In South Korea, I was invited to lecture at Namseoul Univerisity, which is located about an hour and a half out of Seoul. First we were treated to an excellent, traditional lunch by the faculty of Namseoul University, and then given a quick tour of the studios. The school offers both ceramics and glass and has a well-equiped facility including 3-D printers, a water-jet cutter, and huge kilns. They offer a major in architectural ceramics, but the work produced appeared to be diverse and broad-ranging. At Namseoul University, I delivered my lecture called “Exploring New Technologies,” which provides an overview of my recent practice and sabbatical research since July 2012. Thank you to Byoung-Il Sun, Dean, Design Professor at Namseoul University, and Jong Pil (JP) Pyun, Chairman, Dept. of Environmental Art & Design at Namseoul University for their kind hospitality.
After spending a few days touring galleries in Seoul, we boarded the fast train (which hit up to 304 km/hour) to go to Gimhae, where we visited the Clayarch Gimhae Museum. I presented a lecture and we were fortunate to be there for the opening of the artists-in-residence exhibition. We also saw Prisms, an excellent show of work by established Korean artists in the main ceramic gallery. I would like to thank especially Johee Jeon, one of the Chief Curators at Clayarch Gimhae Museum, Jeong Eun Choi, Director of Clayarch Gimhae Museum, and Seungtaek Kim, Ceramic Creative Centre Manager at Clayarch. Seungtaek, the breakfast you prepared for us on our last day was excellent. Thank you!
And a big thank-you to my former student Jin Kim for being a great tour organizer and translator. She made sure every detail was attended to and introduced us to different areas of Seoul and lots of good galleries and places to eat. We especially enjoyed Korean barbecue and some of the traditional street food. And thank you to all of our kind hosts in China and South Korea who helped make our visit insightful and enjoyable. I’m looking forward to returning.
