Jiyoung Chung is an internationally known Joomchi artist, painter and freelance writer who shows her works nationally and internationally. She has developed an innovative method for utilizing a traditional Korean method of papermaking called Joomchi into contemporary art form.
Jiyoung (BFA, Painting from RISD, and MFA, Print/Media from Cranbrook Academy of Art) has had numerous solo shows in Korea, USA, Australia, France, Finland, Romania and UK. In 2010, she curated the International Korean/American Joomchi show for European Patchwork Meeting in France, which later toured in Korea and in the US. She authored a ‘How-to’ book titled, “Joomchi and Beyond.” In 2012 she was awarded a “Award of Excellence” by the American Craft Council/Baltimore show and the Adrianna Farrelli Prize, “Excellence in Fiber Art,” Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. She has taught Joomchi at various institutions such as the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Univ. of Minnesota, Penland School of Craft, Arrowmont School of Craft, Haystack School of Craft and Snowfarm, among many others.
Joomchi is a 500 year old Korean paper-making technique that uses water to seal several layers of thin handmade paper together to form a single strong sheet. Jiyoung Chung has brought her unique artistic sensibility to this medium. Her colorful and rich textural paper collages read as poetic statements or narratives and have an appealing cloth-like texture. Chung likes to think of the Joomchi paper-bonding process as ‘air stitching,’ or ‘capturing the whispers of womens stories’ in the layering of the papers. She finds Joomchi-making both an expressive and a meditative process.
The layering process of Joomchi has significance for Chung – “It’s like life,” she says, “Through hardships we become stronger, just as the paper does. In the process of breaking down and forming new bonds, the paper becomes stronger.” – excerpt from “Joomchi & Beyond” by Jiyoung Chung.
In-person and Virtual Lecture March 7, 9:30am – “Joomchi and Beyond” (via Zoom)
This lecture offers participants the opportunity to become acquainted with its history, practice and role in Korean society, as well as reinterpreted adaptations into contemporary art form; surface design, collage, new way of drawing, wearable, unconventional body ornament or sculptural object: 2-D & 3-D either functional or fine art oriented.
All current members will be sent a Zoom link a week before the lecture. For more information and to learn more about the accompanying workshop, click here.