YOUNG MI KIM
2020
Dark stoneware body, satin matte glaze, oxidation fired
12 3/4″ high x 16 3/4″ diameter

Young Mi Kim is a South Korean ceramicist who works and teaches in Woodstock, New York. Her ceramic sculptures are slowly and carefully hand built. She layers strands of clay in a coil, patiently working upward as she discovers the shape. Young Mi writes, “In essence, each layer marks time and space. When I hand build my pots, it is a form of meditation. It is my attempt to live in grace: like an open vessel, empty and yet full.”

Each of her undulating vessels is unique. This is one of the largest of its kind that Young Mi has made. Firing these forms is an artistic challenge: there is no telling whether the thin walls of clay will hold their shape in the kiln, or whether the glaze will achieve the surface quality she hopes for…but clearly this attempt succeeded beautifully. The biomorphic shape is organic yet mysterious, a living presence in the room.