Once again the ‘Clay for You’ Korean Potters Group have filled two galleries at Port Moody Arts Centre with their fine traditional Korean pottery. Led by master potter Clay Jung Hong Kim, with much assistance from his skilled wife Sylvia, the Clay for You group has grown from strength to strength in the twenty or so years since the pair decided to continue their ceramics careers here in their chosen home, Canada. Students travel to their studio in Maple Ridge for lessons, and several, including our own clay technician Gloria Han, have gone on to have successful careers in the making of these lovely traditional pieces.

Gloria was invited to be Clay Kim’s translator, without forewarning, at the show’s opening and she did a charming job. She was also introduced as the newly appointed ceramics technician and studio manager. With her early and ongoing association with Clay Kim, a BFA in Ceramics from Emily Carr University and a recently completed MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Gloria’s career in ceramics is well on its way.

‘Clay for You’ students are taught techniques for making the well-known slip-inlaid patterns, double-walled, incised and carved forms of traditional Korean pottery, all using clay imported from Korea and glazes mixed by Clay Kim. Wheel-throwing from the hump, as demonstrated by Gloria at the recent Car-Free Day, with the wheel turning clockwise (unlike anti-clockwise, used by most of us Western-trained potters) is the start of Korean pottery lessons. The solid grounding in traditional methods allows the students to create pots that are recreations of familiar forms. It is clear that Clay Kim insists on perfect technique before students can move on to imagining new forms.

In this show we see lots of examples of the splendid traditional pieces, made by Clay Kim himself, all in the Plum Gallery. In the Ann Kitching gallery we see groups of pots by his students and now more-experienced potters, and by Sylvia Kim. Do take the chance to see this show of really fine pottery before the show ends on September 19th, and notice in particular the work of potters Ren Shieh, Sera Oh and Gloria Han.

The work filling the main gallery spaces in the Arts Centre this month is titled ‘Upcycling Port Moody’s Heritage’ and is organized by the Port Moody Heritage Society. As the invitation states:

‘Museums usually restore and preserve artifacts for display and use as originally created, but for the celebration of their 50th anniversary the Heritage Society invited artists to transform old materials and unwanted products into art pieces that are beautiful, functional, humorous and fun’.

The extraordinary and inventive creations artists have made as a result of this invitation are well worth a gallery visit.

‘Summer of Ceramics’ is the title of one of the shows that opened at Port Moody Arts Centre on Thursday. Members of the ‘Clay for You’ pottery club and their teacher Clay Jung Hong Kim were showing Korean-style pottery in their 12th Annual Exhibition.

Korean ceramic master Clay Jung Hong Kim arrived in BC in 2001. Since then he has become well-known for his fine traditional work and his teaching. The gallery flyer says: ‘This year, our students are presenting individually crafted ceramic artworks, as well as geometrical plates of round, oval, triangular and rectangular shapes, which will be displayed on a wall as a group.’

I was pleased to see Clay and his wife Sylvia again and am impressed with the work of their students. They were obviously enjoying the celebration and happily posed for a group photo.

All the work is reduction-fired to cone 10, with the fine celadon as the main glaze enhancing carved, pierced and Sanggam (inlay; white slip painted on a carved pattern and then scraped out) decorated ware. They only use clay imported from Korea.

Beautiful, not-for-sale beakers featuring carved black slip and celadon glaze were made by member Janice Ha.

Coquitlam resident Ren Shieh explained that he gave up a stressful computer career ten years ago after taking classes with Clay Kim and now sells his clay work at the Whistler Farmers’ Market. I wondered how he, a Chinese-Canadian, was taught by Mr Kim who only speaks Korean and he tells me that they learn purely from watching his demonstrations. We agreed that  we all have much to appreciate in the process of traditional Korean techniques, whether it’s throwing off the hump, carving applied slip or watching Sylvia recreate the filigree and Sanggam skills.

After Clay Jung Hong Kim was introduced to the largely Korean audience, Janice Cotter announced that this year’s Port Moody Arts Centre Ceramic Artist-in-Residence is one of his students. Gloria Han was unable to attend but I met her mother and saw her two show pieces. Gloria, also a Coquitlam resident, graduated from the Ceramics programme at Emily Carr University this year. Her particular interest is the study of Korean ceramics, especially the making of huge Onggi jars.

Congratulations Gloria. I wish you a very successful year in the clay department and look forward to seeing your year-end show next July.

It’s been almost a month since I last added to my blog. Alan and I have been in England and then on a tour in Central Europe. I will have several topics that I’d like to write about and post photos of, but first I’ll mention a show that you can still catch until Sunday Oct 13th.

Jung Hong Kim (Clay Kim) and his wife arrived from Korea some fifteen years ago and decided to settle in the Tri-Cities. I remember the pair arriving at my house with their son as interpreter. They wanted advice on establishing their pottery studio here. Since then it has been wonderful to see them and their work gaining local recognition. As well as making traditional Korean-style pottery, with inlaid slips and a luscious celadon glaze the couple have been giving pottery lessons. They now have a loyal following, mainly in the Korean community and so the show currently on display in the Plum Gallery at Port Moody Arts Centre features not only Clay Kim’s work but lots by his students.

The main gallery is showing portraits by members of Suite E Artists. The subjects are many of our Arts community so it is amusing to see photos of them with their portraits at the opening.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pomoarts/sets/72157635604077434/

In the 3D Gallery there is a display of work by the Clay Studio members titled “That’s not what I put in the kiln!”. It gives a good idea of the variety of methods for clay work being explored and the materials available for finishing the work.

Now that Fall is here a visit to our local Art Gallery is a good idea for a cloudy afternoon.