tough question to a perfectionist

Yong Joon seems to have met a lot of great people while doing the travel book. It must have been a real challenge for him to be the student of the great teachers that he met.

You know what? I can perfectly picture Yong Joon as a student... full of determination. Likewise challenging himself to perfect the skills to please his teachers. He just won't stop until he's satisfied.

Heaps of thanks to gaulsan for translating this and sharing on BYJ's Quilt.

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[Trans] BYJ faces a tough question from the Maestro of Ceramic Art
Article from : Asia Economy News 2009.9.10
Reporter: Moon Yong Sung
Translated into English; gaulsan

“Choose the best one among these 48 tea bowls"



In his photo-essay, BYJ introduced an episode that he has experienced while he was learning ceramic art from maestro Cheon Han Bong.

Maestro Cheon Han Bong is a ceramic artist who is designated as a Human Cultural Property, and it is inevitable that his work became one of the major theme of BYJ's photo-essay. The maestro that BYJ met in Moongyung, Kyungsang province was a short-statured, diligent, and generous man.

For several days, Maestro Cheon showed BYJ the process of ceramic art - finding clay, processing the clay, spinning, trimming, firing, and so on. After showing the entire process, the maestro gave YJ his last mission to choose the best ceramic piece.

Even though the maestro was a gentle person, he was the master to BYJ, and it was not easy to find the correct answer. [This article doesn't tell us whether YJ chose the right one or not. - gaulsan]

After visiting maestro Cheon, BYJ started to make ceramic pieces at home. YJ wrote frankly, "maestro breaks the finished pieces when maestro doesn't like the outcome, but I cannot do like that. I cannot break the pieces that have gone through all the elaborate processes. They are like my offspring."

He showed his respect as "so much time and effort are needed to become a master, and it is so difficult for even a master to create the 'Real One'''.

Maestro Cheon Han Bong was born in 1933, and he is a professor of ceramic art at Moonkyung University, and is designated as a Human Cultural Property. He started to learn ceramic art when he was 14 years old. He is famous both in Korea and abroad, and had more than 150 times of exhibitions in Japan.