Moon Bueong-Sik

Had a chance to spend the day at the studio of Moon Byeong-Sik
yesterday with Juno. He and I threw pots side by side on his two
wheels and were both interested in each of our differences in
technique. It was really nice to see him make such refined pots with
only a knife for cutting the pots off of the hump and a chamois for
smoothing the rims of his pots, no other tools! Above is an image of
his finished work, very tight & clean but in person you can still see
that it is hand made. I was able to shoot some video of him throwing
and plan to edit and post it soon.

Welcome! Ms. Hana Lee Field!

This post comes to you from a public computer, a PC no less, so I'm doing the best I know how, especially considering the operating system is in Hangul (Korean alphabet).

Anyway, the reason for this post is a big one, our daughter, Ms. Hana (rymes with sauna) Lee Field, was born about 26 hours ago. She and Heesoo are both healthy and happy. I have a few links to pictures below. She is a happy and relatively quiet (for the time being) baby and we just can't quite seem to stop staring at her.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=723591&l=609ccf305d&id=1035656430

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=723583&l=1e904e1377&id=1035656430

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=723811&l=3bf7160991&id=1035656430

Studio Visit: Moon Byung-Sik

While waiting for the arrival of our most recent family member Juno and I have been keeping busy by visiting some of the amazing potters this region of Korea has to offer.  Yesterday I looked up a potter, Moon Byung-Sik, we had met a few years back at his exhibiton in Seoul.  It turned out that his home/studio is only a 10 minute drive from where we are staying at my mother-in-law's home.  Mr. Moon is in his early 30's and works in translucent porcelain at cone 8.  His work is defined by it's simplicity and strength of form in contrast with the amazing skill necessary to make such forms from such a difficult material.  The pots in the pictures below represent one day of production for Mr. Moon.  

I was most impressed with his ability to balance his whole price range of work, from tiny $5 traditional cobalt painted porcelain animal figures to 4 foot wide platters with meticulous inlay/carved patterns.  

The few pictures I was able to snap were with my phone camera.  I plan to return to his studio in the coming weeks as he has invited me to work with him in the studio.  I'll be sure to get some quality pix of his finished work.

For those of you going to Philidelphia for NCECA Keep an eye out for Mr. Moon, if I understood him correctly, he is planning to teach a workshop in conjunction with an exhibition at this years conference (more details to come when I have them).  Also, I hope to arrange some other workshop locations for him if his travel plans allow.

Perspective

Today I'm writing from a Duncan' Dounuts' in Icheon, S. Korea, more for the quality of the WiFi then the quality of the products.  We find ourselves in Korea again for the birth of our second child.  We are told that this one will be a girl and that she will be born on November 4th (two days ago from the time of this post).  We are spending our time enjoying the beautiful fall colors and perfect hiking weather that Korea offers this time of year. 

I am always on the lookout for interesting products/product design when in Korea and have spotted some interesting things already.

 Nothing like getting plucked from one location/culture and plopped into another for noticing some interesting & different ways of doing things.  

AVAILABLE WORK

Visit TRAX Gallery to view some of my most recent work...

images by G. Post

In other news, my son Juno and I am getting ready to head back to Korea just in time for the birth of a new daughter/sibling.  My wife, Heesoo, has been there for the last couple of months in the capable hands of her mother.  We chose to have this birth in Korea for a few reasons, the main one being that we wanted to share this experience with our family in Korea.  Another reason is that it will actually be cheaper for us all to travel to Korea for the birth then it would have been to pay out of pocket for the birth back in the good ol' USA.  And, hey, any excuse to head back to Korea is good enough for me!  Juno and I will stay for 5 weeks to get some quality time in with the family and to be sure that the newest member of the family is a fully documented US citizen.  Heesoo and the newborn will stay on for a bit longer, returning home to Durango in early February.  

Greetings from Kings Beach, Lake Tahoe! I'm one week into my roadtrip/onggi workshop tour of the SF Bay Area. Get the full story on the following blog:
http://www.thepotterswife.blogspot.com/

Thanks Robin & Eden for being such great hosts during my stay in Logan.

The Long Way Home

In one weeks time I'll be ready for our journey! My son Juno and I will be making the 8 hour drive from Durango to my hometown, Arvada (a suburb of Denver). While we plan to spend a lot of time with family and friends, I will be dedicating most of our week-long stay to giving a workshop. 

The venue for this workshop, The Arvada Center of the Arts and Humanities, holds a special spot in my memory. As a young child I took many field trips to the Arvada Center whether it was to see a play, take an art class, view an exhibition, explore the extensive pioneer museum, or just for a picnic I always looked forward to the next visit.

Now, fifteen years after moving away, I am excited and honored to be able to offer something back to the community from which I came.





To start off the workshop I will be giving a FREE slide talk on Thursday June, 25th from 7-8:30 PM at the Arvada Center (see map below), I will show images from my travels and will discuss my inspirations and motivations behind my work. The slide talk is open to the public, so if you or anyone you know is in the area come on by!

The main part of the workshop will take place on Saturday and Sunday, June 27th & 28th. For details please follow this link to the Arvada Center workshop description page. To register for the workshop contact the Arvada Center directly (contact info below).  Hope to see you there!




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