Winnipeg-based ceramics artist Grace Han is searching for her true identity inside her clay creations. But what is her true, “real” self? For Han it’s ineffable, but she catches glimpses in her work. “I don’t think I’d be able to explain who the real Grace Han is, but when I do my ceramic *work* I don’t have to think about who I am. The body works and then something invisible turns into the energy and then the work captures that person at that moment.” “I discovered myself in my work.” When Han moved from South Korea to Winnipeg, she felt she became very quiet. “I wanted to hide,” she *tells* us. “I felt like I lost myself in a way. I just want to be myself, I want to find the Grace Han, the real Grace Han.” While she studied ceramics in Korea, she never felt she wanted to be an artist, but in Winnipeg she decided to dive in again. For Han, the materials of ceramics allow her to capture and present the different aspects of herself. With clay she shows the strong part of herself. “Clay can be very bold so with these big pieces I wanted to show the heaviness of the material and the boldness of myself.” On the other side of the ceramic spectrum is delicate porcelain which she uses to show the “meticulous and very detailed part of Grace.” Han’s latest project is a video performance captured in this episode of Art Is My Country that captures her evolution as a new Canadian artist. In the performance, she dresses in a traditional Korean dress and uses a traditional wheel to form her ceramic piece. “This dress it’s a metaphor for the expectations or responsibilities that I had to carry that I brought from Korea because this dress gives me lots of restrictions while I’m working.” As she works she removes pieces of the dress, symbolizing her own life’s cultural shift. “At the moment of creation I slowly take layers off so I can be free. I just want to be free from everything, expectations, pressure, just be myself.” Between these two countries, Han is coming to know her new self that is some of both and also neither. “These days whenever I go back to Korea I don’t feel I fit there anymore. I am becoming myself, not Korean Grace, not Canadian Grace I’m just becoming myself and now the frustration is gone.” At the end of her video performance, after she has built a beautiful new jar, she pushes it off the wheel, smashing it on the floor. “I can destroy the jar. My main goal was the process. The jar did its job today.”
This year we’re connecting virtually with our Canadian Ceramics community from coast to coast to coast. Meet for a virtual beer over zoom. Please register in advance so we can make sure we have enough virtual zoom rooms to mix and mingle in smaller groups. Tickets are free (Sorry – Canadians only for this one) and available to reserve until 8pm EST the day before the event. The zoom link will be sent out through Eventbrite the day of the event. Looking forward to connecting for a virtual Cheers.
For Clay Week 2020 Make and Do collective member Marianne Chénard interviewed Marina Lespérance Lopez.
Je suis née Montréal et j’ai grandi dans la région de Lanaudière, au Québec, pour finalement revenir dans la région métropolitaine vers la fin de mes études secondaire. Fille de parents latino-américain et québécois, la mixité culturelle et les voyages ont construit mon identité. J’ai poursuivi mes études en Arts Visuels et Médiatiques à l’Université du Québec à Montréal et par la suite une spécialisation en métiers d’arts céramiques au cégep du Vieux-Montréal.
J’ai été formée en arts visuels et médiatiques, où je faisais principalement de la sculpture et de l’installation en céramique mais aussi avec d’autres matériaux. Mon passage de la création d’objets d’arts vers les objets utilitaires vient d’une quête de sens, je voulais que mes oeuvre soient accessibles pour la vie quotidienne. J’ai aussi intérêt profond pour le parcours des objets et leur grand potentiel de charge émotive. D’où ils viennent, qui les a fait, dans quelles conditions… Je souhaite reconnecter avec la valeur des objets dans notre réalité d’économie du fast moving consumer, qu’on achète moins souvent, mais avec intention. Je souhaite voir mes oeuvres intégrer la routine des gens au jour le jour, qu’ils inspirent, et qu’ils apportent une petite touche de magie au quotidien.
In Sept 2020 make and do ceramics visited the Edmonton community studios Viva Clayworks; run by KJ MacAlister, and The Shop Art and Ceramic Studio; run by Kaleb Romano. We toured their studios and chatted about art and life and running a craft-based business during a global pandemic. Find out about these incredible community-focused artists and how they provide opportunities for artists and give back to their community.
This video was produced for Clay Week 2020. Clay week is an annual international clay event bringing together artists, creatives, educators, galleries and arts organizations into a conversation about all things clay.
