Going through the limit of the pottery with fire

Potter Kim, Chang-Seop who is crossing the boundary of materials 

For making works, he is kneading earth, turning a spinning wheel, chopping firewood and burning fire. But, doing the pottery has a process of seeing the transform of a shape because fire makes everything change. Potter Kim, Chang-Seop is using some other subsidiary substances such as woods, metals and coppers to overcome the limit of pottery like that. Then, he is making things in that hardly express in pottery by putting his ‘sprit’ in them. In this month’s issue, I visited ‘Kim, Chang-Seop Pottery Lab’ in Siheung, Gyeonggi-do to listen to his pottery and educational activities. 

During his university days, director Kim, Chang-Seop used to love rock music, which was then-young people’s expression against the older generation, like anybody else. Doing the pottery with having a restriction of location wasn’t for him. Director Kim graduated a graduate school and had the first private exhibition after three years later, but surprisingly, his works were created a kiln that was loaded to a 2.5 ton-vehicle. It was the first movable gallery that could go anywhere like mountains and seashores without a worry about the location. Director Kim’s adventurism is living in his works, for sure. He is creating things that cannot be finished with only earth by combining with woods, metals or coppers to want to express in his ways. From now on, he is planning to keep working with his unique philosophy like that. 

Providing a healing space out of earth for the local people 

‘Kim, Chang-Seop Pottery Lab’ in Nongok-dong, Siheung City, Gyeonggi-do was established in 2001. That lab is used for director Kim, Chang-Seop’s personal work studio and also an experiencing space for local people to teach them pottery. The lab has various equipments like an electro-reduction kiln, a wedging table, a wooden spinning wheel, an electric spinning wheel and so on and offers an educational program to make the pottery art culture a way of life for people in Siheung. Currently, 20 people in that city are learning the lecture from director Kim directly and the classes are divided by two for running for 4 hours per day. 

The interesting point is that there were many women students in the beginning of the program a long time ago, but recently, the rate of men around 40’s~50’s is getting higher. It might be a change of an age group since they intend to enjoy their hobbies after retirement. “If anybody makes pottery with earth, they will not forget the texture of earth and the tenderness every.” He said that and now expects to see many people can release their stresses out by earth to enjoy the life someday. 

Change of the perception for the pottery develops Korean pottery culture 

Director Kim didn’t mind advising for many other potters to take over and develop the traditional pottery in a better environment than now. “Korea has to have a general change of perception for the pottery like other advanced countries and people had better know the pottery is not different from other arts or paintings. Besides, well-made pottery has to be treated as much as it is and recognized as the same.” Director Kim is going to provide the place for children to touch earth as an experience and educate them. For his works, he is planning to work in the unique way that he cannot express by only pottery with expressing a photographic realism. With that kind of spirit, his pottery bowls have a crude style, the esthetic of slowness and his own creative philosophy.