Hanji Happenings

Here are some of the pictures I created for the Hanji Exhibition. They've been well received and I wanted to share with you all some of the thoughts behind the designs. I've put my own interpretations into the pictures combining Joseon Dynasty paintings, a selection of Hanji papers and cutouts of symbolic animals and patterns. INSPIRATION - To show different elements of the lives of the traditional Korean people.    Strength & Harmony - 
mustard & brown This earthy toned collage of Hanji patchwork includes a  Min Hwa (Korean Folklore) painting of a woman sewing which is representative of domestic harmony. The black geometrical cutout represents times when everything goes smoothly and is in harmony with itself whereas the tiger symbolises those times when life is tough  and people need amazing strength to get through.
 Work & Constancy
 - blue In this blue Hanji patchwork  I wanted to show the commitment to hard work by the Ko...

I've just completed another umbrella stand and this time I've chosen a crinkled Hanji paper to give the piece texture and an almost marble type effect.  On the top and bottom I've used a pale blue underneath the beige coloured cut out, as a trim,  and it's papered inside with a piece of Hanji that has small Chinese writing on it. As I was papering the pot I had it lying on my table and guess who ...... decided it was a comfortable  place to sleep. I didn't think he'd stay there long once I started working on the piece but he wasn't phased by me having to rotate it every few minutes to put on the paper as he just  moved his position inside  and continued sleeping.  The joys of being a cat .......

I'm always looking for places to put my spare rolls of hanji paper so now I have the answer to this problem.  For years I've had an umbrella stand sitting in my  entranceway and as we don't have any large umbrellas  here in the UAE because it seldom rains and when it does, no one seems to mind getting wet.  Until recently it was filled with all sorts of odds and  ends including squash raquets,  old rolls of wallpaper and shopping bags as well as hats.  I've commandeered it and now it sits nicely in my studio.  I've been designing another one for my upcoming class  and this time it's going to be for my daughter Laura. It's designed as an umbrella stand or a tall pot but it could have a variety of uses.  This one is more contempory with cats chasing the butterflies over a yellow background.  I've used two layers of paper on the pot, firstly a yellow then a very fine off white paper to give it more texture and to smo...

In my next set of classes the students will be making an umbrella or, hold anything, stand.  In the past I've made them with traditional Korean paper designs and I really like the effect but I'm loving the colour yellow at the moment as it's so bright and cheerful  and it reminds me of Spring which is about to start here in the Northern hemisphere.  In fact we were invited to an Iranian New Year feast yesterday which traditionally falls around the 21st of March each year and the northward equinox. The celebration is called ' Nowruz' which means New Year and it marks the beginning of the Persian year.  Small yellow jonquils are displayed in Iranian homes as well as hyacinths in a variety  of different colours.   So with the colour yellow in mind I wanted to add a more contemporary look to the the stand so I found this wonderful cutout of a cat which I'm going to use around the sides and one of them may possibly find itself inside as well. ...