Essay: Korean Needlework: Mrs. Han Sang-su’s Traditional Embroidery
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2010.11.01 16:20
저자 : 이풍호 Paul Lee
시집명 : Collected Essays
출판(발표)연도 : 1994. 3. 15
출판사 : Eastwind Press, Los Angeles, California
Paul Lee
English 101 Final Essay: Informal Research & Analysis
(Essay 5 of 5)
Buddy Roberts
3/3/1994
(Revised 3/15/94 for final portfolio)
Korean Needlework: Mrs. Han Sang-su’s
Traditional Embroidery
Koreans in ancient days obviously enjoyed decorating almost every object made of fabric for use in everyday life with various embroidered designs. The style and degree of decoration differed according to such things as the social status and religious background of the user. Popular designs included stylized animals and birds and other motifs inspired by nature that were considered to bring luck and a long, healthy life to those who used them.
The ancient embroidery pieces also represent the indigenous aesthetic sensibility of Koreans, and are often reminiscent of the naive expressions of folk paintings. Both were important forms of folk art and used similar designs and color schemes to express universal wishes for longevity, health, fertility and respectable social standing.
For everyone, there are moments which, looking back, we can see had a decisive influence on our life or career. For Mrs. Han Sang-su, a master embroidery artist, who acquired the first title of “living cultural treasure” in the field of traditional embroidery from the South Korea’s government ten years ago, she saw the sight of a small ad on an electric pole along a Seoul street, giving such an influential moment.
Born in far-off Chejudo Island, Mrs. Han was drawn to the notice which was advertising for young girls interested in learning needlework at an embroidery shop. Thanks to her native island craftsmanship in making the fine horsehair hats which were particularly favored by ancient aristocrats, she seemed to have the makings of a craftsman in her blood.
Mrs. Han has spent the last four decades of her life working with needles and thread. Her life is adorned with the many memories of painful endeavors to master the techniques and develop her artistic sensibilities. She has exerted unusual efforts to explore the fascinating patterns in ancient embroidery and to discover their symbolic meanings. She has spent the innumerable hours for making fine stitches and made the countless trips to museums and faraway villages in search of antique embroideries, and she has had the long, precious conversations with elderly women from which she pieced together bits of their scattered memories to recreate the story of how they learned the skills more than a half century ago.
“In Korea in the olden days,” Mrs. Han said in a recent interview, “every woman could do some needlework. Every girl was taught the basics of embroidery either as a must for a cultured lady or in preparation for becoming a housewife.” But so much has changed in the general lifestyle of Koreans since the turn of the century with the introduction of Western culture and advanced machinery, and few people nowadays bother to learn the time-consuming art of embroidery, nor the symbolic meaning their forebears attached to every decorative design.
It was only a few decades ago that a handful of critics of Korean art began to appreciate the unique quality of Korean embroidery. We could find the ancient royal gowns, personal ornaments from the aristocratic households, and historic ritual artifacts preserved in Buddhist temples. All the colorful embroidered designs earned gradual recognition as popular items for antique collectors. Mrs. Han was no doubt among the first to help re-establish traditional embroidery as an independent art form.
Among all major categories of traditional embroidery, Mrs. Han has made special efforts to revive the designs on objects used in Buddhist temples, such as hanging scrolls depicting Buddhist images, monk’s ritual robes and stoles, and various artifacts for ceremonial usage. Her efforts and practices in creation of the large embroidered tapestry of Buddhist images won the President’s Award in the Sixth Traditional Korean Handicraft Exhibition in 1981, which sponsored annually by the government.
As I attached copies of art needleworks’ design to this essay, Mrs. Han Sang-su’s practice includes a gorgeously embroidered hwalot, or traditional wedding dress, women’s embroidered folding purses, an embroidered ironing table, embroidered silk shoes, an upper-class girl’s bonnet (kullae), an embroidered fan, a taenggi, or hair band for unmarried young girl, and so on. All these decorate the large canvas of the life of this extraordinary woman and give me a lot of insights into my understanding of the Korean needlework that represents the living traditional embroidery in the present and past of Korea. Because of the change in the general lifestyle of Koreans since the turn of the century with the introduction of Western culture and advanced machinery, few people nowadays try to learn the time-consuming art of embroidery, nor the symbolic meaning their forebears attached to every decorative design. But I think Korean people still appreciate it in value since they think Korean embroidery art is a significant inheritance in them all.
- Paul Lee 이풍호 시인
English 101 Final Essay: Informal Research & Analysis
(Essay 5 of 5)
Buddy Roberts
3/3/1994
(Revised 3/15/94 for final portfolio)
Korean Needlework: Mrs. Han Sang-su’s
Traditional Embroidery
Koreans in ancient days obviously enjoyed decorating almost every object made of fabric for use in everyday life with various embroidered designs. The style and degree of decoration differed according to such things as the social status and religious background of the user. Popular designs included stylized animals and birds and other motifs inspired by nature that were considered to bring luck and a long, healthy life to those who used them.
The ancient embroidery pieces also represent the indigenous aesthetic sensibility of Koreans, and are often reminiscent of the naive expressions of folk paintings. Both were important forms of folk art and used similar designs and color schemes to express universal wishes for longevity, health, fertility and respectable social standing.
For everyone, there are moments which, looking back, we can see had a decisive influence on our life or career. For Mrs. Han Sang-su, a master embroidery artist, who acquired the first title of “living cultural treasure” in the field of traditional embroidery from the South Korea’s government ten years ago, she saw the sight of a small ad on an electric pole along a Seoul street, giving such an influential moment.
Born in far-off Chejudo Island, Mrs. Han was drawn to the notice which was advertising for young girls interested in learning needlework at an embroidery shop. Thanks to her native island craftsmanship in making the fine horsehair hats which were particularly favored by ancient aristocrats, she seemed to have the makings of a craftsman in her blood.
Mrs. Han has spent the last four decades of her life working with needles and thread. Her life is adorned with the many memories of painful endeavors to master the techniques and develop her artistic sensibilities. She has exerted unusual efforts to explore the fascinating patterns in ancient embroidery and to discover their symbolic meanings. She has spent the innumerable hours for making fine stitches and made the countless trips to museums and faraway villages in search of antique embroideries, and she has had the long, precious conversations with elderly women from which she pieced together bits of their scattered memories to recreate the story of how they learned the skills more than a half century ago.
“In Korea in the olden days,” Mrs. Han said in a recent interview, “every woman could do some needlework. Every girl was taught the basics of embroidery either as a must for a cultured lady or in preparation for becoming a housewife.” But so much has changed in the general lifestyle of Koreans since the turn of the century with the introduction of Western culture and advanced machinery, and few people nowadays bother to learn the time-consuming art of embroidery, nor the symbolic meaning their forebears attached to every decorative design.
It was only a few decades ago that a handful of critics of Korean art began to appreciate the unique quality of Korean embroidery. We could find the ancient royal gowns, personal ornaments from the aristocratic households, and historic ritual artifacts preserved in Buddhist temples. All the colorful embroidered designs earned gradual recognition as popular items for antique collectors. Mrs. Han was no doubt among the first to help re-establish traditional embroidery as an independent art form.
Among all major categories of traditional embroidery, Mrs. Han has made special efforts to revive the designs on objects used in Buddhist temples, such as hanging scrolls depicting Buddhist images, monk’s ritual robes and stoles, and various artifacts for ceremonial usage. Her efforts and practices in creation of the large embroidered tapestry of Buddhist images won the President’s Award in the Sixth Traditional Korean Handicraft Exhibition in 1981, which sponsored annually by the government.
As I attached copies of art needleworks’ design to this essay, Mrs. Han Sang-su’s practice includes a gorgeously embroidered hwalot, or traditional wedding dress, women’s embroidered folding purses, an embroidered ironing table, embroidered silk shoes, an upper-class girl’s bonnet (kullae), an embroidered fan, a taenggi, or hair band for unmarried young girl, and so on. All these decorate the large canvas of the life of this extraordinary woman and give me a lot of insights into my understanding of the Korean needlework that represents the living traditional embroidery in the present and past of Korea. Because of the change in the general lifestyle of Koreans since the turn of the century with the introduction of Western culture and advanced machinery, few people nowadays try to learn the time-consuming art of embroidery, nor the symbolic meaning their forebears attached to every decorative design. But I think Korean people still appreciate it in value since they think Korean embroidery art is a significant inheritance in them all.
- Paul Lee 이풍호 시인
