Sangjoon Park

In 2005 Sangjoon Park had an epiphany. He looked at a pile of bowls on a table in his studio and suddenly understood that they were art. Never before had he considered these ceramic pieces to be anything more than utilitarian. "At that moment I realized these bowls-my training foundation-made me an artist long ago," Park says. "Most of us are in constant search for a new joy and we forget to appreciate what we have. This is how I came to a new appreciation of my work."

Thus began Park's 2005 bowl series , a combination of white porcelain and dark brown earthenware designed to show beauty through its simplicity. "Ordinary white bowls, placed on a brown base one by one, transform themselves into a new work of art by varying the arrangements," he explains.

Park's evolution as a potter began more than 20 years ago, when he was a young man living in Korea. He was 18 years old when, inspired by his uncle, a traditional Korean potter, he decided to pursue a career in clay and became an apprentice to a master potter, Na Woon Chae. "He said that in order to become a potter I must be able to make at least 30 identical bowls within an hour," says Park. "Countless failures ensued. Then one day Mr. Na announced I was a potter."

When he was 27, Park decided making bowls was not enough and, in an effort to become a "real artist," pursued a master's degree in ceramics at Pratt Institute in New York City, studying under the professor Robert Zakarian. "After Zakarian, my work changed. He taught me fine art through abstraction, minimalism and conceptual art. 'Don't only make beautiful objects,' he said. 'You need meaningful work.'"

Inspired by Zakarian, Park began using different techniques and materials. But he was searching for something more. "I was never satisfied with the art I produced," he says. "As a student, I did not appreciate the bowls."

Now, at 40 years old, Park recognizes how the beauty of the bowls lies in their reflection of everyday life. "I can make beautiful bowls but I never thought a bowl could encompass the expression of my life, my heart, my soul and my spirit. I have found that a bowl can hold so much more."