The "Ancient Futures Whang Chong-nye" exhibition features ceramics collection by Whang.

/ Courtesy of Korea Ceramic Foundation



By Choi Ha-young

A couple of days before her exhibition, which had been scheduled to start on Aug. 26, Whang Chong-nye, a 90-year-old potter, was still making ceramics for the event from the five kilns at her house. Her colorful ceramics greet visitors who enter her workroom in the city of Goyang, north of Seoul.

The vibrant designs of her ceramics, which come in purple, blue, orange and green, is unlike that of traditional Korean ceramics, which are neutral and simple. Whang credits her unique aesthetic to her training at Ewha Womans University , where she majored in Western painting. "Without my Western painting background, I would not have been able to create (ceramics with) such colors," she said in an interview with The Korea Times, Aug. 24.

Based on grayish-blue-powdered celadon, "buncheong" in Korean, she recreated the tradition through her own characters, using "gwi-yal," Korea's traditional paste brush. The brush, available at stationery stores, has been used to paint glue on walls to attach new wallpapers.

The rough texture of the brush gives vitality to ceramics, embodying the wind, reeds, mountains, waves, water and clouds on the ceramics' surface, reminding the viewers of oriental abstract paintings.





Whang Chong-nye paints patterns with glaze on her ceramics in her workroom.

/ Courtesy of Korea Ceramic Foundation



"I also learned oriental paintings from a professor. Through paining basics , I could learn balance, color and the dynamics of stroke," she said. She grew up in Gaesong, North Korea's industrial city. Her father, Hwang In-chun, operated a large Goryeo porcelain factory during the Japanese occupation, exporting the goods to Japanese customers. "I used to play house with my father, using porcelain pieces."

Her older brother Whang Jong-ku was Korea's first ceramics professor at Ewha Womans University, and her son Lee Young-hak now teaches pottery at Sangmyung University in Seoul. As someone from a family of ceramists, she considers her artistic career as representing modern Korean ceramics art history, hence her exhibition's title, "Ancient Futures." She hopes the exhibition would encourage the audience to learn more about modern Korean ceramic art and imagine the future of ceramics.

Combining the Western painting style she learned in college and the Oriental art foundation she gained from her family, she has produced artifacts that have been brought by prominent museums around the world, including the British Museum, the Smithsonian in the United States and the Jingdezhen University museum in China. She said the originality of her artifacts attracts foreign audiences.

"There are many golden decorated ceramics, but it's rare to paint on ceramics with a rough brush," said the master potter, who has held more than 20 private exhibitions. "Gwi-yal patterns are used only in Korea and not in China or Japan," she continued.

She also emphasized the creative and practical characters of the buncheong ceramics. Buncheong, which appeared in the transition period between the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties, refers to the everyday bowls used by ordinary people, unlike porcelain and celadon pieces, which were used in the palace. Usually carved with folksy patterns like fish and birds, the buncheong reflects the simplicity of Korean folk culture.

"While porcelain during the Joseon Kingdom originated from China and celadon during the Goryeo Kingdom was inspired by the Sung Dynasty's celadon, buncheong is originally created in Korea," Whang said. "Ceramics are not artifacts but everyday items. I use my products as cups and bowls. The size and design of Korean ceramics reflect our traditional lifestyle and culture," she added.

Other than Whang's artifacts, the exhibition displays pieces from her family and patrons. The exhibition is open until Jan. 29, 2017, at Icheon World Ceramic Center in Gyeonggi Province, an area famous for its fine quality soil for make ceramics. The exhibition is open all week except Mondays. Visit www.kocef.org for more information.