Mimi Joung Artist | Ceramist | Maker
Mimi Joung Artist | Ceramist | Maker Mimi Joung, originally from Korea, gained her masters in ceramics and art from the Royal College of Art and is currently based in London, UK. Mimi is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors. She has made site specific and project-based exhibitions inspired by her interest in exploring ideas surrounding her materials and their history. She has exhibited widely in the UK, Belgium, Canada and South Korea and has held residencies in Latvia, France, Canada and the UK.
I trained as a ceramist and artist at the Fine Art department in Wonkwang University, South Korea and the Royal College Of Art, United Kingdom. Since then, I have developed a range of work through installations, artist residencies and private commissions in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia.
I focus on issues of “Displacement”, with objects addressing a wider discourse, beyond origin and usage, to reference human situations and experience. I am a long way from home and the important influences there. I have become a commentator, observer and historian reflecting the important cycle of roots and change.
Much of my works are installation and situation/relational projects. They are suggestive of landscapes and stories, combining clay or glass sometimes bundled together with mundane, found materials such as elastic bands, knitting wool, silk thread, a needle box, objects found in charity shops, the natural environment or through people and conversations.
Process is all important to me. My hands instinctively seek to resolve ideas through the act of making and follow a playful approach, reflecting my own life, what I read and what I learn from other people and situations. I feel that my comfort with materials and techniques allows me to seek a deeper meaning in the historical context of ceramic materials, forms and colour.
A major body of work developed from my response to a simple birth mug (Sarah 1775) that has been on display at the V&A since my time at the RCA. I imagined the life of Sarah, born in the midst of Britain’s industrialisation, and created my own story, ‘A letter to my mother’ (2003) in response. Since then I have created a wide range of site specific, often unfired and unglazed pieces, that build on story-telling and sense-making. Recently, my work has evolved as I begin to create more sculptural pieces based on a slim novel called ‘In Watermelon Sugar’ by the American writer, Richard Brautigan. Each sculpture traces and tapes a chapter of Brautigan’s surreal landscape which reflects his personal displacement in future utopias and dystopias.
Hands 2018, Porcelain “WE WALKED BACK to iDEATH, holding hands. Hands are very nice things, especially after they have travelled back from making love.”
In Watermelon Sugar 2018, Porcelain
“I looked at them but they didn’t show me anything. They were kind of ugly, if you want the truth. inBOIL leaned up against a forgotten thing that was just his size.”
Master of Forgotten Works 2018, Porcelain
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Everything will be all right.”
Margaret Again Again 2018, Porcelain
“If you are thinking about something that happened a long time ago: Somebody asked you a question and you did not know the answer. That is my name. Perhaps it was raining very hard. That is my name.�
My Name 2018, Porcelain
“Let us show you. Let us into the trout hatchery and we’ll show you a thing or two. Are you afraid to find out about iDEATH? What it really means? What a mockery you’ve made of it? All of you. And you, Charley, more than the rest of these clowns.”
Prelude 2018, Porcelain
“Pauline lit a lantern. It smelled fragrant burning with watermelontrout oil. We have a way here also of mixing watermelon and trout to make a lovely oil for our lanterns. We use it for all our lighting purposes. It has a gentle fragrance to it, and makes a good light.”
Pauline’s Shack 2018, Porcelain
“I left Fred supervising the plank press with big golden planks of watermelon sugar coming down the chain. The Watermelon Works was bubbling and drying away, sweet and gentle in the warm gray sun. And Ed and Mike were chasing after birds. Mike was running a robin off.�
Until Lunch 2018, Porcelain
In Watermelon Sugar 2018, Porcelain
Work in Progress 2018, Porcelain, Mixed Media
Seed 2016, Porcelain, Nails Cheung-Ju, Korea
Waiting 2013, Unfired Porcelain, Nails Ovada Gallery, Oxford
Monochrome 2013, Porcelain, Nails Farnham Craft Centre, UK
Day Collector Porcelain, elastic band, 2007 20/21 Art Centre, Scunthorpe
Husband and Wife Found plates, Made in England, Born China, Water jet, wall mounted, 2006-2007
Between 2003, Porcelain, Glass Tubes, Nails Royal College of Art, London
Mimi Joung’s art work and fine studio ceramics are available for exhibitions, site specific installations and private commissions. If you would like to discuss a commission please do contact me with your requirements. It’s also a pleasure to meet collectors and art professionals to discuss my practice and show you my latest work. Please do get in touch!
Four Sisters and Four Daughters Found plates, Made in England, Born China, Water jet, wall mounted, 2006-2007
Mimi Joung Artist | Ceramist | Maker Education • Royal College Of Art – MA in Ceramic and glass (2003-2005) • City Lit College, London Guildhall University, HND in Ceramics (2001 – 2003) • University of Won – Kwang, South Korea, BA in Ceramics (1991 - 1995) Selected Solo Exhibitions • There is a sense of stillness that comes to us, Landscape gallery, Oriel y Parc, St Davids, Wales, 2011 • 20-21 Art Centre, Lincolnshire, 2006 • Mute-Noon, AIR Galley, Vallauries, France, 2004 • Installation, Hockney Gallery, London UK, 2004 Selected group exhibition • Sfera Gallery, Entwined Repeating, Kyoto, Japan, 2018 • The Golden Seed, Jikji Korea Festival, South Korea, 2016 • Assiettes anglaises, Ceramic association in Burgundy, France, 2015 • Forming words, Clotworthy House, Ulster, Northern Ireland, 2015 • Our future is in the creative thinking, DMC Gallery, Seould, Korea, 2014
• Setting the scene, Farnham craft centre, 2013 • Forming words, Manchester Craft and design centre, 2014 • Propose edition, OVEDA gallery, oxford, 2013 • Forming word, Flow gallery, London, 2013 • Another Room, Room Gallery, London, 2012 • Bacchanalia, 1508 gallery London, 2012 • ‘Always my mind’, Modern art museum, Seoul national University, Korea, 2011 Residency • Oriel y Parc, Cardiff Museum and Safle, landscape gallery, 2010 to 2011 • Triangle Arts Trust, The Pier Arts Centre, Orkney, Scotland, Three Islands, International Artists Workshop, 2008 • Banff Arts Centre, Canada, Future Idea of Art, Artist in Resident, 2007 • Next Move, Craft Council, Sunderland University, Artist in resident, 2005 to 2007 • Dialogue, International Academy of Ceramics short residency in Latvia, 2006 • Artist Residency, Vallauris, France, 2004
Awards and grants • Oriel y Parc Resident artist selected by Cardiff Museum and Safle, Arts Council Wales, 2010 • Banff Arts Centre, Scholarship, Future Idea of art residency, Arts council Canada, 2006 • Grant for Arts, Art council North East, individual development grant, 2006 • Rootstein Hopkins Foundation, Project Grant, 2006 • NCSP Grant, Symposium support, 2006 • Grant for Arts, Art council North East, Travel grant, 2006 • Designed and Made Industry Bursaries, European Union, Northern Rock Foundation, 2006 • British Craft in Japan Travel Grant, Crafts Council, UK investment & trade, 2006 • Next move, Craft council UK, Sunderland University, Arts Council England, 2005 - 2007 • Faenza International Ceramic Art Competition, 2004/5 • Oversea Student Bursaries, Royal College of Art, UK, 2004/5
Mimi Joung Studio 26-34 Southwell Road London, SE5 9PG United Kingdom Email: info@mimijoung.com Web: www.mimijoung.com Insta: @mimijoung_studio