Exhibition
January 29 - April 24, 2009
Opening Reception Thursday, January 29, 2009
The exquisite art of Korean wrapping cloths, known as pojagi, is featured in this exhibition of representative items drawn from eight private collections. With their distinctive geometric patchwork design,which often combines vivid colors, wrapping cloths have become one ofthe most widely recognized and appreciated of all traditional Korean textile arts. While often used for wrapping gifts, pojagi also were commonly employed in everyday life for carrying, covering and storing objects. Due to these multiple uses, pojagi were one of the most widespread items in Korean households of all social classes. Both in terms of design and function, pojagi demonstrate the ingenuity as well as the skillful needlework and refined design sensibilities of the anonymous women who created them over the centuries. To illustrate these distinctive features of the Korean textile tradition, the exhibition also includes examples of embroidered sewing boxes, pillow ends, spools and pouches.

Click Read More below to see pictures from the exhibit opening reception.
Related Program
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| Workshop Every Tuesday, February 24-March 17, 2009
Renowned textile artist Chunghie Lee will lead a four-session workshop on the art of making Korean pojagi. For questions on the workshop, contact Jinyoung Kim at 212-759-7525, ext. 316 or
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Read on for full details on the workshop. About the Workshop and the Instructor
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| Gallery Talk
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Lee Talbot Assistant Curator of Eastern Hemisphere Collections at The Textile Museum
Seta K. Wehbé Assistant Collection Manager of the Antonio Ratti Textile Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Chunghie Lee Artist
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Join us for a panel discussion on the art and history of Korean wrapping cloths, or pojagi, with Lee Talbot, assistant curator of The Textile Museum; Chunghie Lee, fiber artist; and Seta K. Wehbé, assistant collection manager of the Antonio Ratti Textile Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Linking pojagi aesthetics to both traditional American quilts and contemporary abstract painting, the panelists will discuss the enduring appeal of pojagi and what they reveal about the lives and times of their creators.
This lecture is organized in conjunction with Unwrapping the Secrets of Korean Textiles: An Exhibition of Pojagi , which runs through April 24, 2009 at The Korea Society Gallery. You may also be interested in the workshop sessions, Making a Pojagi, beginning February 24.
About the Speakers
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Gallery Talkwith
Jane Portal Matsutaro Shoriki Chair of the Art of Asia, Oceania and Africa, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
We might think that we know about North Korea - it has been so much in the news recently, presenting a nuclear threat to the region. But in fact we know very little about the country. In the 19th century, the undivided country was called the hermit kingdom. Since 1953, the South has become accessible and widely known, while the North has remained a hermit, with very few tourists being allowed to travel there to find out what it is really like. Perhaps one form of evidence which would help us understand the north better is through its art. Jane Portal was very privileged to be able to travel to Pyongyang in 2001 and 2002 as a result of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the UK and the DPRK. At that time she started to collect a variety of contemporary works for the British Museum. This lecture is in conjunction with the gallery exhibit North Korean Images at Utopia’s Edge, on view at The Korea Society Gallery through December 12, 2008. About the Speaker
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| Exhibition
September 9 - December 12, 2008
Opening Reception Tuesday, September 9, 2008
The Korea Society presents, for the first time ever in the United States, the art of North Korean woodblock printing. In an exhibition spanning the last three decades of North Korean artistry, North Korean Images at Utopia’s Edge features 24 prints from the Nicholas Bonner Collection. These prints offer a fascinating picture of North Korean conceptions of daily life and work, family and Fatherland. Four subject areas delineate the contours of North Korea’s vision of an earthly paradise: harmonious families, plenteous landscapes, male laborers and women at work.
Join The Korea Society for a screening of this unique documentary, followed by a conversation with co-producer Nicholas Bonner.
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