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.
