The European tour of the Tradition Transformed: Contemporary Korean Ceramics exhibition, held in Spain, Ireland, and Britain from 2007-2011, was a meaningful occasion to introduce the latest trends in contemporary Korean ceramics to audiences in Europe. Cho Jung-hyun, professor emeritus at Ewha Womans University, is the chief architect of this successful itinerant exhibition.

European Viewers Impressed

The homecoming show of the Tradition Transformed exhibition was held at the Korea Foundation Cultural Center Gallery from December 22, 2011 to January 18, 2012, wrapping up a four-year tour to introduce contemporary Korean ceramics in three European countries. The exhibition opened at the Ormeau Baths Gallery in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in January 2007, and continued at the National Craft Gallery in Ireland, and the Muel Ceramic Art School Studio and the González Martí National Museum of Ceramics in Spain, before the finale at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

The five-month show at the Victoria and Albert Museum attracted some 1.12 million viewers, reflecting a keen interest in the contemporary ceramic arts of Korea. The exhibition featured 87 works representing Korea’s contemporary ceramic arts harmonizing tradition and modernity in style, technique, material, and subject. The Seoul show presented a selection of 58 pieces.

Cho Jung-hyun, professor emeritus of Ewha Womans University, was the driving force behind the European tour. She had already organized another successful exhibition of contemporary Korean ceramics which toured 12 U.S. museums in 2004-2008. This time she invited 29 artists to contribute their works displaying the aesthetics of contemporary ceramic art based on traditional techniques.

Leading Potter and Curator
Cho Jung-hyun
The exhibition’s curator Cho Jung-hyun is an artist and theorist who has pursued interaction of Korea’s traditional pottery and contemporary ceramic arts. As one of Korea’s first-generation contemporary ceramic artists, Cho studied contemporary pottery at Ewha Womans University and continued her studies in the United States, where she “rediscovered” traditional Korean pottery. She organized the From the Fire: A Survey of Contemporary Korean Ceramics exhibition that toured the United States beginning in 2004, receiving remarkable acclaim at every stop. She was thus encouraged to organize another exhibition to introduce Korea’s contemporary ceramic arts in Europe.
As a curator, what Cho sought to emphasize in these exhibitions was presentation of ceramic works that embodied contemporary aesthetic sensibilities based on traditional Korean roots, alongside ceramics with diverse avant-garde elements. She tried in principle to select works that reflected essential aspects of Korea’s traditional culture, along with fresh styles and interpretations of traditional pottery-making techniques. “This exhibition had significance in opening up a cultural channel to communicate with the world through ceramic arts, which have evolved and refined from tradition, while at the same time promoting the excellence and cultural value of Korean ceramics,” said Cho.

Rooted in Korean Tradition
Korean ceramics, with a history stretching back
5,000 years, has exerted a persistent influence
on Cho’s artistic career. Korea’s lengthy history
and rich culture have been a magnificent source
of inspiration and motivation for her arts, bestowing
her with a wealth of good fortune and a heavy
sense of responsibility as an artist.
Cho’s agony in wrestling with this
personal burden can be seen
in her efforts to integrate
the unique characteristics
and sentiments of Korean
tradition with her contemporary
aesthetic sensibility.“Tradition
should not be a yoke but the basis
of a deep root,” Cho said. “However,
tradition should not force you to simply copy the past but provide a direction for you to pursue
the creativity of the present era. You must be able to freely express a fresh sense of challenge
toward beauty and the spirit of the times through clay and its relationships with the surrounding
space.””

After creating pottery works employing an inlay technique, Cho turned her attention to traditional Korean earthenware. She travelled all across the country in search of the native onggi (Korea’s indigenous earthenware) works housed at museums and variousother institutions. She highlights the texture and properties of clay through form and surface decoration, for which she often adopts the inlay technique from Goryeo celadon. Through the process of carving the surface, simple patterns become more distinctive, enabling the entire artwork to exude a lifelike vibrancy. Cho’sceramic works are characterized by a natural atmosphere, which is d through a harmony of the rough and plain form of onggi ware with contemporary features. They are antique and refined with modern figurative beauty emanating from heterogeneous materials combined through inlaying technique.

“Western people say my works are ‘Oriental,’ while Asians think they are ‘Western.’ It is a very important part of my work to combine ‘traditional techniques and fresh senses’ in order to integrate tradition with new tendencies. At the same time, I’m trying to develop the common aspects and differences between the traditional and modern sensibilities with an impartial perspective,” she said. Cho has been constantly searching for something new for today, which is different from yesterday. She has adapted the Goryeo inlay technique to her earthenware works, pioneered environmental ceramics, spotlighted the connection between architecture and ceramic art with a modern form of kkotdam (flower walls), and introduced creative forms and ornamental techniques by studying the earthenware of the Three Kingdoms period.

Presenting Korean Ceramics in Asia

Currently a professor emeritus at Ewha Womans University, Cho has also served as the dean of the College of Art and Design at the university, lectured on Oriental ceramic art as a guest professor at Wayne State University and served as a visiting professor at Southern Illinois University, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and Peters Valley Craft School, and a research professor at Harvard University in the United States. She has received numerous awards, including the Prime Minister’s Award and the Culture and Information Minister’s Award at the National Art Exhibition of Korea in 1969 and 1979, respectively.

Since her first exhibition in the United States in 1976, Cho has held 15 solo exhibitions, and published theses on such subjects as “Study on Inlaid Chrysanthemum Patterns of Goryeo Celadon” and “Study on the World’s Environmental Ceramics,” as well as books including “Flower Walls” (Kkotdam) and “Architectural Pottery and Patterns of Traditional Korean House.” Today, her works are exhibited at renowned museums in and outside of Korea, including Ewha Woman University Museum, Seoul Museum of Art, the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Southern Illinois University Museum, and the British Museum.

It is no exaggeration to say that contemporary Korean ceramics have been brought onto the global stage thanks in large part to the hard work and organizational efforts of Professor Cho Jung-hyun. After the touring exhibitions in the United States and Europe, which successfully introduced the originality and excellence of contemporary Korean ceramics to overseas audiences, I can only wonder what Cho might do in the future to promote the beauty of Korean ceramics in Asia.

Text by Yang In-sil Photography by Park Jung-ro