Yoonjee Kwak makes sculptural vessels to represent human beings as iconic symbols from the Korean culture. In Korea, when people talk about someone’s personality, they often use “vessel” as a metaphor of one’s spirit of tolerance. Yoonjee’s interactive conversation with the clay is vital to her process — she slowly builds up clay coils from the bottom, allowing her hand marks to remain on the surface. Through this process of building, memories of patience and time come into her pieces and she is able to create a meaningful record of her practice.

Yoonjee Kwak is an artist and educator originally from South Korea. With a passion for artistic expression, Yoonjee has participated in various artist residencies and conducted workshops both nationally and internationally, all while showcasing her art in numerous prestigious venues. Yoonjee is a former long-term resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation in MT (2017-2019) and Pottery Northwest in WA (2021-2022). She earned her MFA in ceramics from the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, 2014 and her BFA in ceramics and glass from Hong-Ik University in Seoul, South Korea, 2012.

Recognizing her outstanding talent, Yoonjee has been honored with the James Renwick Alliance Chrysalis Award in Ceramics and the Emerging Artist Award from Ceramics Monthly Magazine. Her artistic prowess has also been showcased in international Ceramic and craft biennials, including those in Icheon, Korea, and more recently, in Chungju, Korea, and Jingdezhen, China. Currently, Yoonjee serves as the Full-time Ceramic Faculty in the Visual Arts Department at the prestigious Loomis Chaffee School in CT.