So first and foremost, you’re an artist and you studied at one of the top art schools in the world, Central Saint Martins, which boasts a lot of cool alumni since you had all that experience, what are the main styles, eras, or artists that you draw your inspiration?
A lot of it is floral, and a lot of it is influenced by Korean pop culture, especially because it is coming to the West and it’s almost like a trend, which is kind of crazy because I’m experiencing my Korean culture, but on the westside. It plays a lot with how I’m adopted – I was born in Korea, but now I’m learning about Korea from a western perspective. It’s also something that touches so close to home, so I find it really interesting. It could be from something as simple as candy bags to snack wrappers to the really poppy Asian flowers that you’ll see everywhere.
Can you kind of explain the installation you’re currently working on?
Yeah, so the installation is Korean laughing characters, which is really slang. So it definitely hits a younger generation and I liked the idea of them being laughing characters because laughing is a universal language. You don’t have to know the language, you can just share a laugh no matter where you are. And that was the only way I could communicate when I went back to Korea for the first time. Because I didn’t know what anything else, so I just smiled and laughed. The idea is that these installations are markers of places to gather and you don’t need necessarily to know the same language but you can enjoy the experience and each other’s energy. Then the idea is to place them in Korean-owned restaurants predominantly or Korean owned businesses. Mostly restaurants because they’re gathering points for people to come together and eat. And when I think of Asians in general, they just are eating all the time. But for work I’m like, I’m gonna eat all the time and then make it part of my work too. So they’re two kind of big passions in my life right now.
And it ties into identity and everything you were talking about – being adopted, but originally born in Korea and becoming Asian American; a lot of us kind of struggle with going back and forth between which side do we play into. I feel like a lot of us growing up trying to be more American than anything. But now you’ve said that you’re kind of embracing more of your Korean side. So how do you feel that’s helped you grow as an artist, as you learned to embrace your cultural heritage?
Well, being able to finally really embrace being Asian just makes you so much more confident. It’s just like the confidence carries throughout everything. It really helps living in Oakland when there’s such a diverse city that I now get to surround myself with other Asian or just other cultures. You get to have that sense of community and support. And it’s so strong.
It’s almost like it feels like a moment of release. You say to yourself, “Wow, I can really own this and move forward and be really authentic to me and what I want to do.”
Exactly!
I read your first Bob Cut interview and how you talked about your personal project, and how you were trying to communicate through the use of urns. So my question is, how do you find new ways to communicate the depths of certain emotions into a physical creation? Like how do you manifest your emotions into what you’re doing?
Luckily, I have chosen the medium of ceramics, which is super, super tactile and I’m able to work through it. There’s been so many things between, for example, the urns and what I’m working on now. But being able to work through clay and easily being able to sculpt or manipulate something and then kind of ditch it and then keep moving forward- it’s pretty quick. Although it’s really slow too, ceramics, the process is really slow. I can get out my ideas really quickly, but it definitely forces me to really sit down and think through them, because the process itself of ceramics, is longer. I don’t know what I would honestly do if I didn’t have clay. I’m not strong with my words and I think a lot of artists, like artists that work with the material, it’s harder for them to use their words because they can use something else. So I’m lucky that I get to use ceramics. Because I think it captures a lot more in my work more than my words do.
How have you evolved since arriving to the Bay Area? How do you know when it’s time to switch projects and leap into something else?
I get pretty impatient. So that’s probably one of the biggest things. Also you work through a project. I worked through a project and then I feel really good about it. Even if I don’t even put it out there. I will work through a project and then there’s just this sense of like, “okay, I’m done now I need to really work my brain to challenge myself to work on something new”. And also day to day or week to month, we’re constantly changing, and everything around us is moving so fast.
So you’re constantly pushing your comfort levels.
Yeah. And being like, okay, what am I doing? After a while, working on the same project, it just becomes so old. But I let it go and then I work on something new. Like the old space was really just Steve and myself doing our own work, we had a few people that came and went, but we were doing our own thing. Then it was, “how do we create something because we just want to do ceramics”. We went into Merritt Ceramics because we wanted a place for people to gather throughout the 2016 election and asking ourselves the question, “how do we use our talents to give back?” And then Merritt Ceramics grew, we had two wheels at one point, where we would teach people which was super awkward because they’re so intimate and you have to stand behind them in a cramped space. Then it was three wheels then four and then five wheels, and we were like, “okay, we need to take another space in the building”. People were really excited about what we were doing but building logistics wasn’t working and we outgrew the place. So we did the Kiva loan, mostly to kind of see if people would want us to keep going. We got our Kiva loan in four days, which is crazy. We were saying to ourselves, “Oh my gosh, really, people want us to keep going”. Steve and I said, “let’s just put it all in and do it”. It seems much easier said than done now. We spent one day driving around all of Oakland looking for lease signs. Then we looped back around to the east of the lake, because that’s where we really wanted to be and we found this place- which used to be an aquarium. It had been empty for almost four years and I saw a crumpled “For Lease” sign on the ground through the window and we said, “okay how do we get ahold of these people, we need this, it’s such a great space”. We ended up talking to the people in the laundromat around the corner, which happens to have the same landlord. So we went through them and spoke with the landlord and he was stoked on what we were doing by bringing art into the neighborhood. East Lake is so neighborhood-centric, it’s a really supportive community which is amazing. They were so receptive and excited for us to move in and originally it was just the front area and the back was all storage area that wasn’t being used and our landlord asked us if we wanted it cleared out and that was all it took. Now we have the whole loft where our offices and work area is located. It’s all a blessing in disguise and we’re teaching everyday except Saturday and we have eighteen wheels here in the studio. Mostly it’s just classes and workshops but we do offer memberships so people can come in and use the space on their own time, kind of like a gym in a sense. You’re still getting a workout, just a different kind, it’s more therapeutic for some.
Can you speak to that, about like saying you support a community, especially the people who have a workshop or claim to be community focused but live in a million dollar house in the hills?
Well, it’s something that I think why Merritt Ceramics stands out from other studios because it is straight from my heart. One of the biggest things about Merritt Ceramics is we wanted a studio where we know all the students that are coming in here. We know the names of all of our members. We make connections with people. Our classes are smaller and intimate so that we actually give you attention. The studio itself is very much just a studio and it’s colorful- we wanted it to be really representational of what Oakland is. And I think we do a really good job of that. People really like the energy in here; it’s not kind of about what looks pretty like, “oh, I want to go to this ceramic place so that I can take Instagram photos”. Our logic was, how can we make it as most authentic as possible? And how can we make it represent Oakland? That’s the backbone of what Merritt Ceramics is. It branches out to everything – how can you be authentic and talk about your community, even if you don’t even live in it? Or if you aren’t even active or do anything, you know? I shy away from even saying the word “community” because it’s so easy to say. And to say, “Oh, we’re very community-centric”. I don’t need to tell you that. You could just feel it. It’s for the community, by the people of the community that look like people of the community. We represent the demographic of the area.
Is there a certain point in age you notice where people start to embrace imperfections in their work and learn to appreciate them or is it kind of all over the place?
It really is all over the place. Every individual is so different. They could be a total perfectionist in their professional life, then they come to ceramics and let loose and do things that are super abstract and sculptural. It kind of demonstrates how ceramics can be therapy for everyone in a bunch of different ways, shapes, and forms both figuratively and literally. We tell everyone not to get too attached to their work. For one, it’s just good practice to not get too attached to anything. But also ceramics in itself does its own thing. We have a saying, “leave it up to the kiln gods” because you just never know what happens. Ceramics is a really good practice for them and we are always encouraging. If this is your first piece, maybe it will look a little bit more abstract. Or we say “organic” and then try another piece, do several pieces and work through it. After a while, they feel like there’s no bar or line they’re supposed to cross and they learn to work with the imperfections and realize, “oh this is just nice”.
It’s very interesting, I had a high school student that was apprenticing. I asked her one time, “what are some of your reflections of today? what could you relate to?” And she said, “well, clay is a lot like people and social situations where it’s really uncomfortable at first. And you’re not really sure of anything then the more you get used to it, you start to warm up. Then at the end, whatever it is, that’s what it’s supposed to be like. That’s the person being themselves”. That was the first time I’d ever heard of somebody relating it back to a person.
There’s so much pressure in the Bay area to go to a top school, study engineering, and work for a big tech company – what would you say to young students who are feeling pressured to go that way but want to pursue something more creative?
I mean, it sounds so cheesy, but really if you have a passion, follow it, because you’re going to be much more successful doing something that you believe in. I mean obviously it’s a privilege to go to art school and creative schools. If you’re embracing what you enjoy, it’s going to open up so many more avenues for you to explore.
What’s coming up that you’re really excited about? There’s the Asian American Art Museum in the area, are you ever considering doing something with them, like an installation?
I have volunteered a lot with different Korean organizations in the Bay area and that’s been really amazing. Meeting other people has been really exciting because they’re coming from different backgrounds and the community is so strong. It’s like we’re all supporting each other. There is a lot of new, exciting things that Merritt has to offer in the near future because there’s something for everyone as you expand and get bigger.
When I was conducting background research for our interview I was almost awe struck because it’s exciting to yourself in someone else – being Asian American who is in the creative field is something I really resonate with, especially because you’re so passionate about your work. I have a younger sister who is fourteen, and I’m so glad she has someone like you to look up to as a role model. Do you get similar reactions from people in your classes, who you have inspired with your story and your art?
It’s really amazing to hear when people say they love our studio and that it’s different from all the other studios. And there are so many ceramic studios now, especially in the city. That’s not directly to me, but it’s a reminder that, “Oh, I’m doing something right”. It’s really good to hear that because you’re so entrenched in the day to day and there’s so many emotional things that have to be taken into account. I’m really glad that I could be an inspiration. There’s a lot of pressure knowing there’s going to be little girls who look up to you like that. But another thing I would advise is to surround yourself with people that are also doing the same thing as you. I don’t think I could have done it without surrounding myself with other artists. Because you could talk about it and you can vent about it and then you pick each other out. They also understand what that feels like and push you to keep going when you’re at a low and boost you up when you’re succeeding.
// Get to know Anna more on Instagram or sign up for a class at Merritt Ceramics; 1823 Park Blvd, Oakland, CA 94606; merrittceramics.com; photography by Anthony Rogers.
