2009.4.25
When the sun warms up but the air still feels cold it means pottery festival season has arrived again.
The 5th "World Ceramic Biennale Korea" starts today, in three Gyeonggi Province cities - Icheon, Gwangju and Yeoju.
Started in 2001, the biennale has grown to become the world's biggest pottery festival. Various exhibitions, seminars, workshops and experience programs related to ceramics are held.
The three host cities are referred to as the "ceramic belt," since more than a third of the nation's ceramic houses are located there.
Each city usually hosts its own pottery festival every year, but they are partly combined with the biennale every other year.
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| Yu Gwang-yeol, Korean ceramic master |
Icheon
If you want to see some ceramics and enjoy a family picnic, Icheon may be a good choice.
It takes about an hour to drive from Seoul to get to Icheon, on the way which one can stop by to see traditional Korean style houses owned by rich ceramists of the 1980s.
In no time, you will reach Seolbong Park, with its fresh green grass and lake.
Icheon World Ceramic Center, the main building of the biennale, is located beside the lake.
On the first floor of the center, entries and award winners of the "The International Competition" are on display.
More than 1,700 artists from 70 countries submitted 3,196 entries this year. With the grand prize of 60 million won, it is by far the most popular competition in the world ceramic society.
The exhibits come in all shapes and colors, from simple, pure and minimal white porcelain works to big and dark steel-like ceramics.
"All possible techniques and ceramic works based on every culture in the world can be found here. The exhibition projects the current world trend in ceramics," said Suh Jeong-gurl, director of the biennale's curatorial department.
Upstairs, visitors can see larger pieces at the "World Contemporary Ceramics - Adventures of the Fire" exhibition.
A gigantic ceramic piece that looks like a burnt tree greets visitors at the entrance. It is "The Holy Spirit of Grand Cedar" by Japanese ceramist Tsuyoshi Shima. Shima burned the inside of a Japanese cedar tree and used it as a mold.
"It is almost impossible to bake a ceramic that big, but the ceramist seems to be extremely talented in handling earth and fire," said exhibition curator Choi Jeong-hee.
"As the subtitle of the exhibition is 'Adventures of the Fire,' we've selected works that truly test the limits of ceramics. Some works sublimated what would have been considered as fatal flaws in the old sense into amazing characteristics," Choi said.
Before leaving the city, take your kids to "The 23rd Icheon Ceramic Festival" also running under the pavilions in Seolbong Park. Focused on young visitors, the festival provides clay play sections and hands on pottery programs.
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Yeoju
Looking for tips to decorate your house with some chic and elegant ceramics? Then Yeoju is the place to go.
Yeoju World Ceramic Livingware Gallery, the main building of the biennale in the city, is holding the exhibition "Ceramic Space & Life" which is filled with delicate ceramics, plus, according to the curator, "touches of unique interior."
"Ceramics have infinite potential. Its history as a genre of contemporary art is not long, but more and more artists are advancing into the fine arts field with ceramics," said Suh.
Park Seong-chil, a well-known Korean interior designer, transformed the building's second floor into eight different places, each themed after the seven days of the week, plus a resting place.
The first seven rooms feature moon, fire, water, wood, steel, soil and light, corresponding to the days of the week. The interiors use clever materials, like roofs covered with "hanji" (Korean traditional paper), tables filled with water or walls built with charcoal blocks.
Outside, "The 21st Yeoju Ceramic Festival" is underway. Try spinning the potter's wheel and take home your own hand made potteries. The traditional ceramic kilns nearby are also worth a visit.
Gwangju
The biennale in Gwangju is more focused on royal ceramics.
Bunwon, or a branch, of the Joseon palace's ceramic kiln was located in Gwangju, which is why the place became so famous for royal ceramics," explained Suh.
In line with "The 12th Gwangju Royal Ceramic Festival," the biennale holds the exhibition "Bunwon Royal Porcelain" at GyeongGi Ceramic Museum.
Fifty white porcelains from the Joseon dynasty and another fifty made by contemporary ceramists are on display.
Like the typical image of Joseon white porcelains, which are still considered the best of Korea's ceramics, the Gwangju exhibition is calmer and perhaps a bit more noble than their counterparts in Icheon and Yeoju.
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"Ceramics-Climax" in Ansan
If you are curious about contemporary ceramics, visit the exhibition "Ceramics-Climax" at Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province.
It spotlights modernized formative ceramics that fit in the category of contemporary art.
Twenty-seven ceramists, including both the field's leading figures and up-and-coming artists, are participating in the event.
All works are very original and sometimes even whimsical. Kim Jin-kyung knitted thousands of white ceramic pieces together to make a dress. It may not be wearable, but definitely breaks traditional stereotypes about ceramic works.
Viewers can also see Paik Nam-june's video installation "Shaping the future with Earth." About fifty monitors are installed in an earthenware-like mound which is actually made with fiber glass.
Paik made the piece for GyeongGi Ceramic Museum to commemorate Gyeonggi Ceramic Biennale in 2001, but it was moved to Ansan for this exhibition.
For those who are simply too lazy or busy to leave Seoul, wait one more week for another big pottery exhibition to be held right in the center of Seoul.
"The exhibition of 100 pottery masters from Korea and China" starts May 6 at HanKooK Museum of Art in Insa-dong.
One hundred renowned ceramic masters, 50 Korean and 50 Chinese, will exhibit 300 works. The masters, most of whom are government-accredited masters and some from prestigious ceramic families, have each established their own style of ceramics.
"The two countries are the cores of the world ceramic society. This exhibition will be an opportunity to see the past, present and future of the Northeast Asian potteries and also to recognize the new trend in world ceramics," said an exhibition official.
The 5th World Ceramic Biennale runs through May 24 in Icheon, Gwangju and Yeoju in Gyeonggi Province. It takes about one to two hours by car to get to the cities from Seoul. A shuttle bus runs from Gwangju to Icheon and from Icheon to Yeoju. Tickets range from 1,000 won to 12,000 won. For more information, call (031) 645-0531 or visit www.wocef.com
"Ceramics-Climax" runs through July 5 at Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. Admission is free. For more information, call (031) 481-7000 or visit www.gma.or.kr
"The exhibition of 100 pottery masters from Korea and China" runs from May 6 to 12 at HanKook Museum of Art in Insa-dong, central Seoul. Tickets are 20,000 won. For more information, call (02) 747-5634.
By Park Min-young
(claire@heraldm.com)
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