A Pottery Tour of Icheon

Icheon is about 45km SE of Seoul--just an hour or so on the bus

Sometime after Christmas I saw a tour of the pottery kilns in Icheon advertised on the website of the Royal Asiatic Society.  Several friends had day-tripped there before to visit the pottery village and I thought it sounded like a nice day long outing from Seoul, so I convinced my friend Gail to go along and last Saturday morning we joined several other eager foreigners in learning about the ancient practices of pottery making in Korea.  It was a cold, but sunny and clear morning--a perfect day for an outing!
Our first stop was at the museum in the pottery village to learn about the history of ceramics and to see some of the prized pieces kept by the Korean government.  

The remnants of an ancient kiln

A special smoky glaze achieved in the firing process

Famous Korean celadon

Beautiful blue sky

We popped into a shop that sold everything from traditional pottery to oddities made from clay before visiting our first master potter.  

Lovely little teapot

Interesting "dude" 

Anyone fancy a monkey sculpture?

At the first master potter we learned how images were carved into clay by hand, then filled with glaze--quite an involved procedure!!  We also saw that celadon glaze certainly has no hint of green before firing!  Quite an education!  It is painstaking work to be a potter.  From forming the clay on a pottery wheel and commanding it into a shape, to carving each little image by hand then filling every relief with glaze before sanding and applying the final glaze--each detail must be attended to in order to produce a work of art.  Then, when the piece goes into the kiln, one really is leaving it all up to fate!  There is absolutely no guarantee that your work of art will come out in one piece looking the way you hope.  It's no wonder celadon pottery is so expensive!

Unglazed, unfired pottery

From start to finish...notice how much smaller a piece gets after it is fired!

Hand carved relief work--so amazing!

Beautiful, and very expensive celadon

Shattered pieces...not perfect enough

Our next stop was a bit cheaper option for us shoppers in the group!  This was the actual pottery village where over 50 potters have shops with items for sale.  Styles range from very traditional to very modern with prices to match.  Gail and I were intrigued by the shop with hundreds of kimchi pots just waiting to be photographed!

Gigi and the kimchi pots

Hiding out amongst the kimchi pots

Teeny tiny pots!

Snowy kimchi pots 

I really thought about taking one of these home, but can you imagine lugging this on the subway?

 After lunch we were in for a special treat!  A master potter was opening his kiln after a few days of firing (a potter may only fire his works once a year!).  When we arrived it was like a little party-men were grilling meat and drinking makgeolli (rice alcohol) and loads of people gathered around the kiln openings as they waiting for the potter, who was actually inside the kiln, to hand out his pieces to his waiting assistants.  The first kiln was full of small pieces.  The second and third were filled with large and incredibly painted vases that would earn him $500+ each.  When we left the studio there were still a half dozen openings to be opened and unloaded.  Judging from the face of the potter, it must have been like Christmas day as he pulled out and inspected each piece.

Unloading the first kiln opening

Sealed kiln compartments just waiting to be opened 

Removing the bricks to the opening

Not celadon, but still stunning craftsmanship

The potter admiring his work after firing

Small pieces from the kiln

The empty kiln

Waiting to be removed!

So beautiful!

Careful with the merchandise buddy!

Had enough pottery yet?!  Well, there was one final stop on our tour.  We went to visit one of Korea's absolute treasures.  The unique thing about this master artisan is that although technology has advanced miles since ancient times, he still embraces the old ways because he believes the quality and results are better.  The potter's son is his apprentice and is learning the trade from his father--something that will take years to master.  One of his remarks really stuck with me as he spoke about his father teaching him to respect the traditions and the tasks by making him master the smallest tasks first.  It will be years before the son throws his first pot and he respects that.  Clay is kneaded by foot and the pottery wheel uses no electricity.  It operates by kick.  The potter painstakingly works the clay and has perfected a process of creating cutout vases that are functional because they have a useable second layer vase on the inside.  His pieces can take weeks to create and the prices reveal the time spent crafting each masterpiece.  We saw a video about the firing process--a woodburning kiln which is regulated by sight without thermometers or electric gas shutoffs, just through knowledge of flame color and experience as the kiln temperature must reach exactly 1300 degrees Celsius in order to achieve the beautiful Celadon.  After firing, the potter takes a hammer to nearly 50% of his work as he will not put his mark on an imperfect piece.  We were lucky enough to meet the master during our visit and admire his incredible work!  I have a photo of my favorite piece...a $20,000 (yes, that says twenty thousand dollars) vase.  As you can imagine, I went home empty handed.  

Gail and I with the "master"

The $20,000 vase (and it was a little guy compared to several in the showroom)

Incredible hand cut relief work

Not all was lost as several of my fellow tourists had deep pockets and a greater appreciation for the finer things in life than I!  The bus seats in front of Gail and I were filled with approximately $5,000 of pottery spoils purchased by two couples!  My souvenirs from the trip were my photos and a lovely day out exploring a new piece of Korean culture and history.  I'm looking forward to the next opportunity soon!!

A Snowy Iris...A Birthday Remembrance

I keep a permanent birthday calendar on the tack board next to my monthly calendar in my office.  Each evening when I sit down at my computer desk to work or check e-mail I glance up at the calendar to see what important dates are approaching and tonight I was reminded that today, February 5th, would have been my grandma's 79th birthday.  To the right of my computer sits the last photo taken of the two of us before grandma died in 2001.  I wish I were still able to call her to wish her a Happy Birthday, to tell her about my upcoming travel plans, to talk about life, and to make plans for the next time we would see each other.  Growing up, my grandma was one of my biggest supporters and I so admired her generous heart and caring spirit.  Because of all of the time we spent together, she passed a great deal of her love and wisdom--and perhaps some of the anxiety and pain that came from her silent struggles--on to me.  I often imagine if my grandma were still alive we would be fine travel companions, ready to embark on a new journey at the drop of a hat!  Oh the fun we'd have!  Grandma spent years tracking her family's history through Germany and Denmark--what I wouldn't give to have her beside me when I someday visit those countries and walk through the cities that are the roots of my existence.  To say that I miss her terribly is an understatement.  I wonder if she knows?  Can she see me?  Is she proud of who I've become?  I hope so.  

It has been almost 12 years since June 29th, 2001 when I said good-bye to my grandma, but I'll continue to remember her on February 5th, the day of her birth...and every other day, as part of her will always live on in me.  Tonight as I walked home from work, snowflakes were falling gently from the sky and for some reason I imagined my grandma's favorite flower, an iris, peeking through the snow and bursting it's beautiful purple petals open, perhaps as a reminder amidst this gray winter day that spring is coming.  So until then, I will rest in the peace and comfort of knowing that I was loved by my amazing grandma and hold on to the hope that we will meet again.  Happy Birthday Grandma!  I love and miss you.

A Mosaic Puzzle

I just found this post that I had written sometime after returning to Korea after spending time in Venice again during the summer...I'm hoping to get to go back for a few days this summer too!  We'll see how the plans fall!

More than half of my six day stay in Venice was spent, once again, in the mosaic workshop at Orsoni and I loved every minute of it.  I enjoyed the challenge of trying to take a flat image and give it dimension and texture.  Although I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, I feel alive in creative settings like this.  This time I chose to make a smaller piece that I thought I would have no problem completing in the time allotted.  Wrong!  I'm still slow when it comes to cutting and placing pieces...and I'm still a wicked perfectionist.  According to Antonella, it seems that my speed and skills with a hammer had improved since my first visit.  Unfortunately I couldn't say the same about my Italian.

So happy to be back in the mosaic workshop!

My class was made up of four other lovely ladies--two adult women like myself, one twelve year old, and a high school student.  It was a nice mix and everyone had such varying experiences to bring to the table.  One of the greatest rewards of a class like this is the opportunity to meet people you would otherwise never cross paths with, and these ladies had such wonderful mosaic expertise to share.  Of course there was also Mirta, the lovely student coordinator and translator, and maestra Antonella to give us feedback and suggestions throughout the process as well.

Mirta's project--a lovely photo frame

One of Antonella's ongoing projects--look how perfectly her pieces fit and flow

Maria's extra large angel, a commission for a friend

For three days, and hours into the night, I hammered, placed, fitted, shattered, and cursed the smalti.  Working with glass teaches you a lot of lessons in patience.  It brought to light some of the things I struggle with in real life too.  Glass is unyielding and uncompromising (not unlike life).  The glass does not always do what you want it to (hmmm).  You cannot "will" the glass into fitting into a specific place or becoming a certain shape unless the craftsman can skillfully attack it with the hammer.  If at first you don't succeed (in cutting the glass the way you want it), try, try again...and again...and again.  Persistence generally pays off--or you give up on trying to make it perfect and accept good enough (a tough lesson for me).  My biggest struggles and triumphs usually occurred at about the same point in the day--by this I mean in the middle of the night when I was sitting alone in the workshop with only my iPod and my thoughts.  Though some of those hours were a bit lonely, they provided the time I needed to reflect on the trip, and on life.  All this from cutting glass, who knew?!   

Professional artist Patricia

Maria Cristina

Maestra Antonella

High school student Maggie

Our class!

Me, Giulia, and Maggie having a little juvenile fun in the Orsoni courtyard

I suppose a lot of this need to ponder life was not just inspired by my travel experiences, but also by the fact that I celebrated my 30th birthday in the middle of this mosaic workshop.  I wanted to enter this new decade with purpose and anticipation.  I also desired to pinpoint my passions because that's where I want to invest my energy as I move forward into my 30's.  I felt like this was the jumping off point and I wanted to start off strong.

By the way, I entered my 30th year with a toast and treats from the mosaic ladies.   

It took me a bit longer than three days to finish my mosaic piece.  In fact, I was still in the workshop on Sunday afternoon putting in the final pieces, but I did it, and I was in good company with two of my other classmates.  Despite a number of challenges and frustrations, I created something I am really proud of...something beautiful that will remind me of this trip and will help me to hold on to the memories and the lessons.  And who knows, I might be mosaic making again soon!

That is one very tired Colleen...but with a completed mosaic.

The finished piece!

An Unexpected Phone Call...

I know God won't give me anything I can't handle; I just wish He didn't trust me so much.   ~Mother Teresa

At best, this has been a challenging week.  Each day I feel as though I'm thrust into one stressful situation after another, and, of course, much of this stress is self-inflicted.  I have been struggling to keep up with the demands of our new high school schedule where each day, lettered A-F, comes with a different line-up of classes.  I quite literally have to rely on my color coded planner to know where I am supposed to be and which class I will be seeing from one 65 minute time block to the next.  I teach three different science classes, all of which I have taught before, but try to improve a bit each year as I learn from the lessons of the previous classes.  This year I also have been assigned a special grade 9 class that helps support our freshmen as they transition from middle school.  In my heart I knew that I just did not have the bandwidth, or the confidence in this program after being a part of a failed attempt at advisory at my last school.  To put it into the words of Taylor Swift, "I should have said no," but feeling some pressure to conform to the desires of my administration, I did not.  I am also taking a more active role in the yearbook program this year and am officially a "co-advisor" to this very demanding club.  At the moment, my co-advisor and I are fighting against tradition and experience to allow our students to create the kind of publication they want but we're facing some serious opposition who happens to be quite vocal.   In short, my school responsibilities are great.  Add to that the need to finish more than half of a semester long Italian class in two months time and you end up with one very full schedule.  I'm finding that I just can't be as productive as I want because I have so much to do that I don't know where to start.  I am breaking down quickly. 

On Thursday of last week this all came to a head.  As I sat in my study hall typing an email to my friend who hosts our weekly bible study (which I haven't been able to attend yet), I was just inches away from tears.  Nothing in particular in my life is that upsetting, but I was just about to crack under the pressure of it all.  I managed to make it through all of my classes, but during my planning period I received the first of two unexpected phone calls this week...the first via Skype from a friend who I hadn't been in touch with in awhile.  The call wasn't to catch up but to inform me that the parent of a very close mutual friend had received some distressing news.  After hanging up, the dam broke and I spent the next thirty minutes allowing the emotions of it all to overtake me.  Later that evening I found myself growing angry and frustrated.  At ZUMBA class I rebelled by refusing to do all of the moves to the routines.  I just wanted to storm out of the building and scream.  WHY?!  Why do bad things happen to wonderful people?  Why can't I seem to get it together this year?  Why am I here, in Korea, and not back in the States?  WHY?!  Why isn't God responding to my pleas for answers?  Thankfully, I was able to de-stress and sleep a bit and Friday was a slightly better day.

Tonight as I sat down to eat dinner my apartment phone rang.  This rarely happens, so I figured it would be a Korean solicitor.  I was surprised to hear the voice of one of the ladies from my bible study group.  She told me that she had a message to deliver to me and asked if I had 15 minutes to talk tonight.  As soon as I finished eating, I called her back, anxious to hear more about the message and wondering what in the world it could be.  Juanita told me that my name had come into her head as she was praying several times over the last week or so and she had received the following message.  God revealed to her that he wanted "Colleen" to be in close relationship with him AND that he would heal "Colleen".  There happen to be 3 of us named Colleen on campus, and at first she really wasn't sure which one the message was for, so she continued praying about it, asking God to reveal which of us this message was meant for.  Days later Juanita said she saw my face revealed to her in a dream and she now knew who she needed to deliver this message to.  This morning as she prayed she was prompted to deliver the message today and that's when she decided to finally call.  This might sound a bit far fetched, and when Juanita shared some of things God has revealed to her in our bible study I was skeptical, but if you take the time to talk with her one thing becomes very evident.  Juanita does have a close personal relationship with God; she trusts him implicitly and she has this amazing gift of listening to the Lord.  As a result, God reveals amazing things to her and has tasked her with the job of sharing these messages.  I am in awe of this and I felt a strange sort of comfort as she gave me this message.  We talked a bit more about our struggles over the last month and it seems that many of us are feeling this same overwhelming stress.  Before leaving, Juanita and I prayed together and I began to process the conversation we just had.  I don't know when or how this healing will take place, but I do know that it would be a huge answer to prayer.  For years I've been battling the pain in my head and my digestive system....along with pain in my heart that has followed me since my grandma passed away 12 years ago.  I am ready to be free from these ailments...I just have to trust that God will follow through on his promise.  If history is any indication, I believe he will.

That some good can be derived from every event is a better proposition than that everything happens for the best, which it assuredly does not.  ~James K. Feibleman

I  know this is a heavy sort of post, but I've always meant for this blog to be a true representation of me, my life, and the struggles I face as I move forward, not just about my fabulous travels.  Life is such an interesting combination of experiences.  Good and bad, fair and unfair, things that change us, things that make us want to give up the fight and at the moment, I am experiencing what it means to feel broken.    In the week ahead I want to focus on the positives, on moving forward, on giving my best and being okay if my efforts don't land me at the top.  I want to be an encouragement to my friends, family, and students.  I want to accept the fact that I can be useful in this broken state.

When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold.  They believe that when something's suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful.  ~Barbara Bloom

 

Just Photoshopping Away...

A few weeks ago we gave our yearbook students the assignment to create a 2 page yearbook layout showcasing photos from their summer.  This was to serve as a sort of "pre-test" for our new kids, and to test everyone to see exactly how good their Photoshop skills are before we select our final editors for the various yearbook sections.  Ever the procrastinator, I started my page this afternoon figuring it would take me about 3 hours or so to make my layout.  I followed the tutorial prepared by my colleague and co-yearbook conspirator,  Youngen, and successfully started the page.  I was feeling pretty good about myself until it all went downhill when I tried to crop a photo!  Essentially I managed to get rid of the unwanted photo background...AND THE REST OF MY PAGE!  Thankfully Youngen lives just upstairs and came down to survey the damage.  We both agreed after a lot of tinkering it was best to start over.  So, I did.  Now 5 hours later, I have a finished page!  I'm sure there is a lot that is esthetically wrong with the layout, my angled photos, the colors, and the background but I'm proud to have accomplished my very first yearbook layout and I'm feeling a little less confused about the very basic photoshop functions!  Now that I've started taking photography a little more seriously, I'm excited to learn what photoshop can do for my pictures!  Here's my accomplishment of the day...

P.S.  I took all of these pictures myself and I didn't Photoshop a single one!

Kilts & Castles 2009 Photobook

Okay, so it has only taken me three years to get this done, but I finally had a deadline (finish by September 10th or all is lost) so I made it happen.  It was so much fun remembering this trip as I went through the hundreds of photos captured over 14 days in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.  Of all of the places I had the opportunity to see on this trip, my favorite spot was most definitely Edinburgh, Scotland.  What a magical city!  I hope I get to return soon!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create a gorgeous, high quality wedding photo album at Shutterfly.com.

The Venetian Lagoon

After taking in the sights of Florence, I took the train just a few hours back to my beloved Venezia.  Thankfully, I was able to do a fair amount of sightseeing with my students in May.  We visited all of the famed, and very busy, tourist sights like Piazza San Marco, the Campanile, Murano, Burano and the Rialto market with half the crowds of the peak season.  This time, I vowed to stay mostly off the tourist track.  Being summer, there were scads of visitors in Venezia, most just passing through for a day or maybe staying a night so I opted to spend my first full day in Venice out of the main city touring the lagoon.  

Just before you get to Murano you pass the cimitero, the cemetery island of San Michele.  I was the only person who got off the vaporetto there and spent a lovely hour wandering through history as I explored the burial grounds of Venetians past.  This would have been a fantastic place to take photos, but I decided to honor the dead and respect the no photo rule.  From there, I went on to Murano and found my way to the Basilica di Santa Maria Donata that my previous Orsoni classmates had recommended with mosaic floors from the 14th century.  What a hidden treasure!

I love finding little mosaic tidbits all over the island.

It was a glorious day for a stroll in Murano.

This mosaic ceiling is really lovely in person.

These mosaic floors date back to the 14th century (I think!)

So intricate and beautiful

A blooming flower?  A flame? 

From Murano I took a 30 minute ferry ride to Burano, then a five minute boat ride to Torcello.  This was my first visit to the tiny island and I definitely didn't stay long enough to truly appreciate its charm. The church on Torcello has absolutely phenomenal mosaics, but sadly no photos allowed.  Nevertheless, I met some really interesting stone figures just begging to be photographed and I happily obliged.

The lady of Torcello seems to have weathered a lifetime on this island

My final stop in the lagoon was Burano.  Awed by the brightly colored buildings on my first visit, I vowed to go back this summer when the weather was more formidable (i.e. when it wasn't pouring rain).  Don't get me wrong, the colors of Burano are wonderful when the skies are gray, but they are so much more impressive on a clear, sunny day.  The most intriguing view is the reflection of the brilliant colors in the canals.  Take a look...

Pretty amazing, right?

  
When I returned to the Canareggio, I got straight to work designing my second mosaic piece in preparation for the three day workshop starting the following day.  It felt so nice to be back in the familiar workspace, surrounded by beautiful materials and wonderful, interesting people.  It's amazing what you can learn from pieces of glass...more on that soon!