Jenna Kim & Wol-Un
A clay and ink show.
Opening Reception: Thursday, September 4 | 5–8 PM
Gallery 626 is proud to present Light and Shadows, an exhibition highlighting the tranquil and subtle beauty of clay and ink works by Jenna Kim and Wol-Un. Through their distinct yet connected practices, both artists embrace the simplicity of form while revealing the complexity and depth of their material-based approach. The exhibition features traditional ink paintings, moon jars, light installations, and a variety of vessels that together invite viewers into a meditative dialogue with rhythm, time, and matter.
Working through wheel-throwing and ink painting, Kim and Wol-Un employ fragile and intimate methodologies in which breath, rhythm, air, and time all shape the outcome of a work. Their practices investigate the delicate correlations between material and rhythm, revealing how each carries an ephemeral yet enduring presence within the creative process.
We invite you to join us for the opening reception on Thursday, September 4, from 5–8 PM, where the artists’ works will be unveiled to the public.
Exhibition Dates: September 4 – October 3, 2025
Opening Reception: September 4 | 5–8 PM
Jenna Kim
작가 노트 | Artist Statement
저의 작업은 Polar Ice Clay의 고급스러운 질감과 빛 투과성을 중심으로 형성됩니다. 바닷빛의 변화와 파도의 리듬, 시간이 만들어내는 미묘한 흔적들이 흙을 다루는 제 손길을 이끌며, 달항아리, 투각등 등 다양한 형태로 표현됩니다.
저의 서명은 ‘물(水)’과 ‘달(月)’을 결합한 기호로, 흙이 물과 불을 거치며 변화하고 새로운 형태로 탄생하는 과정을 담고 있습니다. 작품을 마주한 관람객이 잠시 멈추어 숨을 고르고, 달빛 아래 바다를 바라보듯 고요함을 느낄 수 있기를 바랍니다.
My work is centered on the luxurious texture and light-transmitting qualities of Polar Ice Clay. The shifting light of the sea, the rhythm of waves, and the subtle traces of time guide my hands as I work with clay, expressed in forms such as moon jars and perforated lanterns.
My signature combines the characters for “water” (水) and “moon” (月), reflecting the transformation clay undergoes through water and fire to take new form. I hope viewers can pause, breathe, and experience a sense of stillness—like gazing at the sea under the light of the moon.
작가 약력 | Bio
김보름(Jenna Borum Kim)은 한국 출신으로 현재 캐나다에서 활동하는 도예가입니다. Polar Ice Clay의 고급스러운 질감과빛 투과성을 주로 활용하며, 달항아리와 투각등 등 다양한 작품을 제작하고 있습니다.
2013년 도예기술 국가기술자격증을 취득했으며, 충남 산업디자인대전 최연소 초대작가로 선정된 바 있습니다. 또한 기술올림픽 도예 종목 선수로 7년간 활동하며 다수의 메달을 수상했습니다.
현재 Dogi Jagi Ceramics를 운영하며 전통과 현대의 조화를 탐구하는 도자 작업을 선보이고 있습니다. 2022년 Circle Craft Holiday Market에서 ‘Emerging Artist Award’를 수상하며 작품성을 인정받았고, 자연의 리듬과 흙의 섬세한 질감을 담아낸작품으로 주목받고 있습니다.
Jenna Borum Kim is a Korean-born ceramic artist based in Canada. She primarily works with the luxurious texture and light-transmitting qualities of Polar Ice Clay, creating pieces such as moon jars and perforated lanterns.
In 2013, she received the Korean National Technical Qualification in Ceramics, and was recognized as the Youngest Invited Artist at the Chungnam Industrial Design Exhibition. She also competed as a ceramics athlete in the Skills Olympics for seven years, earning multiple medals.
She currently operates Dogi Jagi Ceramics, exploring the balance between tradition and modern expression. In 2022, she won the Emerging Artist Award at the Circle Craft Holiday Market, gaining recognition for works that capture the rhythms of nature and the subtle qualities of porcelain.
작품 소개글 | Work Descriptions
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- 달항아리
Polar Ice 백자토로 만든 달항아리. 차고 비어 있는 형태를 통해 달의 주기와 삶의 순환을 담았습니다. 은은한 빛이투과되어 고요한 정서를 전합니다.
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- 연꽃과 개구리 조명등
한국 전통 문양을 재해석해 블루 코발트 안료로 마무리한 조명등. 유약을 하지 않아 안료와 문양의 깊이가 그대로 드러나며, 불빛이 전통과 현대가 어우러진 그림자를 공간에 비춥니다.
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- Moon Jar
Made from Polar Ice porcelain, this moon jar embodies the cycles of fullness and emptiness, reflecting the rhythms of the moon and life itself. Its soft translucency conveys a quiet sense of stillness.
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- Perforated Lantern
A perforated porcelain lantern inspired by traditional Korean patterns, reinterpreted with cobalt blue pigment. Left unglazed to highlight the depth of the design, it casts gentle shadows that merge tradition and modernity when illuminated.
Wol-Un (Sun Kim)
Exhibition Statement:
This body of work is a love letter to my time spent in the various mountainous and historically significant regions of the South Korean peninsula. Made possible through the support of the Audain Foundation.
The motif most prominently featured throughout the exhibition is the pine tree. Culturally, the pine tree has always been an important symbol of longevity, and not at all an uncommon subject for ink artists.
However, my reverence for them wasn’t forced nor taught unto me through blindly accepting the teachings of some ancient scholar because a book said I must. It’s because of my time spent climbing Bukhan Mountain, where I’d rest against their winding trunks as I caught my breath on the way to summit the peak, as well as spotting them all throughout metro Seoul on the bus ride back home. As I walked amongst these behemoths through the temples and ancient royal tombs of Gyeongju-Si, where it was evident by their grandeur, these were my elders of many centuries. And every time I stopped to seek shade beneath their branches, sheltering from the beating coastal sun of Geoje Island, in the middle of a farming village, did I truly understand what they meant to me. Not as an artist, but personally.
Through the process of painting each pine needle one by one, kneeling on the floor for hours on end, I hope that my experiences are felt by the viewer. The adoration and admiration I hold onto, connected to me by my memories and shared through my paintings, in this show I gift them to you.
Artist Statement:
Through seoye (calligraphy, 서예, 書藝) and sumukhwa (ink painting, 수묵화, 水墨畫) I hope to make work which prioritizes joy, inspires rest, and challenges the idea that beauty is frivolity without substance. My work is heavily influenced by literature and poetry, the resiliency of the natural world in our fight to preserve the environment, and a deep infatuation with the materiality of ink. I place a great deal of emphasis on research, whether the means are academic, experiential, or experimental. Accordingly, my process for painting tends to be rather slow, placing my work in direct friction with the expectations of modern rapidity. I find this intentional method of making more than just gratifying, but an essential component to my practice, and the way I live.
By working in ink, I acknowledge that I am carrying forward the legacy of centuries of literati and artists who have come before me. However, while I hold this lineage in the highest regard, I remain adamantly opposed to the antiquated political and social ideologies embedded in the visual language of pre-modern ink, often masquerading as “tradition.” It is a disservice to any medium when its artists fail to innovate on what has come before, and I refuse to fail this medium, to which I have dedicated myself.
Artist Bio:
b. 1999 Wol-Un is a calligrapher and ink painter, born in Seattle, Washington. Living and making on the unceded and ancestral territories of the Coast Salish peoples. Wol-Un was born to parents of Korean and Chinese-Filipino descent.
Alumni of Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Bachelor of Fine Arts, contributor to the Wing Luke Museum, the City of Seattle, 2024 solo exhibition at the Postmark Center for the Arts, and recipient of the 2024 Audain Foundation Travel Award.
Wol-Un is a pseudonym, in Korean, the concept of an art-name is known as, “ho” (호, 號). Wol-Un is a name derived from the Chinese characters, hanja (한자, 漢字) for Moon (Wol, 월, ⽉) and Cloud (Un, 운, 雲).