 |
|||||||
|
|
|
|
ALSO
IN THIS ISSUE Left Brain, Right Brain To Protect and To Serve Online Biology Taking to the Streets Chancellor’s Page Development News Factoids NewsMakers |
COVER STORY Feat
of Clay A century ago her native countrymen began coming to America –– as she did three decades ago –– and now Yoonchung Kim’s art will travel to the most American of locations, the Smithsonian Institution in our nation’s capital, Washington, DC. Kim, who goes by the nickname “YC,” is a professor of art at City College. The ceramist is one of only 17 Korean-born artists nationwide chosen to show work in the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibit “Dreams & Reality: Korean-American Art Exhibition to Celebrate 100 Years of Korean Immigration to the U.S.” The exhibit runs Aug. 18-Sept. 21. The exhibit will allow Kim not only to showcase her most recent work to a varied audience, but also through that work to express the hopes, dreams and aspirations she has gathered since arriving in Northern California from Seoul during the late ’60s. “I came to UC Berkeley (where she studied with clay revolutionary Peter Voulkos) on a University Fellowship, after my graduate study in ceramics at Seoul National University,” Kim writes in her artist statement for the exhibition. “Even though I was thirsty for a new approach, I was unprepared to embrace funky ceramic sculptures of the West Coast in the late 1960s. According to what I learned in Korea, they represent everything that good art should not be. I was torn between contradicting cultures and aesthetics.” Kim says she experienced months of agonizing soul searching, and in the end relied on her own judgment. If she had landed on the East Coast following her immigration, she admits she might not have experienced the conflict that often gives rise to the best art. “Most importantly, it taught me to not fear being lost, or different,” she said. “I was making my pieces against the backdrop of social unrest and the Vietnam War. I had grown up during the Korean War. I lost my father to the North Koreans, and since the 1950s I have not known if he is alive or dead. So the notions of war were in my mind even as I was working on more traditional art in Korea.” Her artistic career has long melded dreams and reality, Kim says. “I enjoy infiltrating those two aesthetics into my work,” she said. “When I was younger the work came across as more rebellious, but lately I’ve been able to balance that notion with my Korean training.” The Smithsonian exhibit will offer work from two of Kim’s most recent series, “Homage to Blue and White” and “Ice and Water.” The former is inspired by an awe-filled trip to Alaska’s glaciers, along with thoughts on mortality, the two ideas melding as do so many of Kim’s crossreferenced themes. “In 1996, I had breast cancer, and that made me think more about my own life than I had before,” Kim said. “Our life span is so short, and I began to address this, becoming more in tune with the Buddhist philosophy of going back to nature.” Kim wrote of this life-nature blend in a statement accompanying her one person, “Homage to Blue and White” exhibit at Galeriasia in Hong Kong: “Nature dwarfs human scale. My existence and art-making seem temporal and humble compared to the eternal enormity of the Alaskan glaciers, the California desert or the vast Pacific Ocean. I try to show time as a visual element and scale beyond human perception.” From there, the work took on other forms. A trip to Alaska two years ago exposed her to the blue hues of ancient sea ice, where air is squeezed out by the weight of succeeding decades, even centuries, of snow and ice, until only the blue spectrum of light is reflected. Blue ice is old and strong. “I started working from the images of the blue and white glaciers,” Kim said. “This series also became homage to the blue and white Korean ceramics of the 18th century. Geometric forms are juxtaposed here against an impression of magnificent glacier, ocean or mountains. I try to create harmony between contrasting elements: nature vs. human, mortal vs. immortal, object vs. primal element.” These insights are passed to Kim’s students at City College. “I enjoy teaching, because to me it’s what the making of art is all about,” she said. “Teaching is immediate gratification, and I use it to rediscover who I am as an artist.” In her teaching, Kim says she attempts to go beyond talking only about the technique of the art, but also encourages her students to incorporate their own life experiences into the work. “Students are often surprised by how much this helps,” she said. “Art is different than dancing. You require technique in art, but so much depends on what you bring to the art from your own life. I like to think I have a knack for bringing talent out of students, especially those who have experienced difficult times. While students can make interesting pieces, they can also solve their crises.” Technology also figures into heartfelt art. “We use computer programming to fire up our kiln,” Kim said. “We use computer imagery, printing techniques. I don’t believe artists should worry about technology becoming intrusive. Art must be personal, but we can look at technology as a tool.” Kim was a committee member who helped organize the World Ceramics Exposition 2001 in Korea. She received her bachelor of fine arts degree at Seoul National University, followed by her master of arts degree at UC Berkeley. She has also served as artistic director for the Combined Organization of Visual Arts in San Diego, and networks frequently with the local artistic community. This spring, Kim’s work was enjoyed by visitors to Mesa College’s art gallery where it was part of citywide exhibits during a national convention of ceramics educators. She was recently one of five featured artists at the San Diego City College Saville Theater Lobby in the exhibit “Contemporary Ceramics: Conceptual Approach.” Kim’s work is in permanent collections at the Pacific Asian Museum in Pasadena, the Tennessee State Museum, and three museums in Korea: Hoam Art Museum, the Seoul Metropolitan Museum, and Seoul National University Museum. Her artistic appetite remains unabated. “Throughout my career, my work has evolved into many different aspects of art-making, but what has remained consistent is that I thrive on the challenge of my previous work,” Kim says. “I experiment with one piece after another, instead of making a masterpiece. My entire artistic career is one continuously challenging experiment.”
|
ARTIST ON ICE. This installation sculpture, "Glacier," is an abstract impression of a vast glacier. Made of stoneware, clay, glass, cast resin and blue light, it was too large to transport to the Smithsonian.
BLUE ICE. "Melting" is stoneware clay with melted glass representing a deep valley of ice and water.
STONE COLD DESIGN. Reflections of morning dew on an icefield were the inspiration for "Daybreak in the Icefield," a high-fired stoneware clay sculpture. |
