Clay is a language for South Korean ceramic artist Kyungmin Park

Boston Globe

04-03-2025

She's preparing the sculpture for a May show at the
Teaching is central to Park's practice; she's an associate professor at Endicott College. This summer, she'll conduct workshops at
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Glazes and underglazes inside ceramic artist Kyungmin Park's studio.
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
Where to find her
:
Age
: 39
Pronouncing her name: '
Kyungmin' begins with a familiar sound to clay artists.
'It's like kiln,' Park said. '
Kiln mien
.'
Originally from
: Seoul, South Korea. She came to the United States at 20 to study clay at Alfred University in Alfred, N.Y.
Lives in
: Boston
Making a living
: Before her job at Endicott, Park was a full-time artist. Teaching 'gives you more freedom,' she said. 'Before that, I had to make 50 mugs to have the money to buy another bag of clay.'
Ceramic artist Kyungmin Park pinches hollow clay vessels from inside and out to create her sculptures.
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
Studio
: She hand-builds sculptures in a 300-square-foot corner of the live/workspace she shares with her husband at Midway.
How she started
: Growing up, Park said, 'I was always around creative people.' Her mother, Choong-gi Lee, is a professional violinist, and the sculptor played violin as a child. 'We went to music camp with her peers, and all I did was draw people,' she said.
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She developed a passion for the stop-motion animation in '
"Be Like a Panda," a piece by ceramic artist Kyungmin Park, welcomes people into her studio.
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
What she makes
: Park called her artwork 'another language.' When she first arrived in the US, her English was not good, she recalled. She worked out her frustrations in clay. 'I survived because I have another way of speaking,' she said.
How she works
: She hand-builds smaller works from a slab of clay and larger works from layered coils, creating a hollow vessel that she shapes from inside and out, pinching the clay. 'I don't really have much fingerprints anymore,' she joked. After a sculpture dries, she transports it to Endicott to fire.
Advice for artists
: 'Trust your process,' Park said. 'It will take time.'
Ceramic artist Kyungmin Park posed for a portrait inside her studio.
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
Cate McQuaid can be reached at