Artist Statement

I am a ceramic artist originally from South Korea and now living in Canada. When I was first trained in Korea, I learned a lot of unique Korean traditional techniques that are rare to find anywhere else in the world. I immigrated to Canada six years ago and have been pursuing my career in the ceramic field since then.
The main concept of my work is to express my feeling of being between somewhere - as a newcomer from Asia, as a person who has a slight physical frame but who holds an unseen boldness inside, and as a traditionally trained ceramic artist who is now trying to embrace the tradition with my originality.
I call it Betweeness.
I make large scale works with groggy red clay to express my boldness. At the same time, I create really fine-detailed works with porcelain that look so fragile and elegant to show my softness as well.
I use traditional techniques such as throwing large pieces on a traditional kick wheel and making large slabs on the floor, which both require tremendous physical work. By tiring my body, I can let go of my negative emotion and frustration built up due to struggles between two cultures and two languages. Then I sit down and produce hundreds or thousands of small objects to process my thoughts that were scattered around.
By doing all of the above, I create my own language with clay where I hope the audience can experience my story.
Education
BFA - Dankook University, Seoul, South Korea
MFA - University of Manitoba, Manitoba, Canada