Hanji sculptures by Jeon Gwang-yeong.....

Check out this article:      

Hanjiartist website ..........

Don't forget to keep checking out my Hanjiartist website.

'Scooping the Moonlight' a movie by Im Kwon-taek’s

Here is an interesting movie that came out last year. A cast of bona fide actors  present a theme that is  quintessentially Korean and universally human: actors Kang Soo-yeon and Park Joong-hoon come together for a story about people who dedicate their lives to the art of making ``hanji,'' or traditional Korean paper.

Scooping up the moonlight

2012 The year of English books on Hanji .....

I now have all the Hanji books I can track down on Hanji that are written in English.   It comes to the grand total of two. Please if anyone knows of any others please let me know!!

Both books were published this year with 'Hanji' by Lee Seung-chul, in March, 2012 and 'Hanji Unfurled' by Aimee Lee, in October, 2012. As I said in an earlier post the other book I ordered, 'Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea' by Kim Youngna is an older publication from 2005 and I found no direct references to Hanji as an art-form. 

HANJI was written by Lee Seung-chul and  it's been translated into English. 

The cover states that this is .'.. the first  accessible yet comprehensive guide to the material experts consider superior to Gutenberg's metal-print paper'. 

Professor Lee is a world renown expert on Hanji paper and natural dyeing methods and his soft covered book contains over 300 photo and illustrations with some Hanji paper samples in the back. It is an encyclopedia of all things Hanji including what it is, it's origins, differences in Hanji paper, what it is used for (hanji art ) and the future of the paper itself. 

This is definitely one to have on your bookshelf if you're interested in looking for the highest quality products to go into your Hanji artwork.  It's easy to read and contains a wealth of information that was not previously accessible to anyone other than those who could read Hangul.

HANJI UNFURLED: One journey into Korean Papermaking, has now arrived on my doorstep as well and I must congratulate Aimee Lee for her wonderful book. 

This hard covered book written in English is simply yet beautifully set out and tells of her story of discovery of her Korean heritage and it's Arts. She was born to Korean parents and brought up in New York where after several years she chose to shun her ancestral identity and tongue to fit into the so called American 'norm'. 

It wasn't until she entered College and she was doing an Art-History course in Chinese landscape painting  that she came across the paper that the Chinese thought was the best to use and it was hanji from Korea.  This began her quest to know not only more about the paper but also about her Korean heritage in general. 

The book covers not only the History of Hanji and her personal discoveries but also how she has helped to take hanji to the West. Her ten year goal was to set up a Korean paper making factory in the United States  but it took only one year to materialise and it's now a fully functioning program at the Morgan Art of Paper making Conservatory and Educational Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio.

These  are great to have and I hope this trend of seeing more books being written in English and appearing on the shelves continues.  My long term goal is to write my own book on the Art of Hanji making.  I wonder how long it'll be before I find the time to see this to fruition?

Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea .....

One of my books has arrived !!!

It's the 'Korean Culture Series #1 Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea' by Kim Youngna which deals with the issues of tradition, modernity, and identity in modern and contemporary Korean art in Korea. 

'On a deeper level, this is one of the only books of its kind in English that exposes readers to specific artists and their works, an especially useful resource for those who wish to know more than just surface level facts about Korean art.' Amazon

The book was publisher in 2005 by the Korea Foundation and as yet I haven't found any specific reference to Hanji but nonetheless it's a great reference to have on Korean Art history including it's trends during the twentieth century when Korea opened up to the West.

Waiting .......

I'm waiting with baited breath for three new books on Hanji to arrive in my mail box.

All of them are in English and are due to arrive any day.

Watch this space !!