Meet Yoonsang Hwang | Ceramic Artist, Painter, Father

We had the good fortune of connecting with Yoonsang Hwang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Yoonsang, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I hate taking risks.
But taking risks is what brought me to the place that I’m currently at.
If I didn’t risks, and if I don’t continue to take risks nothing would change, there would be no progress.

I always want to evolve and become something more and I realized that only comes when I take risks.

But there’s degrees to risks.
When I was younger, I would take stupid risks out of desperation and fear.
Making rash decisions and mistakes that would impact my life negatively.

As I got older, I took smarter risks which came with increased pressure and responsibilities,
But if successful, brought about great rewards.

Thinking back, many of the stupid risks I took could have really done me harm and taken me out.
But at the same time, I also wonder if some of those stupid risks helped me be where I’m at today.

I continue to take small risks every day.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am most excited about how much I have progressed as an artist in terms of my creative output and productivity.

In the current level that I’m at, it’s starting to get fun and there are more rewards at every attempt and with each attempt it gets much easier. There is less fear, and things are beginning to finally make sense.

It is still only the beginning.

It was not easy to get to this point. I worked painstakingly, pouring tremendous amounts of time & energy into my art— locked away in my studio because I wanted to really know how to do something. I was obsessed with figuring it out. I wanted to know if I can do anything right.

However, despite all my efforts I had come to realize (at least for me) only another person can push another person to the next level. Even if I think I am going hard or doing something difficult it will always be easier than the demands of another person.

Thinking about some of the most difficult challenges I’ve confronted, I could not have created the challenges for myself, by myself. And by good fortune I had challenges created for me by my teacher, LEE INCHIN for whom I apprenticed under for 2 years in South Korea. Challenges that I thought were curses at the time.

He gave me a lot of manual labor and at the time I was frustrated, pissed, and tired. But now I can see why that was necessary for a youngster like me with excess energy but highly lazy. I had to be conditioned to work. He showed me how much you can do in a day. He had me do everything from making clay to catching a runaway dog to picking blueberries. Imagine a to do list every Monday through Sunday and after supper there is another list. It was non stop do do do do do.

One of the things he focused on was productivity. To be productive is difficult because it’s easier to do nothing, but I think doing manual labor for another person in a creative environment helped me to dive into productivity for myself, and as I get the gears turning, creativity is naturally generated. I definitely learn by doing things over and over. I wouldn’t say I never get distracted, but I have learned to get focused and find joy in the work I am doing and have fun with the materials I have to work with.

Ultimately, my work is my practice. As of now it is the product of my practice. Whether I sit at the potters wheel, the table or an easel I think I am obsessed with learning about life through the act of learning to create something. I would like the things I make to be abled to say something about the world through its attributes and qualities without you having to know me. And I hope that all of this practice can eventually amount to a more conscious action of art making and I can be the artist that I have been working to be.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would dedicate this to my Onggi (옹기) brothers, the grandsons of Kim Il-Man (Onggi Master).

They really took care of me while I was apprenticing in Korea.

I hope they will come visit me in the U.S. in the near future.

Having been raised in the Southbay of Los Angeles that’s where I would start.

We would start off with some Norms in Inglewood for breakfast and finish the morning with some Randy’s. They’d probably be like, “Where are we? Can we go see the Hollywood Walk of Fame?”, but na they going to see my LA (Hahaha).

I grew up swimming at Hermosa beach so we would go straight to the beach for a swim. Then hit up Fisherman’s Wharf in Redondo for some Dungeness crab at the Korean spot. We’d then continue to In-n-Out (at least once just to check that box). Then get some Jjajangmyeon (Korean Black Bean Sauce Noodles) at Little China. Then Pho So 1. Then King Taco. It does not matter if they’re full they’ll just have to find room in their stomach.

And then we’ll do some touristy stuff like Universal Studio, LACMA, finally finishing the night in Koreatown eayting some chicken feet at Yasiknara.

We’d eventually venture outside of LA County and hit up Donut Star in Irvine on the way to church. Grab some Boba afterwards. Finish it all off with Korean BBQ with cold noodles at Old Time Noodle house in Gardena. It might be simple… but I like it.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to dedicate my shoutout to Jane Moon! She is the owner of Venice Optical in Torrance, CA.

I worked for her as an assistant in my youth. Jane is my oldest supporter and a patron of the arts.
I am deeply, deeply grateful for all of the support she gave me over the years.

She’s my 누나* (nuna – Korean word for older sister) and her support was invaluable to me when times were hard, financially and psychologically.

Thank you so much Jane.

If anyone reading this needs glasses and/or sunglasses, Go see Jane at Venice Optical in Torrance, CA! I am willing to bet she has the biggest collection of frames in the South Bay!

*누나 (nuna) is used as a term of endearment. Does not literally mean older sister related by blood.