February 22—March 31, 2011

Traditional Korean quilting, with its unique “nubi” line-stitching, is elevated to a high art under the masterful hands of award-winning artisan Haeja Kim. A designated holder of an Important Intangible Cultural Property award by the Korean government for her efforts at preserving Korea’s artistic heritage, Kim meticulously line-stitches layers of batting and fabric into fine garments and coverings. The tiny stitches are employed over each article in a deceptively simple pattern, with smaller stitching highly valued and the mark of a true expert.

Gallery Opening
Tuesday, February 22
6-8PM

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Tuesday, December 7th 2010 - Thursday, February 10th 2011

The Korea Society Gallery
950 Third Avenue @ 57th Street, 8th Floor 
(Building entrance on SW corner of Third Avenue and 57th Street)

The Korea Society in cooperation with the architectural firm Single speed Design (SsD), the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and The Architectural League of New York, presents Convergent Flux: Korea, the first cross-disciplinary exhibition of Korean architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning and design mounted in New York City. This exhibition examines the built environment and continuously emerging and hybridized conditions that have accompanied Korea’s rapid growth. The program extends The Korea Society’s recent Design Currents lecture series, as well as a Harvard Graduate School of Design lecture series and exhibition.

Opening Reception
Tuesday, December 7
6-9PM

RSVP

Elizabeth Keith, an intrepid traveler and visionary artist, first ventured to Asia almost a century ago, where she filled travel journals with lively, realistic sketches of Korea and other destinations. At the encouragement of a Japanese publisher, she translated her sketches and watercolors into etchings and woodblock prints. As author of Eastern Windows (1928) and Old Korea (1946), Keith sought to capture a “vanishing Korea,” and her work remains especially relevant today as a view into the Korea of her age.

Accompanying the woodblock prints, etchings, and watercolors on display is an array of traditional hats from the period. From horsehair to bamboo, the materials employed by the contemporaneous Korean artisans add context and texture to Keith’s work. The hats served to connote the wearer’s status, a theme also examined in Keith’s work.

The headpieces are on loan from the Chung Young Yang Embroidery Museum, Korean Art and Antiques, and the collection of Lea Sneider.

The Elizabeth Keith woodblock prints, etchings and watercolor are on loan from the collection of Young-Dahl Song. The attendant photos and postcards are from the collection of Norman Thorpe.

Renowned sculptor Jerry Wingren harnesses light and texture with the grace of a master and spirit of a monk. Residing on a mountaintop, this child of the North Pacific finds inspiration in 3-5-9 Korean numerology, and casts his resting stones in a manner sure to win admirers of contemporary Korean design. The stones’ inner square allows the viewer to see within and beyond—employing both the Japanese ma, or negative space, and the Korean mieum, a character of basic sound and life's essence. Inclined to naturalism, Wingren creates bold, contemplative, contemporary—yet timeless—works.

The Korea Society marks the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War with two exhibitions running June 25 through September 10: Steel Helmets: U.S. Korean War Graphics  and Korean War in Color. Both open six decades to the day of the outbreak of conflict.