Hanji Happenings

  Transformation, creation and longevity ...... Suji Kim Suji Kim a beautiful, young Korean is a 'Linking Traditional Artist' who embodies a new generation of Koreans who are working with their age old traditions and bringing pieces of Hanji art into the 21st century. Her background is in fine arts and her interest is in the symbolism of folk paintings which she reproduces onto Hanji .  Traditional Korean folk paintings portrayed the simple lives of everyday people  and were far from sophisticated and yet the characters, animals, birds, flowers, nature and  seasons all ha d symbolic meanings. When adored on screens and as paintings on walls they created pleasant surroundings with constant reminders to their traditions and values. Korean Folk Art is a dying art form because the majority of modern Koreans , as is true all over the world, would rather have minimalist designs adoring their homes . Suji Kim's interpretations of those paint...

My documentary   on  Hanji  has  now been aired in Korea on Arirang TV, an English broadcasting channel, and here it is for you to view.  It was the most  amazing experience and one that I'll never forget.  I met so many wonderful people who will form a large part of my Korean Hanji experiences. I have so many new ideas to work on now that my head is literally spinning with new creative thoughts but with Christmas looming I'm going to have to put them aside for a few more weeks and focus on the family. My Hanji book is the next area that I intend working on more intently in the New Year and with my new found knowledge of Hanji paper, dyes and construction techniques, I have so much more to add. So grab a cuppa, sit back and share my recent Hanji journey with me .......

Wow ! Wow ! Wow!   What a wonderful experience !! I've just returned from  2 weeks in Korea where I was invited to be involved in the filming of a 60 minute  ArTravel documentary for Arirang TV , an English broadcasting channel based in Korea and broadcast worldwide to give viewers a contemporary look at Korea. As I flew from Adelaide  to Seoul, I was excited but also a little unsure of what was going to be expected of me and the Hanji experiences they'd organized for my time in Korea. I knew I was going to be traveling around the country, it was going to be very interesting and would ultimately give me so much more knowledge about Hanji and its traditional roots .    I was met at the airport by the writer for this documentary, Jin Hee Lim  and my interpreter/manager 'Hayley' and they soon whisked me into Seoul and my Hotel for the next few days. After a short meeting I was pleased to get some sleep after my long fligh...

I'm delighted to share with you the Press Release on Oct. 23rd, 2012 of a new English book on Hanji , by Aimee Lee. I wrote about Aimee Lee in my blog post,  Paper making... a short film .. ., on Oct. 6th and I was thrilled to hear from her this week about her newly released book which is now available. I hope that all of you who are interested in Hanji will support Aimee by buying her book. I've ordered mine already !! It's so important that more is known around the world about this wonderful product and how and why it can be used in so many different ways. Top Scholar and Artist Writes First American Book on Korean Papermaking (October 23, 2012, Ann Arbor, Mich.)  The Legacy Press has released the debut book by artist Aimee Lee about Korean papermaking called Hanji Unfurled: One Journey into Korean Papermaking (ISBN 9780979797446, hard cover, 208 pp, 10 x 7 inches, full color, 300+ illustrations, $35.00) .   In the first English-langua...

Don't forget to keep checking out my new WEBSITE. I'm constantly updating and adding articles and today I've added a short film on traditional, Hanji paper making in South Korea which was taken last November during one of my trips to the Andong Paper Factory to buy more supplies. It shows the making of the paper from the combining of the bark of the Paper Mulberry Tree (Dak in Korean) and the mucilage of the Hibiscus , to the drying of the sheets and putting it on the shelves ready for market. Placing wet sheets of paper in a stack My visit was on a weekend and I was amazed at the number of Japanese who were there buying the Korean paper which I am told is stronger and more versatile than the their papers due to the method of cross matching the fibres.  The shop was packed with locals as well as the Japanese businessmen wanting to buy paper from the factory as it's relatively cheap and they have a huge array of colours. Removing impurities from the ...