For the past four decades, Young-Sook Park has been exploring and expanding the possibilities of ceramics and white porcelain. Young-Sook Park, one of Korea’s pioneering and leading contemporary ceramicists. She is particularly renowned for her beautiful “Moon Jars”, a special type of large, round white porcelain jar that dates back to the Choson period in Korea.
While Park draws upon the long legacy of Korean ceramics, her contemporary moon jars are larger than any produced in the Choson period, and also have a more pristine white color. She spent 30 years developing her practice and choice of materials in order to produce jars that are more elongated with thinner walls. Drawn from specific deposits to produce the desired white hue of her jars, the clay she uses takes 6 to 10 years to mature. She is also highly attentive to conditions in the kiln, monitoring aspects such as air flow and variations in temperature. Owning and operating her own kiln since 1982, Park has carefully perfected her methods.
Park has exhibited her work in exhibitions: “Art Basel 2023” (Gallery Hyundai, Messe Basel, Switzerland, 2023) ; “Park Young-sook: Moon Jars” (Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea, 2022); “5th Annual World Fine Art Agency Exhibition” (Noho M55 Art, New York, United States, 2019); “Dual Natures in Ceramics” (San Francisco’s SFO Museum, San Francisco, United States, 2015); “Lunar Attraction” (Peabody-Essex Museum, Massachusetts, United States, 2015); “The Korean Moon Jar” (British Museum, United Kingdom, 2007); the “11th and 12th Korea Traditional Craft Shows” (Korea, 1986 and 1987 respectively); and “Living Porcelain Exhibition” (Gallery Korea, United States,1983). Her work is in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle; British Museum, London; National Folk Museum of Korea, Seoul; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University, Boston; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels; and the government buildings in Ottawa, Canada.