YOUNG MI KIM
United States
2013
Dark stoneware clay body, oxidation fired
17 1/2″ wide x 17″ deep x 14″ high

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.”

This undulating gray vessel is unique. It 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.

Read more about Young Mi Kim here.