2010 Graduation Exhibition

It’s the time of year when not only Christmas is in the air, but also graduation. The seniors have just a few days remaining and then they will officially be finished with their degrees and I will officially be sad to see them go!

I will be especially sad to say goodbye to these girls. They have been in many of my classes. The girl on the right, Sung-eun, has been my student every semester that I have taught at Keimyung and last semester she was in all three of my classes. She’s special. . . but really, they all are!

Last week was the graduation exhibition for my department, Craft Design. Each student had to create three pieces using materials of fiber, clay, wood or metal. Some students did work across the materials divide but most stuck with one area for their three pieces.

Fiber craft

Fiber craft

Wood craft

Wood craft

Ceramic craft

Ceramic craft

Metal craft

Notice all the flowers on the floor? It is common to bring your friends or relatives gifts when they have an exhibition. There are lots of flowers, but also candy and sweets with notes of congratulations. Instead of giving the flowers or candy to the person, you leave it next to the work for the artist to find and others to see.

Tomorrow night is a party for the graduating Seniors and we have only 7 more days of school before a long winter vacation!

 

Exhibition

I was given the amazing opportunity last month (May) to exhibit at a local gallery in Daegu!! And giving the slightly snarky tone of my last posting, I thought I’d come back with a different kind of story. Gallery 508 is a new space and therefore in REALLY nice condition, but more than that it’s a small, intimate space– perfect for my work!! I was introduced to the curator through a colleague and as soon as I walked into the gallery, I thought, “I would LOVE to exhibit here!!”

We only made the arrangements about 3 weeks before the opening so it was a little bit mad-dash to get everything together. I showed all my MFA thesis work + 2 new wall pieces and a dress. For this exhibit I worked with a framer to create some simple frames that acted more like architectural elements than anything else. Some of the pieces hung directly on the wall and other hung inside white boxes (without glass). I felt really good about how everything came together!!

So far in my experience in Korea I feel like I have just barely been hanging on, like I’m able to accomplish the minimum required of me. But with this, this was the first time I did something extra and it felt really good to stretch my wings!

It was also really exciting for me to talk about my work again! My work is a picture of what I know the Lord does in people’s lives: He heals and mends what is broken and makes a NEW story. A big group from a church showed up at my opening reception (I never know how things happen. . . ) and it was amazing for me to see how the work became an avenue for communication, even though language was a barrier! It was so cool!

Now that I’ve shown all my work. . . I guess it’s time to get back to making again!