Louis Mendez to: University Relations, 1 Saxon Drive, Alfred University, Alfred NY 14802. The 92nd Street Y; make check payable to 92nd Street Y with a note indicating that the gift is "In Memory of Louis Mendez for HB Senior Program." MJHS Foundation; note that the gift is f/b/o the Jacob Perlow Hospice Inpatient Care Unit at Beth Israel Hospital in Memory of Louis Mendez.

Published in The New York Times on August 5, 2012

Some photos of Louis

 You can see more images of Louis's work on his website:

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