This was a trip I knew would take me over the edge, yet one I felt I had to do. Duty bound, for sure. During government shutdown, it was the worst timing because I couldn't fly, which extended my trip by days since it's very hard on my body to drive so much, so I break it up. I was so glad to see Vagner on the way (well, kind of out of the way, but it was worth it to see him), but was scared for my life for the first 3 hours of a 4-hour drive since we had very bad snow/ice/whiteout conditions from Ohio to PA. I learned that adrenaline truly numbs pain, because I couldn't feel anything under my stomach that whole drive and wondered if the white I was seeing in front of me, rather than the car in front of me, meant that I had died and was driving into the light. After dropping all of my stuff in Baltimore, I commuted into D.C. to visit a weeklong exhibit at the Old Korean Legation Museum.
I knew from the summer, when my teacher, the national intangible cultural property holder (ICPH) of bamboo screen making Cho Dae-yong told me he was going to visit D.C. in November, that I had to go. I was very happy to see him, but the cost was steep for me on all levels (time, body, etc.). I was sad that this show was only up for a week, which included the work of many national ICPH and their apprentices. It spanned all three floors of this beautiful old house and there was something to see in every corner of the elegant space, but there was no time to really see it all or spend time with the work.
Here is an apprentice who served as the Korean to English translator, Won Bohyun, the organizer of the exhibit, and my teacher, in front of one of his screens. She had worked for years on this exhibit and I was sad that it was happening at a time when the stupid government was messing with their plans (they had to cancel their Smithsonian event even though the government had
just reopened—though by then they had already changed their plans to spend an extra night in NYC).
This was my teacher's other piece in the show, a beautiful color combo of indigo-dyed bamboo and yellow silk. His daughter told me that she has been doing indigo dyeing on her own but no matter what she does, she cannot get the color to stay on her bamboo splints. He always sends his bamboo to the national ICPH of indigo dyeing in Naju to dye.
There were also beautiful videos on loop and this is a quick snap of him making his very large bamboo screens.
Here he is with his daughter, Cho Suk-mi. She took very good care of me for the next 12+ hours.
Because we were being herded on a tour and unable to stop or move around (it's not the kind of space amenable to large crowds looking at one piece in a corner), I couldn't get a close-up of her screen that is hanging on the green wall.
Instead of a ribbon cutting, they arranged for everyone to have a scroll of lovely Korean silk bound with silk maedeup (the knotting ICPH was there as well), and after counting down, they all unrolled their scrolls at the same time, which were printed with the show info. My sweet teacher immediately insisted I take one before the ceremony got going.
The former first lady of Maryland, Yumi Hogan, was there to commemorate the event, and I took a picture with her to show to Rosa, with whom I was supposed to be staying, since Yumi has been Rosa's mentor for years. She has a remarkable life story as well.
On the first floor I was glad to see the folding fans by the national ICPH and his son that I met on my last research trip, amidst many other pieces that the ICPH in attendance explained.
A child's hanbok on the bed with adult hanbok in the background. After the reception ended, the ICPH were being herded quickly downstairs and outside to a van waiting to shuttle them to dinner. My teacher's daughter insisted that I join, even though I assumed they had some fancy place reserved for a set number of people. She said there was room so I got into the van.
More folding fans!
The person who had been looking at this said that it was 19th century toilet paper. Once in the van, someone announced that we'd be eating at the hotel, and then I heard the driver say, it will take 45 mins to get to the hotel! At that point, I was horrified (I assumed they would be treated to dinner near the exhibit), and asked where the hotel was. Suk-mi said, right next to the airport. I said, DULLES?!?!? And then spiraled as I frantically started texting Rosa on 30% battery about when the last commuter train leaves DC and looked up hotel rates for the Hilton because there was no way I'd make it back to Baltimore that night. When I told Suk-mi, she said, stay with me! I have an extra bed! I had
nothing for an overnight stay but knew that at least she would have all the skin care I would need.
Of course, I barely slept and then had to get up at 6:30am to have breakfast with her and my teacher (we had to wake him to come downstairs) in time for me to catch the hotel shuttle to the airport, where I could connect to the Metro and commute for 3 hours to get to MICA in time for a tour of the paper studio. Most of my time in the DMV was like that. But it was wonderful to see my teacher after 4 years and I so appreciated that he knew exactly what my role is, as a hanji person. I had felt guilty all this time for not finishing edits on a video of his process, or not comprehensively uploading all of my research photos of my study with him, and especially for not making more bamboo screens. But that all dissipated when he introduced me to everyone and had no expectation that I was supposed to be a bamboo screen maker. I'm so grateful to people who really know and understand me, and give me space to be me. I'm sorry I won't be able to visit Korea next year to see his new gallery/studio/teaching building in Tongyeong but it was worth trekking to DC to greet him instead.
No comments:
Post a Comment