Jinsong Kim's ' Carved Vessels ' at Brevard Museum of Art

Thursday, 25 May 2006 10:02

Melbourne, FL – The Brevard Museum of Art and Science presents Jinsong Kim.  Intricately carved vessels of white stoneware clay embody Jinsong Kim’s relationship to creating and to nature.  Thrown on a potter’s wheel, Kim may take up to an hour to shape a pot.  He believes in allowing the pot to reveal its shape or identity rather than imposing a shape by trimming.  The unique carved design emerges as Jinsong discovers the soul of each vessel.  “Much of my work is geometric and complex in design,” says Jinsong.  “This reflects the true nature of mankind, beautiful but complex.”

Using a caliper and compass to lay out the variety of patterns, Jinsong’s drawings must be exact, because even a millimeter mistake will compound itself as each row of the pattern progresses.  The negative spaces of the pattern are carved away with handmade tools.  After the labor intensive carving, the work is slowly kiln fired.  Removed from the kiln while still hot, the vessel is placed in a garbage can with newspaper.  The vessel’s heat ignites the newspaper; when the fire is smothered, the smoke creates the characteristic crackle and black color on the finish.

Visit The Brevard Museum of Art at : http://www.artandscience.org/