HAN-SOOM: GRACE HAN AND GLORIA JUE-YOUN HAN

HAN-SOOM: GRACE HAN AND GLORIA JUE-YOUN HAN​

Han-soom presented the bold yet delicate art of Grace Han and Gloria Jue-Youn Han. Korean ceramic vessels contrasted with clay objects that were simultaneously familiar and unexpected, occupying the gallery from floor to ceiling. The two artists’ evocative pottery—exemplified by Grace Han’s seemingly weightless quilted jars and Gloria Han’s intricately carved bottles—were put into conversation with installations of Grace’s interactive hexagonal forms and Gloria’s relief-carved baseboards.  

The artists draw on the technological and artistic traditions of Korean ceramics through the teachings of elders, working with a distinct visual iconography and the legacy of form and colour.  Both artists grapple, in different ways, with Western concepts of “contemporary” and “traditional,” which fail to encapsulate the complexities of their art and lives. 

Grace Han, originally from South Korea and now living in Canada, and Gloria Han, a first-generation Korean Canadian daughter of immigrants, find inspiration in their personal diasporic experiences to create striking artworks that assert the strength of ceramics and its makers. Together, their creations speak to the transformative power of clay as a material and a means for communication.  

Images: Installation view of Han-soom, exhibition at the Art Gallery at Evergreen, 2022. Photo Rachel Topham Photography.