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(경남=NSP통신 허아영 기자) = Here is a pottery master who devotes himself to reviving Goryeo porcelains and Joseon tea bowls, and making pottery popular.

He is You Gil-sam who pursues to make pottery resembling the nature with beautiful lines.

What does pottery and earth mean to him?

We listen to his work, which holds the universe. Even now, he is making the universe with a handful of earth.

[허아영 기자]
I'd like to know how did you enter this field?

[유길삼 선생]
In 1981 I was a freshman of Dong-a unversity as sociology major. I joined a traditional tea drinking club called ‘다연회’. When you sip tea, you need tea cups, so I went and looked around pottery kilns. One day I went to a kiln belonged to a very famous master. After the experience, It occurred to me that I wanted to take the work as mine. So after many years trials and errors, I took this job.

I think our generation is so-called plastic generation. I felt something missing whenever I saw plastic vessels but when I saw traditional vessels made with clay, I felt good. So I realized that we have clay.

[허아영 기자]
I heard you work more actively in Japan than in Korea, Could I ask you why?

[유길삼 선생]
During Japan's Invasion into Joseon in 1592, many potters were abducted to Japan and after the war many potters moved into Japan. In Korea, I cannot find enough document. Well, you know Japan has more than 40 million tea drinkers. So market is very large. And while Korea has only about 10 thousand potters, Japan has 1.3 million. So only when I was in Japan I could learn much. The most important reason is that Japan has almost all antiques called 고려다완(Goryeo tea bowl). But we don't have. And they are our textbooks so we have to go to Japan to study them.

[허아영 기자]
I heard you only make tea bowl, why do you persistently make them?

[유길삼 선생]
I think we can advance when we do what we are not good at. That is to say the most difficult filed. I mean tea bowl. We have to put every line while we make them in instance. Inside them. Hmm.. After that we have to mold the various figures. It is very difficult. That why I started to make them. And in Japan a master who makes tea bowl is regarded as the best.

[허아영 기자]
Usually experts say that the skin of pottery holds the universe. What do you think of this?

[유길삼 선생]
Ancient Chinese masters said tea cup is the miniature of the universe. A tea cups holds the universe. In Japan Sento Rique who made tea said tea cups are the nature. Therefore, tea cups have to hold both the nature and the universe. So tea cups should be made naturally and natural color should be made by fire.

[허아영 기자]
People say when you look into fire, you meet a dragon or a Buddha. What is relationship between fire and pottery?

[유길삼 선생]
We can make the figure, but the tone of color is made by fire. And when we make a fire in which we can see a dragon, a Buddha, and a lotus, we can get a beautiful color. Inside the kiln the beautiful color is inscribed in the pottery. Then the pottery can be called the trace of the fire. The fire ceases to exist but remains on the pottery. What I pursue is to move the texture into the pottery.

[허아영 기자]
I hear you were appointed as this year's New Knowledge Worker of Korea, and this is rare case for your people. What is the new material, 'shum' you found in high temperature?

[유길삼 선생]
When I held a exhibition 1998 in Japan, I was called an earth doctor.. I studied earth much. As I studied earth, I found that some earth is good for pottery and other earth is good for other usage. But the earth changes only when the earth meets fire. We deal with earth and fire so I applied my knowledge of them to making new earth. That is to say, I applied them to other field instead of making pottery. The new material to which I applied my knowledge is acknowledged as recently so-called New material and New substance.

[허아영 기자]
To what filed do you expect to apply the new material, 'shum'?

[유길삼 선생]
Now this is being used for fertilizer, plastic, concrete and salt, but I think it will be used for almost everything. I think the three main elements for people are clothes, food, and shelter and this can be used for these three.

[허아영 기자]
Then, for what does the shum-treated concrete work?

[유길삼 선생]
We have many problems with dams in Four rivers as when water is held in, it rots. But if we make dams with this material and hold water, water will not rot because the surface of dam will have power to purify water. I think if we make water conduit with this concrete, water can be purified while it passes this concrete.

[허아영 기자]
That sounds similar to your work saving the nature and lives. What is your opinion on your work?

[유길삼 선생]
From the start, I liked this work. My purpose is to make good thing. And as I try to make my work resembling the nature, my work can be beautiful. I make the figure that we know. I make many things like tea bowl and rice bowl and my purpose is to make figures to which I put the nature so that people can feel the nature with my work.

[허아영 기자]
Can you tell us what pottery means for you in a word?

[유길삼 선생]
I want to make pottery resembling the nature. I want to make pottery harmonizing with the nature. My name is to make the nature. A small nature. Of course, the earth is an earthware made by the sun. This is true. Though I don't know exactly, 4.6 or 4.7 billion years ago the earth was made with an explosion. Fire made the earth and 4.6 billion years has elapsed. Now we can see this planet. The earth is a big nature made by the sun while this earthware is a small nature made by me. My goal is to make a small nature.

He makes the universe with a handful of earth. He makes pottery without any measurement.

Fire and pottery are figure and color.

When fire show a lotus, a porcelain is made.

The natural scene before our eyes is the nature and the scene and the universe in a tea bowl is another nature.

He wants to make a small nature.

With water, wind, and earth.

[Editor] Oh Hye Won PD dotoli5@nspna.com
[Naration] Lee Yong Geom

nsplove@nspna.com, 허아영 기자(NSP통신)
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