Hyun Kyung Yoon

At art6 Oct. 3 through Oct. 26, 2008

Hyun Kyung Yoon received her BS in applied design from the University of Minnesota and her MFA in ceramics from Virginia Commonwealth University. Since 1996, she has been the owner of Ceramic Arts Studio and Gallery Monticello in Yangpyeong, South Korea. In the summer of 2008, she was a visiting artist at Alfred Summer Ceramic in Alfred, New York, and is currently an adjunct professor at VCU.

Hyun has exhibited her work in South Korea and throughout the United States, and in 2009, she will have a solo exhibition at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts in Wilmington.

Artist's statement

My ceramic art works share a common interest in Far Eastern Calligraphy, especially in the cursive style wherein kinetic tension of growth, as well as contrast between line and mass, elucidate the art of the brush stroke.

My interest in nature has helped me to discover a new way of seeing and a different approach to developing thematic ideas for making ceramics. Some of my motives are derived from nature. The natural world is a constant source of wonder, inspiration and delight to me. I try to convey these feelings in my work. Some of my work is inspired by direct observation, while other work is motivated by impressions and images stored in memory.

My approach to forming sculpture involves a personal set of methods I have developed for working with clay. I use the wheel to make a variety of forms, because the wheel allows flexibility in shape and size. As I work, I create parts without a preconceived plan and then assemble forms from those pieces. For me, making ceramic sculpture is an additive process in which I use multiple parts to create unique form. Although the individual sections I use are recognizable pottery shapes, the compositions I develop are abstract.

As a ceramist, I am naturally interested in form, but a sense of spatial awareness is always useful. I manipulate the shape of negative spaces to create new form possibilities. The changing relationship between an object and the space it occupies questions my understanding of what I see. Curved line provides rhythmic repetition and movement. I am interested in getting the eye to move over and around the piece.

Above: Cursive 3, ceramic