skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Hello Again!!
So over the Summer I was invited to participate in the 2015 IAP Video Anthology exhibition hosted by Incheon Art Platform here in Korea. It's always a joy to be involved in IAP's projects seeing as they were the reason I first ever came to Korea back in 2013 and hence my love affair with this magical country began!!
Throughout the summer IAP screened a series of videos produced by international artists who have previously been awarded residency within their program. The work that I showcased was my collaboration with animator Will Adams who I worked with during production of my 'Tales from Blue Truck Island' project over on Baengnyeong-do Island. This was a project I loved working on as it was a pleasure to work with the super talented Will Adams as well as work on documenting my time and experiences on the island. Our video 'The Whistlestop Diaries' was presented as part of the Video Anthology onsite at IAP in the theater.
Also over the Summer I was super happy to invited by DBUK to give an artist talk about my work as part of their series of design seminars here in Seoul! Their projects are based around connecting British and Korean artists and designers and having previously attended their seminars and workshops I was really honored that that invited me to participate and speak about my artwork!
Ok, so until next time!!
Love and Sparkles,
Emma xxx
Hellloooo/ 안녕하세요!!!!!
Last week I celebrated my one year anniversary with magical Korea!! I CAN NOT BELIEVE I HAVE BEEN HERE FOR A WHOLE YEAR?!?! The time has flown by, it really has...I still feel as if the whole experience is still new and to be honest there hasn't been a day when I've felt like the novelty has worn off or haven't appreciated being here. That's not to say that there aren't things that I miss about the UK, namely family and friends (and things like crumpets and salt & vinegar crisps!!) but, all in all this past year has been one of my favorites so far!
Moving to Asia was something that I had set in my sights for many, many years.
Much as I loved living and working in London for several years, once I started taking on more work overseas and traveling a lot with my artist residency projects I knew that I needed to dedicate myself to giving somewhere totally new a shot at calling home. After spending a few months in Korea in 2013 working with Incheon Art Platform during my time as artist in residence on Baengnyeong Island I knew that magical Seoul was the place I wanted to be!
One reason for deciding to move to Korea was to be able to devote some serious time into researching and seeking creative influence as well as learning about new methods, techniques and heritage crafts. One thing I love here is experiencing such a diverse arts scene in Seoul. There is so much going on and there is a tremendous value placed on creativity here which means there is always something new going on whether is be exhibitions, seminars, workshops, artist talks or community projects so I find the environment here really inspiring and encouraging in terms of generating my own new pieces. Being surrounded by a total cultural contrast to my own has equally pushed me in new directions with my own research and approach to my creative ideas. My focus on the upcoming months is to learn more about traditional Korean textile methods, specifically natural dyeing and canvas folk painting...so I'm excited as I embark upon the upcoming year or so here to add some new strings to my bow as there as so many interesting little workshops going on! My most recent workshop that I attended was learning how to make a paper lotus lantern which I did at a temple taught by a wonderful volunteer who was a bakery teacher and a Japanese major!!!
It's also been an awesome year for food too! I have NEVER seen so many independent cafes as I have in Seoul! Cafe culture is a huge thing here and the European coffee experience is massively popular so everywhere you turn there are cute cafes and an abundance of 'Afternoon Tea' sets, mountains of macarons and dainty little tarts and cakes!
A couple of my friends here are equally into good cake as I am and love searching for new cafes and cute tea houses, so we have been on a mission exploring the cafes and coffee shops of Seoul, one slice at a time!
We have found some amazing places!! Probably the best afternoon tea of MY life was at Garosugil's 'Salon de Thé : Mon Chou Chou'... it came with tiny little lemon meringue pies, cheese scones, violet macarons and teeny cream puffs!! AMAZINGGGG!
Being a vegetarian in Korea is not always an easy feat. The majority of Korean dishes are packed up with meat or fish, staple kimchi included which means eating out and about always takes some forward planning!
I have however found some AWESOME veggie and vegan places around Seoul and it seems as though more and more are popping up so it's always fun to track down a new veggie eatery!!!
I also really LOVE cooking here. I miss having a big kitchen and a proper oven but, it's amazing the things you can do with a tiny £20 toaster oven and minimal surface space (that includes squatting on the floor to grate carrots onto a plate to whip up a carrot cake!!)
I love to visit the traditional market as they have so many weird and wonderful vegetables that I've never seen before in my life so it makes kitchen experiments fun... I have now mastered how to cook kohlrabi and daikon...also there is an unidentifiable vegetable at the market I have my eye on so that may be my next challenge!
I would be here all day if I were to try to sum up an entire year of what has gone down here in lovely Korea. It's been a busy and exciting year and I feel that I've really got to know Seoul~even after a whole year I've never felt like I've exhausted the city and feel there is still so much I've yet to experience!! I've been lucky to make some wonderfully talented and inspiring friends here and I love this place more and more as each day passes....yayyyy excited for more adventures and exploits here in magical Seoul. I am so grateful to have this chance to be able to live in such a country that continues to interest, challenge and inspire me so much meaning that I'm super conscious of making the most of every precious moment that I have in this awesome country!!! So in a nutshell this past year... cherry blossom festivals, road trips, beautiful countryside, Korean language lessons, urban hiking (!!! in ballet shoes!!!), endless exhibitions, parks and forests, cakes and bibimbap, lotus blossom tea, bungeoppang, bingsu, climbing fortress walls, magical mystery bus trips, Korean borders, riding to the end of the subway line, trips to watch the ballet, picking persimmons, jaunts to Japan, reunions in Hong Kong, dressing up in Hanbok, climbing 'mountains', old prisons, candyfloss on Wolmido Island, sweet potatoes in Yangpyeong..... ahhh so many memories!! Anyway, I will cease rambling on and leave you with some of my favorite snaps from throughout the year including some from my travels to Japan also!!!
Happy Birthday Korea~ !!!
Love and Sparkles,
Emma xxx
Hiyaaa!!
I can't believe that somehow it's not only 2015 but, it's actually February already and only now I'm getting around to an update! To say this past few months or so have flown by is an understatement.... AS IF I have just celebrated the 9 month mark here in Korea?!?! I really can't believe I've been here so long as to be honest the whole scenario still feels as new and exciting as it did the day I touched down at Incheon airport back in April!
This country still continues to inspire and amaze me on a daily basis, even on the less eventful days. The novelty of living in Seoul hasn't worn off and I find myself adoring the place more and more as time passes.
I've tried to do, see or experience at least one new thing every single weekend but, despite being here for so many months I still feel that there is an outrageous amount of stuff I still didn't see or do!Which is kind of nice to imagine all of the exciting adventures and magical things I've still yet to encounter here!! Life in Korea is everything I'd imagined and hoped it would be and more!!!
So far I've managed to see quite a lot of Seoul and several of the nearby smaller cities around Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do despite having a lot of commitments here in Korea such as work, my Korean studies, midnight sewing, endless research and of course building a life in a totally new environment. It's been super important to me since day one to always make the most of living here and to never feel like I've wasted a second of this opportunity to live in such a magical city on the other side of the world. My time here so far has been glorious and has involved an abundance of cake, back street wanderings, countryside jaunts, so many awesome exhibitions and galleries, deluxe food, roaming around forests, a bit of temple hopping and so many other joys! I've been lucky to meet a lot of incredibly talented and inspiring people as well as make some wonderful friends. I adore the art scene here especially the smaller scale, independent initiatives that are buzzing with creativity in even the smallest of neighborhoods!!
I love the old school charm of many of the more residential areas as there is so much lurking around every corner!
Seoul is such a fun place to live and is so different to anywhere else I've ever called home before. I feel it would be virtually impossible to ever get bored of this city purely because there is so much to it and there is constantly something changing or going on.
So I realised that I've been mega slow with sharing photos of my adventures here in Korea over these past few months...the reason being that I take a ridiculous amount of pictures here and by the time I get around to wanting to post some, I've already taken a load more so there's a serious backlog situation!! (Yep, I've now got an action packed file of a whopping 9000 photos that I've taken since arriving in Asia last year....the temptation of snapping every little memory is too much to resist!!)
I'm going to leave you with a few photos from over my time so far here in Korea~!!
Until next time!
Love and Rice Cakes,
Emma xxxx
Throughout the summer IAP screened a series of videos produced by international artists who have previously been awarded residency within their program. The work that I showcased was my collaboration with animator Will Adams who I worked with during production of my 'Tales from Blue Truck Island' project over on Baengnyeong-do Island. This was a project I loved working on as it was a pleasure to work with the super talented Will Adams as well as work on documenting my time and experiences on the island. Our video 'The Whistlestop Diaries' was presented as part of the Video Anthology onsite at IAP in the theater.
Also over the Summer I was super happy to invited by DBUK to give an artist talk about my work as part of their series of design seminars here in Seoul! Their projects are based around connecting British and Korean artists and designers and having previously attended their seminars and workshops I was really honored that that invited me to participate and speak about my artwork!
