Let’s Enjoy the Art of Korea

EDUCATION

By Editorial Team / With Goh Unyong, Project Coordinator, Chuncheon National Museum andWoo Souyeon, Museum Educator, National Museum of Korea

The PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games have come to a close after a long march of 27 days. From the beginning, these Olympic Games were designed to be a cultural celebration with “culture every day.” While spectators and athletes from around the world lost themselves in the excitement of winter sports inside the stadiums, outside diverse cultural events took place to add to the enjoyment of the global community’s greatest festival of ice and snow.

To promote the culture and natural environment of Gangwon-do, where Pyeongchang is located, the National Museum of Korea and the Chuncheon National Museum organized cultural experience programs in conjunction with Yeocho Kim Eung Hyun Calligraphy Museum, Woljeongsa Temple Museum, and the Museum of Ancient Asian Woodblock Prints at Myeongjusa Temple. Under the title “Let’s Enjoy the Art of Korea,” the five museums together presented ten different programs. The venue was the Korean Traditional Culture Center in front of the Olympic Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies were held, and visitors there had the opportunity to come into contact with Korean culture.

The NMK ran two hands-on programs, one for making rubbings of traditional designs engraved on bronze plates and one for decorating a lacquered Olympic medal using mother-of-pearl. The Chuncheon National Museum’s program offered a chance to make a plaster air freshener using plant and animal motifs found in paintings and a notebook decorated with auspicious motifs, which proved popular among those looking for a special souvenir from Olympics to take home with.

The Yeocho Kim Eung Hyun Calligraphy Museum organized activities where participants could try their hand at calligraphy and then put their work on a mug or pictures they sent in. Visitors also had the chance to decorate an eco bag stamped with woodblocks. Traditional paper hanji, or a scarf with traditional woodblock prints of sehwa, New Year paintings made to wish for good luck, under programs were given by the Museum of Ancient Asian Woodblock Prints at Myeongjusa Temple. Also popular were the activities run by the Woljeongsa Temple Museum that involved the use of black scratch paper to decorate postcards with Buddhist symbols found on items at Woljeongsa Temple or decorate a doorplate in the shape of the Bronze Bell of Sangwonsa Temple.

Whether a simple ten-minute program open to everyone or a half-hour program run on a reservation basis, all the hands on activities were enthusiastically received by visitors, who said these were a wonderful opportunity to get a taste of Korea’s history and traditions. Towards the latter half of the Olympics period, when news of the programs had spread, the number of people wanting to take part grew and waiting lines formed outside the Korean Traditional Culture Center. The programs requiring advance booking were often full and many people unfortunately had to be turned away.

Throughout the entire Olympics and Paralympics period, the number of participants in the cultural experience programs reached 17,614. For the athletes and their families, International Olympic Committee members, local residents, and tourists from the other side of the world, the Korean Traditional Culture Center was a place not to be missed. Foreign visitors coming into contact with Korean culture for the first time found the activities fun and intriguing, and were pleasantly surprised to find that they were for free.

For the NMK and Chuncheon National Museum, the month-long sojourn away from home to work in cooperation with three museums in Gangwon-do, was meaningful in that the cultural programs were a way of promoting Korean traditional culture to the world and giving unforgettable memories to visitors who came to enjoy this special winter festival.

“ Decorating Olympic medal using mother-of-pearl” program by the National Museum of Korea

Participants decorating lacquered Olympic medals with mother-of-pearl and making their own special Olympic souvenirs

Participants making air fresheners with plaster prepared by the Chuncheon National Museum