Sang Joon Park is a South Korean-born artist who currently lives and works in upstate New York. He received his BFA in Ceramics from Mok Won University in Korea and his MFA from Pratt Institute in New York. Park has exhibited his work at numerous prestigious galleries and institutions, including the Korean and Japanese Cultural Centers in Washington, DC, and New York, as well as major craft shows such as the Smithsonian Craft
Show, the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, and the invitational Old Church Pottery Show in New Jersey.
Park’s ceramic work is driven by a desire to express his thoughts and emotions through his vessels, many of which are thrown on the potter’s wheel. He often draws on traditional Korean techniques, such as the inhwamun stamping/inlay method to create intricate floral patterns and the gwiyal slip technique for applying expressive color slips. By combining these time-honored techniques with modern forms, Park creates unique, functional pieces that are as beautiful as they are practical.
In addition to his wheel-thrown vessels, Park’s installation work explores a more sculptural approach, expanding and diverging from traditional ceramic practices. He began experimenting with stacking and hanging his pieces, intentionally disrupting the perfect forms created on the wheel to construct abstract compositions. His most recent work, titled New York Winter, reflects this shift in approach. In this piece, hundreds of wheel-thrown bowls were left outside to weather over time, transforming in response to the natural environment and seasonal changes—capturing the passage of time and the impermanence of nature.
Through both his functional ceramics and sculptural installations, Sang Joon Park’s work reflects a deep engagement with tradition, a reverence for nature, and an exploration of how form and time can interact to create meaning.
