Chunghi Choo
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Chunghi Choo (born 1938) is a jewelry designer and
metalsmith A metalsmith or simply smith is a craftsperson fashioning useful items (for example, tools, kitchenware, tableware, jewelry, armor and weapons) out of various metals. Smithing is one of the oldest list of metalworking occupations, metalworking o ...
who was born in Incheon, Korea in 1938. She received a BFA degree from
Ewha Womans University Ewha Womans University () is a private women's research university in Seoul, South Korea. It was originally founded as Ewha Haktang on May 31, 1886, by missionary Mary F. Scranton. Currently, Ewha Womans University is one of the world's largest f ...
in Seoul, Korea, where she majored in Oriental painting and studied philosophy of Oriental art and Chinese brush calligraphy. She moved to the United States in 1961 to study
metalsmithing A metalsmith or simply smith is a craftsperson fashioning useful items (for example, tools, kitchenware, tableware, jewelry, armor and weapons) out of various metals. Smithing is one of the oldest list of metalworking occupations, metalworking o ...
, weaving, and ceramics at
Cranbrook Academy of Art The Cranbrook Academy of Art, a graduate school for architecture, art, and design, was founded by George Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps Booth in 1932. It is the art school of the Cranbrook Educational Community. Located in Bloomfield Hills, Mi ...
in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where she received an MFA in 1965.Smithsonian Archives of American Art
/ref> She taught jewelry and metal arts at the University of Iowa School of Art and Art History from 1968 to 2015 and is currently Professor Emeritus. Her works have been exhibited worldwide and are found in the permanent collections of the
Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
,
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;
Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris The Musée des Arts Décoratifs (, English: ''Museum of Decorative Arts'') is a museum in Paris, France, dedicated to the exhibition and preservation of the decorative arts. Located in the city’s 1st arrondissement, the museum occupies the P ...
; the
Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...
, the Museum fur Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, Germany; the
Danish Museum of Art & Design The Designmuseum Denmark () is a museum in Copenhagen for Danish and international design and crafts. It features works of famous Danish designers like Arne Jacobsen, Jacob Jensen and Kaare Klint, who was one of the two architects who remodele ...
, Copenhagen; the
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,
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
and
Museum of Arts and Design The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the ...
, New York;
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; and
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, among others. Her work, ''Blooming Vessel'', was acquired by the
Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...
as part of the
Renwick Gallery The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building that ...
's 50th Anniversary Campaign.


Early life

Chunghi Choo was born on May 23, 1938, to a rather affluent family that was also one of South Korea's most prominent.Milosch, Jane C. (2022). Chunghi Choo and her students: Contemporary art and new forms in metal. Arnoldsche Art Publishers. ISBN 978-3-89790-490-3. Despite growing up in the era of Japan's occupation of Korea, Chunghi Choo's family remained in relative safety after relocating from Busan. She was 12 years old when the Korean War began and 15 when it ended. Choo's paternal grandfather, Myung Kee Choo, managed a business that exported rice to Japan and assisted the Commerce and Industry Department in Incheon. Her father, Kwang Hyun Choo, was a lover of art and music. He married Young Bong Choo (Chunghi Choo's biological mother) and had three children. After her mother passed away, Chunghi Choo's father remarried and had five more children. All immersed in classical music and art, Chunghi Choo felt that creating art herself was a form of expression that suited her well. Chunghi Choo's early education played a great role in shaping her art practice and worldview. She attended
Ewha Girls' High School Ewha Girls' High School () is a private girls' high school located in Jeong-dong, Jung District, Seoul, South Korea. Although managed by the same foundation, it is not to be confused with the coeducational Ewha Womans University High School (foun ...
after her family moved to Seoul permanently. She later attended
Ewha Womans University Ewha Womans University () is a private women's research university in Seoul, South Korea. It was originally founded as Ewha Haktang on May 31, 1886, by missionary Mary F. Scranton. Currently, Ewha Womans University is one of the world's largest f ...
in Seoul starting in 1957. Her studies of philosophy and aesthetics greatly contributed to her work and eye for art. Deciding to leave South Korea behind to further her education and introduce her to American art, Chunghi Choo attended both the Penland School of Handicrafts and the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Choo was a resident at Penland for only two short months, but she formed strong relationships with her mentors and even the founding director of Penland, Lucy Morgan. Choo went on with Morgan and worked together to fundraise for their departments and facilities. Choo also became known for her cullinary skills, which she still highly values today.


Career

Choo was a resident at Penland for only two short months, but she formed strong relationships with her mentors and even the founding director of Penland, Lucy Morgan. Choo went on with Morgan and worked together to fundraise for their departments and facilities. Choo also became known for her cullinary skills, which she still highly values today. Upon Chunghi Choo's arrival at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, she majored in metalsmithing and minored in ceramics. On the side, she was also mentored in weaving by Glen Kaufman. During the 1960s and 70s, Choo created monumental tie-dyed silks using a traditional technique called
tritik Tritik, or stitch resist, is a resist dyeing technique in which a line of stitches is gathered tightly before dyeing, creating a negative design in the dyed fabric. It is similar to the Japanese resist technique shibori. Traditionally two hand ...
. Her textile works were exhibited in the "Young Americans 1969" exhibition at what was then the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, now known as the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City. Choo is also well recognized for her work in metal, most notably her silver and copper vessels made using raising and forging techniques. Her desire to achieve fluid, organic shapes in metal caused her to study electroforming processes with Stanley Lechtzin at Tyler School of Art in 1971. Since that time many of her metal vessels are made using that technique, which allows her to work with metal in a more fluid appearance.


Relationships


Mentors

Source: * No Soo Park and Song Bong Lee * Richard Thomas *
Maija Grotell Maija (Majlis) Grotell (August 19, 1899 — December 6, 1973) was an influential Finnish-American ceramic artist and educator. She is often described as the "Mother of American Ceramics." Early life and education Finland Maija Grotell was born ...
* Glen Kaufman *
Loja Saarinen Minna Carolina Mathilde Louise "Loja" Gesellius (March 15, 1879 – April 21, 1968) was a Finnish-American textile artist and sculptor. She founded the weaving department at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. She also led her own studio, th ...


Students

Source: * Mary Merkel-Hess * Meiing Hsu * Lois Jeckli


References

* Georgia Museum of Art, ''American Masters of Hollowware in the Late 20th Century'', Athens, Georgia, Georgia Museum of Art, 1997.


Footnotes


External links


An interview with Chunghi Choo, conducted 2007 July 30-2008 July 26, by Jane Milosch, for the Archives of American Art

Chunghi Choo: The Energy of Qi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Choo, Chunghi 1938 births South Korean emigrants to the United States Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni University of Iowa faculty South Korean modern sculptors 20th-century South Korean sculptors 21st-century South Korean sculptors Living people Ewha Womans University alumni South Korean women artists 21st-century American women sculptors 21st-century American sculptors American women academics American jewelry designers