Korea enamel work- Painting light(2015.05.08 Opening event)

The concept and purpose of the project
The project aimed to share artistic sensibili­ties with local residents, make more beauti­ful surroundings and give an opportunity to feel harmony and a sense of achievement from the practice of Korean enamel crafts. The actual participation to make acces­sories in the style Korean enamel crafts could give a feeling of satisfaction and wall paintings done together in the style Korean enamel crafts could make a town more beautiful and characterful. Since GCC (Gyeonggi Creation Center) has to coexist with the local community, in the aspect of coexisting, my participation in the cultural art project as an artist has been greatly meaningful.

Process
The most important matter was harmoniz­ing with local residents before the achieve­ment of the project so the project group had made several visits to the community center for local senior residents since December 2014 and tried to get closer to them by taking a time together. Then, the project group analyzed tendencies of the senior residents for four months before the start of the actual class. The final idea was making accessories in the style of Korea enamel crafts for the short-term effect and wall paintings in the style of Korea enamel crafts for the long-term effect. When the project started in earnest, participants slowly admired and concentrated on their creation with the instructor’s guideline al­though some hesitation was found at first.
They could not conceal their joy when out­comes came out from a kiln. In the second day of the class, many more residents came to participate because the first partic­ipants told others about their enjoyment. It was worth to see how the project helped the elders to keep their relationship and feel a sense of achievement. Then, paint­ings of the familiar grape-like object and the Korean card game, Hwatu, were done on walls. It was a good opportunity for the elders to experience a new media and see their installation because the time has made them away from art.

Result
For the first time, I tried to teach Korean enamel crafts in the community center for local senior residents as a part of The Hwanggeumsan Project. The example of the final installation made by the elders aged between 70 and 90 cannot be found anywhere in the world. This regional revital­ization support program helped residents build a better relationship each other and the outcomes of the wall paintings gave satisfaction to them whenever they saw them. Local residents also felt proud when tourists came to the town and took photos of the wall paintings while several news articles was introducing about them. I felt thankful to how the elders share their beautiful minds and fulfilled by letting peo­ple know the excellence of Korea enamel crafts.