CICI participants view works of embroidery artist

Choi Jung-wha, fourth from left in the front row, president of the Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI), Son In-sook, fifth from left in the front row, chief director of the Yewon Silgrim Art and Culture Foundation and French Ambassador Jerome Pasquier, third from left in the second row, pose with other participants to the CICI’s 18th cultural program who visited Yewon Silgrim Art’s Gaepodong Exhibition Center in Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of CICI

By Kim Ji-soo

Participants of 18th culture seminar of Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI) visited the Yewon Silgrim Art’s Gaepodong Exhibition Center on Tuesday to appreciate the works of thread artist Son In-sook.

Son will also be exhibiting her thread artworks at the Guimet Museum of Asian Art in Paris, France in September 2015. President Sophie Makariou and Director Olivier Gabet of the Guimet Museum visited Son in December 2013 and asked her to join the exhibition that will be held at the museum to fete the 130-year relationship between South Korea and France. Son works with traditional Korean embroidery but she has been reinterpreting it through various new attempts.

In attendance at CICI’s visit to the Gaepodong Exhibition Center were Choi Jung-wha, president of CICI; Didier Beltoise, head of consulting firm Cs; French Ambassador Jerome Pasquier; James B. Bemowski, vice chairman and CEO of Doosan Corporation; Bill Miner, country chairman of Chevron Korea and his wife LIssa Miner;

Shim Jay-hyuk, CEO and vice chairman of Taekwang Industrial Co.; Jean Manuel Spriet, president and CEO of Pernod Ricard Korea; and Christophe Piganiol, president of Zuelligpharma Korea.

French Ambassador Pasquier noted that Son’s technique, color and passion showed in her work.

“It’s good that she has embroidered both the traditional paintings and the modern ones,” Pasquier said, praising Son’s rendition of Joseon era (1392-1910) painter Shin Yoon-bok’s “The Beauty” and modern interpretation of a “dancheong” or multi-colored wooden ceiling of a Korean temple. He added that Korea needs people like Son who dedicate themselves to keeping the tradition.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Shim of Taekwang Industrial Co.

“The level of detail and color choice are all exquisite,” Lissa Miner said after viewing Son’s embroidery of an eight-fold screen depicting the four seasons.

Many of the participants asked Son how she finances her creative work and why she doesn’t sell. She did not directly answer the question but said she will open a museum in Suseo, southern Seoul. She also attributed her success as an artist to her supportive husband.

“She’s a free artist … one who just goes for the art,” Piganiol of Zuelligpharma Korea said after surveying her works.

At the exhibition, Son showed two of her works based on the Buddhist painting “Water, Moon Gwaneum” or “Avalokitevara Bodhisattva,” which dates back to the Goryeo Kingdom (918-1392). The first work is an exact embroidery rendition of the original work that is housed in a temple in Japan, and the other is her take on what the work would be like.

“I hope to hang the two works so that people can appreciate both the original and how I imagined it,” Son said.