Layering is the initial process of my work. A pigment, grey for the base, plus other selections, are added and mixed into several batches of slip, then these colored slips are poured in one by one, left for a while to harden and settle in, and then poured out of a mould. As the slip dries up, the thin, stiff slip layers start to form inside the mould.

Keep pour colored slip in and out of the mould for many times until the slip forms well-defined layers like a crepe cake. The colored slip poured into the mould forms the outermost surface wall and its color the main color of a unit. This process enables to create different images and emotions if the sequence and combination of colored slips change inside the mould.

With the repeated layering process, slips pile up to deposit from outermost surface towards the set of lower slip layers. Each layer is distinctive and individual in its color, yet firmly built up and united into one solid body. The layered wall may appear light and delicate, yet there exists an absolute sense of space and volume of material and time accumulated under the surface.

After the layering, a carving process reveals each stage: a simple liquid slip taking the form of clay, the whole flow of time taken over every stage of formation, and space and volume hidden right underneath the surface, one at a time.

Therefore, the carving process is more than just a mere series of mark-making on a lump of clay. The carving process creates organic patterns that reveal complex elements of nature in symmetry, spirals, and chaos.

It is the physical arena where viewers are invited to experience the striking and powerful sensation of touch and sight, with no visual deception.

Hae-Sin Ro is originally from Daejeon in South Korea. She graduated from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, obtaining both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in ceramics. Starting from the 1997 solo exhibitions held at To-Art Space in Seoul, and Gallery Shim in Daejeon, Haesin Ro held more than 12 solo exhibitions in South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Australia. From 2004 to 2006, Professor Hae-Sin Ro was invited as an artist-in-residence, as well as an exchange professor in the National Art School and the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Australia. Over the last two decades, she has actively participated in various exhibitions, workshops, and overseas art exchange of ceramic communities in Spain, Ireland, Britain, France, Netherlands and the United States. Some of her works are now part of the permanent collection in Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK), Crow Asian Art Museum (Dallas, USA), Asian Art Museum (San Francisco, USA), and the Korea Ceramic Foundation (South Korea). Back in 1997, Hae-Sin Ro worked as a part time lecturer in Kongju National University, Chungnam National University, Daeduk University, and Joongkyung Technical College (today Woosong Technical College). Haesin Ro has been working as a professor in the ceramics department of Kongju National University in South Korea since 1998.