Meeting people

We met so many people all week that my head is starting to spin. I really enjoy meeting everyone, I just wish that there was an easier way to remember all the names. I started taking pictures of people who I need to remember and Dean had the idea to have them hold up a nametag or business card in the picture. We are sharing pictures and I will hopefully have them up on my Flickr page soon.

We tried to keep track of everyone we met so we could go out the last few nights, we were supposed to meet up with so many different people it was very confusing. Not really being fluent in each others language didn't help either. On one of the first nights, had a dinner with some guys from the Seoul National University of Technology, some Amerians from Tacoma and the English translator. That made things easier! We also hung out at the room and then at the bar with some other people (English student and professor and Turkish students and then met up with more Koreans at the bar we didn't know would be there).  A guy nick-named Chris saw that Dean and I didn't have a table and came and adopted us.  Kajin Lee and her boyfriend were a little worried by Dean's Soju and Beer bombs that the other Korean guys kept having him take over and over and over.... but we all got home, the condominium that we were staying in for the workshops in Yeoju was sharing a parking lot with this bar.  

We have since moved to the Miranda hotel in Ichon (not to be confused with a larger city Inchon-- we have all been corrected at some point for this mistake) and I am going to find some food.  I will have to summarize the workshop and what went on in this past week real fast.

*I sprained my ankle-- I have crutches and a splint and it really sucks a lot

*We got to see many schools from Korea do their demonstrations and workshops for us and the other international students.  This was 2 days and we made a lot of friends and learned some new techniques.

*Professors had their workshops for one day.  Still no Hoon-- much confusion on this day because we thought we were starting our project, but found out it was the next day.  We wandered into town a way with the French girls from the Swiss school and bought some ceramic tools, went drinking and I sprained my ankle while dancing (not drunk!  there was a hole my ankle went in) at the BBQ and later Dean carried me all the way to the Karaoke bar and then home.  Hoon showed up and wanted to sing Karaoke with us... I have video proof he knows how to have fun!

*We had our workshop for two days and met new people yet by having them work collaboratively on our little clay huts.  I will explain the concept later-- it has to do with making a temporary home in Korea for us...

*Workshops were finished and we went to Icheon for the remaining two days for lectures.  They were kind of dry with images in Power Point, but we learned some new things.  Said goodbye to new friends and into the Miranda Hotel now, not much has happened, I really needed sleep!

I will blog more.  Mom, my ankle is fine, and Dean helps with everything I need.  NO WORRIES!

What we have done so far

We have been busy little clay heads! What we have done:

Korean breakfast with Hoon on the first day-- SO much to eat and they even brought us more. There was seaweed soup and Kimchi (picked spiced things) and eggs and fried zucchini and seafood and hot water (no tea?) and seaweed... and... things I don't recognize.

ISCAEE was a blast-- the first day we walk into an exhibit with a bunch of important clay heads that Hoon (our professor) knows, and find all our art work hanging up! I got introduced to a great bunch of girls from the Seoul Women's University because Hoon knew the head professor. He had taken a class with her when she was a visiting professor at his school (Seoul National University of Technology) and he was her first male student. He said that at the retirement party for her he was the only male in the room. I said that she must have not wanted to teach another boy after him. He grinned, but I never know if he thinks I'm funny or not... The girls were all impressed with my work and asked if I was a professor! (plus Europeans look older anyway) but really it was because our work was in with the other professors (and a few students from the Swiss school that we met later). They showed me their work in the student section (a tent near the workshop/demonstration tents for all the Universities) and I LOVED IT! We exchanged emails-- these girls had made a business card with their picture, artwork and email, waaay more professional than me scribbling my name and email on scrap paper. I will email them the link to my blog and artwork. OH YEAH here is the link to my website with some of the artwork I have made: http://www2.gvsu.edu/~hipshean (the web page sucks, but I have never made one before)

We made lots of new friends, including some girls from the Swiss school, but two of them were origionally from France. I had introduced myself to them because I wanted to meet their professor... I LOVED his artwork, it was in the same building as ours and I walked right up and introduced myself and he talked to me for so long all about how he works and thinks about clay. He really enjoys working backwards-- finding a material that pleases him then thinks of a form that would be appropriate for such a material. I introduced him to Hoon and he said it was great that Hoon had such outgoing students; I blushed. Everyone we met had really great accents, and there artwork was great-- I think Dean really took a shine to the French girls. I floated between Dean and the girls then our girls and some Korean boys, then back to Dean and the girls. We hung out at the workshop area for a long time, also bought some really great wood fired cups, then came back and tried out the (naked!) sauna in the lower level of the condominium we are staying in (like a dorm room with a kitchen and quick mart near the lobby, special for the conference with tons of students staying here... we only have bed rolls, no actual beds though). We then met up again with Dean (the men's side was separate of course) and went to dinner. I forgot my dinner ticket and went back, then met some Japanese girls, and we found the dinner place together and met up with EVERYONE. We had to throw darts to get a "yes" or "no" to get into dinner, which was good and had a buffet-style so we could try everything. Always Kimchi, or pickeled cabbage and spices, at every food place we went so far.

I have been made fun of because at dinner I fell asleep propped up and then came home, laid down, and fell asleep last night at 8pm and woke up with everyone at 6:30am-- we have been getting up early because of the jet lag. We got up this morning and really have the hang of it-- the rice cake things we got yesterday were a good breakfast and we were off to the conference again. All the universities were doing their workshops and WOW WE MADE A LOT OF FRIENDS!! I have tons of business cards and pictures and we even ate LARVAE!! All of us tried silk worm larvae from a street vendor. Gross.
Other things:
Meghan had her palm read and he gave her long life.
Becky keeps describing everything as "that's so Asian" tee hee
Everyone loves Dean's shiny head and red beard.
I was randomly called beautiful.
I can haggle pretty well.
I bought a teapot and cup set! Only $20
I bought a frog incense burner! Only $4
I bought a Korean stlye shirt! Only $30... that wasn't haggle-able
Meghan got called a cow 2X because she has a nose ring.

Hoon found us again and got us our food tickets only AFTER we went and bought a ginormous lunch-- but it was soooo delicious!

We're Here!

We are in Korea! Finally I figured out what the heck was going on with the internet, and I need to use a cable to connect, so if someone else is using it, then I have to wait. I forgot my address book in the room, but thought I would email those that I have in my gmail account and then catch everyone up tomorrow. It feels like an eternity since I said goodbye to Brett and the family. I miss you all, but just a little-- more like I wish you all loved ceramics and could come with me!

Our flight schedule went something like this: we left Grand Rapids at 10:30am and then changed planes in Chicago, then again in Toyko and finally we were in Yeojeu at there time around 8:00pm.

I am here and it is 12:30am right now, and I have to get up early. Really, nothing exciting has happened-- we got our ride to the dorm-like place we are residing in right now. We are all together, and I have met two girls from Turkey, they helped me get connected to the internet.

I finished the pojagis on the plane, WHEW! I think that Eunmee and Soon Jung like them! They were the two visiting artists that came to Grand Valley last semester, and we are going to meet up with them later. I bought maple candies which are my favorite things in the world (to put in the pojagis). For those who are completely lost here is a link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pojagi

http://www.flickr.com/photos/soozs/98944097/

We start our collaboration workshop tomorrow, so I'm sure I will have more to write then.

Harold Hipshear

Just a side note that my grandfather, Harold Hipshear passed away at his home on Wednesday night. I was with my family for the Easter weekend and his funeral services afterwards. One of the most difficult things is always made easier with a family such as mine. I am so lucky to have them all! I hope they read this and give me some feedback. I am working on this song in memory of him, and this is what I have so far:

And the last breath he took was my father's--
And the last breath he took with a smile on his face
With his wife, in a room that he built with his own two hands.

We remember his name and a story--
We remember his name and the smile on his face
With his kids, on the farm and the whole Hipshear clan.

Whenever we cry it's our shared greif
Whenever we cry it's because we must stay
With his love, in our hearts and our minds always.

Korean Ceramic Biennial

I will be traveling to Seoul, Korea soon for the Ceramic World Biennial.  I have my work in the student show there, it was mailed out last week (hopefully it arrives in one piece!).  The artwork that I just sent is my profile picture, and is on my flickr account.  I will be publishing more of my artwork later today. 

I am going with fellow clayheads Dean, Meghan, MacWhims, Becky, and of course Hoon, our instructor.  Hoon keeps telling us things about Seoul (he grew up there) and we are really excited.  Almost every Monday and Wednesday since last semester we have had a meeting about Korea and what we are doing there.  We are making a collaboration project while we are there for the conference as part of a related event.  We should be experimenting here at home next week with ideas.  

I leave on April 23rd, wish me a peaceful visit.

Flickr works!

I have had problems with getting my pictures off my ipod, and ended up getting my friend Allison to upload my pics to my flickr account.  Here is the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/norajaneart/

enjoy!

Siena, San Gimingano and the Boboli gardens

Sorry for the late update, but here is last weekend:

Friday I went to meet up with a girlfriend of mine because we were bored and had nothing better to do than draw sculptures in Piazza della Signoria. She really wanted someone with her because she has made some Italian friends, but didn't want to go alone to meet with them. We had gelato with some of her friends and we bought a deck of cards and played some games back at the apartment with my roommates.

Saturday we got out of bed extremely early (5:30am) to get to the bus on time to go to Siena and San Gimignano.
Both had amazing Duomos (cathedrals) and the one in Siena was supposed to rival Florence's Duomo, but because of the plauge, it was never finished. The view from the top was amazing, and I have lots of pictures, and bought some famous 'panforte' to bring home. It's sort of like fruitcake, so I think it will last until I get home.
San Gimignano is a pretty well preserved medieval town because it was hit by the plague so badly, they made no progress for many years and therefore still have a lot of the "tower houses" in place. We saw some churches and got to do some wine tasting at the end provided by our professor and the school! Also, we got to taste some cheese and wild boar sausage with pistachios in it. I bought a bottle of wine on the way out, but I think that mine is a little cheaper than that which we tasted, but it should be wonderful, none the less.

Sunday my roommates went to Venice, and some of my other buddies and I went to the Boboli gardens for the day. Beautiful, huge, and I got a bit of a tan. I found a patch of grass and immediatly was overwhelmed with joy, throwing myself onto it and rolling around in what my art history teacher would most likely describe as a holy ecstasy, maybe something like that of Saint Fina who was the anorexic saint from San Gimignano that slowly went paralyzed and allowed rats to nibble on her toes so she could experience suffering like Christ. (I guess like her, I will have to perform miracles after my death... I'll get on that right away.) Then we walked across the lawn to read the sign that said "stay off the grass."

After the gardens we went for some food, and I ate the most delicious creamy sauce in the entire world: tartufli made with truffels... yes, mushrooms! Amazing creamy sauce, and I must go get some more soon.

My batik class is going pretty well, and I have finished only one project, so I have to get busy! I am in the middle of my second, and have two more to go. I think I am getting the hang of it though, and really enjoy working 2-D again for a change of pace from the usual ceramic routine. Also, the studio is only open for those 8 hours on Monday and Wednesday, forcing me to go out and be social, which is also a nice change from the usual late nights in the studio at home.