Red Lodge Clay Center – Short-Term Resident (AIA) 2013, (AIA) 2018
KyoungHwa Oh was born in Seoul, Korea, where she spent her childhood and naturally developed a connection to traditional Korean ceramics (Koryo Celadon). Oh studied fashion design in Korea and worked for five years as a designer before coming to the United States to gain more design experience. While in the United States, she became interested in working with clay and changed her plans to study ceramics.
KyoungHwa Oh is an Associate Professor of Art at Colorado Mesa University. She earned her BFA degree at Washburn University, KS, and her MFA degree at Southern Illinois University. After receiving her MFA degree, Oh worked as a Visiting Resident Artist at Midwestern State University in Wichita Fall, Texas from 2009 to 2011. She started at CMU as the Art and Design Department’s first Visiting-Artist-in-Residence in Fall 2011, as part of an initiative to expose art students to unique artistic approaches. She joined the department as an Assistant Professor in 2014 and am a ceramics-based studio artist who teaches both ceramics and foundation courses in the Art and Design Department. Oh has been included in many juried and invitational exhibitions throughout the United Stated, China, Turkey, and Canada. The ICMEA (International Ceramic Magazine Educators Association) recognized her as an emerging artist in 2010 and Oh has also received the Ceramic Monthly Emerging Artist Award in 2012.
Oh’s life experiences and cultural background inspire her ceramic pieces. Her work consists of functional and sculptural carved porcelain. First, her pieces are thrown on the wheel, and then altered by cutting, adding clay and carving to create new forms. Through the carving process, Oh strives to depict positive and negative space uniting the ideas of fullness and emptiness. Oh creates ceramic objects that reflect traditional Korean culture and western contemporary style. Eastern and Western cultures are symbolically expressed through this language. Like Yin and Yang, Oh’s encompasses the influence between traditional Asian values and modern Western society.