A fine, fine ceramics exhibit – a merger of new technique, concept and curriculum

Yoonchung Kim has curated a world class ceramics exhibit at San Diego City College’s new art gallery.  Casting Plus brings together Korean, Chinese and U.S. ceramic artists – all of whom are getting us to rethink the possibilities of this medium. The works capture a range of emotions and ideas, beyond the expectation of the pretty, the glazed surface and the collectible.



Casting Plus / Gallery Panorama

Kim notes a programmatic aspect of Casting Plus: "This exhibit has an added dimension of launching a new curriculum for Art Entrepreneurship to help fine art majors add skills for making a living in art related businesses. These classes do not help you learn art quicker; we want our students to be able to make a living as artists and designers. Four year university education generally does not include the business end as an artist."

Jeff Irwin / Win, Place and Show / Earthenware 2014
I use a white satin glaze on the surface to support the subtleness of the forms and strengthen a sense of
simplicity, clarity, spirituality, and transcendence between life and death. Inspired by animal trophies
and twisting tree branches I have created a series of all white tree-like animals, which are meant
 to represent our manipulation of nature. For me the work alludes to power, ego, preciousness and loss.
  Using a relatively fragile material like clay to create this work serves to reinforce my message
of the fragility of nature. In Win, Place and Show, these trophies allude to competition and the need to win
as well as depicting our use of nature to entertain and enrich ourselves.

Joe Nalven:  How should we think about ceramics?

Yoonchung Kim:  Ceramics is a medium that can combine sculptural and painterly art works, but at the same time ceramic outcomes depend on firing and glazing. Glaze and underglaze include many chemicals for colorants. Ceramic requires many types of equipment for firing and glaze making. Other sculpture works also require a variety of equipment, like saws, drills, welding, and casting equipment. We are fortunate that we have been getting some advanced equipment with our new building.

For this exhibition, I included artists who use CNC (Calibrated Nozzle Changers), 3D printer for the shapes and laser printer or color laser printer for the surface imageries. These technologies also help the making of multiples faster - which is the way the casting technique is mostly used.

Haesin Ro / Sphere
The work implies a variety of different colors in the controlled shapes. The artist attempts
to create a reciprocal relationship between form and color. Furthermore, color is observed as a means
to express different emotions. Color also insinuates movement, weight and atmosphere.
The process of making is both delicate and complex, requiring patience and time.
The work is made using the slip-casting technique and the pieces are colored by painting
slip directly on to the molds.

Richard Burkett / California Drought Tea Pot / Soda fired slip-cast porcelain / 2014

JN:  With the new Art Entrepreneurship curriculum, I wondered how your sabbatical to Korea and China influenced this curriculum - and, on a personal level, what was the give and take in your working with Korean and Chinese ceramicists?

YCK:  In Asia, ceramic casting is a big part of university education. In the U.S., we emphasize the one of kind, the fine and conceptual ceramic piece. Bringing more of the Asian approach to our institution was what I planned before I went on sabbatical to Korea and China for a year. I learned many technical casting techniques while I was sharing the studio with an artist who has worked casting works for 25 years. In return, I taught image transfer techniques including silkscreen and decal making. My work is always about conceptual approaches with casting techniques; that was part of what I taught when I was in Korea.

Casting Plus: International Ceramic Exhibition Current work by 15 artists from US, Korea & China City Art Gallery:  San Diego City College 1508 C Street, San Diego CA  (Street parking nearby) Gallery hours:  Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday:  12 noon to 4 pm Thursday: 3 to 7 pm, and by appointment Oct. 7 - Nov. 4, 2014 Free  Contact:  Yoonchung Kim:  ykim@sdccd.edu

Mikyung Kim / Stoneage Ware / Porcelain 2014

Terri Hughes-Oelrich / Untitled / Slip-casted clay in molds 
 

Nancy Selvin / Findings #010 / Clay 2010

Lesley Baker / China Flowers
My work is greatly influenced by architecture, the history of ceramics and the quality of
 the porcelain. The floral motif inspired by wallpaper patterns represents the history of place
 and the desire to make things beautiful by mimicking nature. The cast porcelain pieces are
 assemblages of collected forms that redefine the meaning of the object. Scale becomes
 like memory, distorted by time, some larger than life while others are buried. 
Personal history and desire colors the view and projects unique meaning. 
Clay has the endurance to record civilizations, a purity that can let light through, 
and a fragility that demands gentleness. It has the magic of seducing the artist by
 never fully revealing all its secrets.
 

 Seung Wook Hwang /   Canon G35C (left), Polyhedron (right) / Slip Casted Porcelain 2009
I make ceramic works using digital technology such as CAD/CAM and CNC machine. 
Precise form made by using the machine has other charms different from exquisiteness
 and perfectness of the form made by a skillful craftsman. I think that the tools and means 
not only bring the differences in outcomes but also converts the aesthetic decision 
and the way of thinking of the maker. Because things made by using such digital technology 
are related to almost all the lives of people, the attempt to use the digital technology 
for ceramics work has the meaning of the record of aesthetic trend 
and formal tendency of our age.

Yoonchung Kim / Frozen Perspective

JN:  How do you think of your own work?

YCK:  A common thread I had in most of my work are time as a visual element and the scale beyond human perception. The eternal time span of Earth compared to human life and the incredible size of nature compared to the human scale make my existence and art making temporal and humble.

I am fascinated with nature's lasting power and vastness; this is manifested strongly in my works. The eternal enormity of the Alaskan glaciers, powerful ocean and its waves dwarf me. Vast dried earth and sands cleanse me. When I am with nature, I find myself peaceful and spiritual.

Many things in my life have evoked a thought of death as the moment of returning to a primal element such as earth's dust.

Geometric forms from the man made environment are combined with natural forms and organic textures. Harmony is created in contrast: nature versus human, mortal versus immortal, object versus primal element.

Yoonchung Kim /  J's Memory

I am re-defining the concept of human scale and time from a different perspective.

Sometimes the meaning of my work may be ambiguous to the viewers, but I encourage the viewers to have their own interpretation of my works.  I believe they will relate my works with their own views of life. As Marcel Duchamp said, "The viewer completes the creative cycle." 

It doesn't seem that the field of ceramics is static. There seems to be a dynamic energy driving this show -- not only in the vision, but the materials and technology. 

Is this what we are seeing?

The artists in the exhibit are:  Jin Baek, Leslie Baker, Richard Burkett, Seung Hee Lee, Soonjung Hong, Terri Hughes-Oelrich, Jeff Irwin, Jihye Kim, Mikyung Kim, Yoonchung Kim, Nancy Selvin, Hae Sin Ro, Paula Winokur, Seung Wook Hwang, Sol Yoon. 

The images shown in this blog are only a sample of the robust collection of pieces. Each one is worth seeing in this world class exhibit.