Hyejin Jung

Ceramic Artist · Ulleungdo, Korea

HYEJIN JUNG

What the island gave — its ancient junipers, its sea, its whales.

Master Artisans of Gyeongsangbuk-do in Washington, D.C.Sept 25–27 Smithsonian Craft2Wear 2026Sept 22–24 GW Museum & The Textile Museum

Hyejin Jung (HYE) is a ceramic artist and art educator based on Ulleungdo, a volcanic island off the east coast of Korea.

Working with traditional Korean materials and techniques — porcelain, cheolhwa iron painting, ottchil lacquer and onggi clay — she gives form to the traces of time held in nature, and to the quiet persistence of life.

About the artist

Story

What the Island Gave

From a studio on Ulleungdo to the exhibition halls of Washington, D.C.

Dokdo Incense Holder
Island Within an Island — Dokdo Plates I–IV

I

The Island

섬

Her work explores nature, time, memory and the persistence of life, drawing on the island’s landscape — its ancient junipers, its sea and its whales.

The Day the Old Tree Bloomed
Ulleungdo Juniper Series

II

The Juniper

향나무

Seokhyang (石香, “stone juniper”) is the juniper of Ulleungdo that has kept itself alive for centuries in the cracks of barren rock — a symbol of accumulated time and of nature’s strength.

Yet even in a landscape where everything seemed to have ended, nature did not stop.From “Nature Never Dies”
Ulleungdo Through Gyeomjae’s Eyes II
Ulleungdo Through Gyeomjae’s Eyes II

IV

Clay & Hand

흙과 손

Reinterpreting traditional Korean materials and techniques such as porcelain, buncheong, cheolhwa (iron painting), ottchil (natural lacquer) and kintsugi, she gives sculptural form to the traces of time and the vitality held in nature.

Ulleung Hyedong
Far Away, Yet Closest

V

Ulleung Hyedong

울릉혜동

Ulleung Hyedong is my present, my past, and a companion I will keep walking with.

Far Away, Yet Closest — A girl and a whale, whose hearts connect simply by watching each other from afar — and the moment what she wanted to hide becomes what they share.

Visitors at the GW Museum
Smithsonian Craft2Wear 2026 — installation

VI

Across the Sea

바다 건너

  • Sept 25–27, 2026Smithsonian Craft2Wear 2026
  • Sept 22–24, 2026Master Artisans of Gyeongsangbuk-do: Traditional Crafts of Korea
GW Museum & The Textile Museum

Exhibitions

Washington, D.C.

September 2026 — Master Artisans of Gyeongsangbuk-do: Traditional Crafts of Korea at GW Museum & The Textile Museum, followed by Smithsonian Craft2Wear 2026.

Exhibition history
Participating artists and guests at the exhibition in Washington, D.C.In the Korean press4 articles