Colorful threads form various patterns on the surface of balls tightly packed with cotton. Silk balls of different sizes, shapes, and colors are adorned with splendid embroidery that rests on them like butterflies.
A solo exhibition titled "Hand-Embroidered Ball Exhibition" by Park Jae-sook, 96, a master of hand-embroidered balls, opens Friday at Gallery Huam in Galwol-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Hand-embroidered ball craft, or sonkong jasu, is a traditional craft in which various patterns are embroidered with threads of multiple colors on the surface of balls made by tightly packing cotton. As one of the traditional handcraft techniques, it expresses decorative beauty through geometric patterns.
Park has continued her hand-embroidered ball work for nearly 60 years after studying under a Japanese master of traditional techniques in the late 1960s. She has devoted her entire life to researching the beauty of the craft, adding diverse colors and patterns. Because each of her works is handmade one by one using colored threads, no two pieces are identical. This exhibition weaves her artistic world through the theme of "Four Seasons." Visitors can appreciate the journey in which a handful of cotton and colored threads become seasons and life itself. The exhibition runs through the 15th.
