‘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.