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PEEKING INTO THE MIND
-YONGHEE JOO
In my work, I
deal with clay, earth, nature, and, ultimately, myself. To do this
is to realize that I belong to nature and am connected to the elements
of nature. Within the realm of nature there is my own place for
meditation and meditation has released the emotions and thoughts
that wander through my mind in that place. To know this feeling
leads to a sublime mental state.
My early works were based on personal interests in various forms
of nature and in meditations in nature. Natural forms were altered
and combined with a small female figure in an abstract sense. The
small figure shows the state of meditation in nature. In creating
my works, I wanted to approach the psychological aspects of human
relationships. I tried to represent more and more details of human
psychological responses and the intrapersonal encounters, which
occur in the mind as people relate to their surroundings and to
each other. In the process, I employed new forms and imagery with
new symbols and meanings. If my early works reveal an interest in
exterior form and imagery, the recent works deal with both exterior
form and interior content. This approach requires digging deeper
and deeper inside my own mind.
In my mind, there is a small room. The room echoes with various
sounds. I feel that the sounds in the room are whirling as if they
are making a deep hole that winds around my body in a moment. The
sounds sometimes whisper, cry, or even yell at me, and soon the
organs of my thinking come under their control. The small room is
my mind. Mind connects me with my surroundings and the external
world, thus I have mutual relations with what I encounter. In these
relations, my mind is filled with various sounds. I become the mood
of sadness, happiness, or other feelings that human beings have.
The concept of Hee-Noe-Ae-Rak shows the four representative human
emotions that human beings have. Hee is pleasure, Noe is anger,
Ae is sadness, and Rak is joy. The emotions and thoughts that I
deal with in my works come from the relationships of human beings
and nature, nature and myself, and myself with the people in my
surroundings. Ultimately my interest is my own psychological responses
and the intrapersonal. The mind contains a variety of emotions and
feelings: happiness, sadness, fear, hesitation, isolation, obsession,
and so on. I listen to the sounds of my emotion of the moment carefully
and then experiment to express them with clay. They are turned into
the shapes of box, canopy, and teapot containing or pouring out
a variety of emotions and thoughts. The viewer can peek into what
I have felt and thought through my own experiences. Each piece contains
a fragmentary story and emotion.
The exterior and the interior used in my works are based on my regional
and religious background. I integrate my surroundings and my fundamental
identity to represent the impression of national and cultural differences
that I have experienced. It is the process of accepting other cultures.
I hope that my works carry my voice, my personality, and those subject
matters that provoke me to constant thinking. My works become the
echoes of my life. I ask each viewer to listen to the echoes within
my works, and with a little meditation leave their own.
EDUCATION
2000-2004 M.F.A. Kent State University, Kent, Ohio. Ceramics.
1996 SBS Broadcasting Academy, Kyonggido, Korea. Computer Graphics.
1989-1993 B.F.A. Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. Ceramic
Craft Arts.
ACTIVITY
2005 Instructor, Ceramic Department, FGS Korean Community Center,
NJ
2004 Studio Assistant, Ceramic Department, Craft Student League
of YWCA, NY.
1997-9 Computer GraphicDesigner, Internet Webpage, Netro21, Seoul,
Korea.
1995~6 Computer GraphicDesigner, CD-Rom Title, Pentagram, Seoul,
Korea.
1993-4 Instructor, Drawing and Design, Han-sol Art Institute, Kyonggido,
Korea.
AWARDS
2002 Bobby Kadis Scholarship, Penland School of Crafts, North Carolina.
2002 Scholarship, Kent Blossom Art. Kent State University, Ohio.
2001 Scholarship, Kent State University, Ohio.
2001 Scholarship, Kent Blossom Art, Kent State University, Ohio.
1989 Top of Entrance Examination for Department of Craft Arts,
Seoul National University.
EXHIBITIONS
2005 “School’s Out” (NCECA), The Catonsville Art
Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland
2005 “Earth, Wheel and Fire”, International Museum of
Art & Science, McAllen, Texas
2004 “Yonghee Joo: Ceramics", Western Illinois University
Art Gallery, Macomb, Illinois
2004 “2004 Juried Clay Annual”, Space 101 Gallery, PA
2004 “Spring Benefit for the YWCA and its Craft Student League”,
YWCA, NY
2004 “100 Teapots 2”, Baltimore Clayworks, MD
2003~4 “Bottles and Bowls”, the Saratoga Clay Company,
NY
2003 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Gallery 138, Kent, OH.
2002 Show for Christmas, Gallery 138, Kent, OH.
2002 20-Hour MFA Review Exhibition, Kent State University, OH.
2002 Odd and Ends, Group Show, Sculpture Gallery. Kent State University,
OH.
1993 B.F.A. Degree Exhibition, Seoul National University, Korea
1991 New Core Gallery, New Core Department Store, Seoul, Korea.
PRESENTATION
2003 Graduate Presentation, NCECA, San Diego.
PUBLICATIONS
2003 Ceramics Monthly: Announce of MFA Thesis Exhibition, May, pg
79
COLLECTIONS
2004 Western Illinois University Art Gallery, Macomb, Illinois
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