Icheon Ceramic Festival Explained

Icheon Ceramic Festival is a South Korean festival opened every year in Gyeonggi-do province.^{[1] [2]}

About

Icheon, Gyeonggi-do, has been a valuable city for ceramic arts since the Bronze Age. In 2010, the city was designated as "City of Crafts and Folk Art" on the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. A variety of South Korea's finest ceramics such as Cheongja (celadon porcelain), Baekja (white porcelain) and Buncheong (grayish-blue powered celadon) are exhibited in this festival. This festival is Korea's largest ceramic culture festival and is a free exhibition that takes place every year during April and May.^[3]

History

The first Icheon Ceramic Festival was held at the event area of Seolbong Hotel in the form of small scale ceramic market. During the time, revenue of the festival was only 20 million won. As a part of the Seolbong Cultural Festival, Icheon Ceramic Festival was organized by Icheon Cultural Center until the 8th festival in 1994. It was a small-scaled local festival due to insufficient budget and low participation of ceramic artists.

Ceramic product hall

• Ceramic products
• Ceramic road booth
• Docent operated

Exhibitions

• Meeting of tradition and modernization
• Symposium
• Ceramic road workshop
• Ceramic making demonstration and large ceramic performance
• Ceramic exhibition
• 2006 "From Earth to Light" Master Kim Se-yong (ceramist)^[4] held at Icheon World Ceramic Center^[5]

Events and performance

• Icheon youth art festival
• B-boy graffiti contest
• Face painting
• Nail art
• Invitation performance by military music group
• Street performances
• Hands-on programs

Location

The festival takes place at Seolbong Park which can be reached by taking an intercity bus from Dong Seoul Bus Terminal or Seoul Express Bus Terminal to Icheon Bus Terminal, which is a 10-minute drive to the destination.^[6]

Notes and References

1. News: Enjoy pottery experience at Icheon Ceramic Festival. 23 August 2015. 16 April 2015.
2. Web site: Overview of the Festival. 23 August 2015.
3. Web site: Icheon Ceramic Festival. 3 May 2015.
4. Web site: 시민일보 Citizen Ilbo . 2021-08-17 . I am Goryeo's 'Celadon'! [오치우의 인물채집] ＂나는 고려의 ′청자′다 !＂ ]. 2024-04-18 . m.siminilbo.co.kr . ko.
5. Web site: Korea's Master Craftsman Sechang Kim Se-yong Ceramic Exhibition 'From Earth to Light' [출처] 대한민국 명장 세창 김세용 도자전시회 '흙에서 빛으로'작성자 푸른산빛 내 그리운 푸른산빛 : 네이버 블로그 ]. 2024-04-20 . blog.naver.com.
6. Web site: How to get to the festival. 23 August 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151208194429/http://www.ceramic.or.kr/eng/01_CO/0106.jsp#1. 8 December 2015. dead.