About
Hyejin Jung정혜진
Ceramic Artist · HYE
Hyejin Jung (HYE) is a ceramic artist and art educator based on Ulleungdo, a volcanic island off the east coast of Korea.
Her work explores nature, time, memory and the persistence of life, drawing on the island’s landscape — its ancient junipers, its sea and its whales. Reinterpreting traditional Korean materials and techniques such as porcelain, buncheong, cheolhwa (iron painting), ottchil (natural lacquer) and kintsugi, she gives sculptural form to the traces of time and the vitality held in nature.
Her ongoing juniper series, including the large vases The Day the Old Tree Bloomed and Dream Journey to the Fragrant Garden, tells stories of recovery and the cycle of life, while her whale and sea works explore the moment and the eternal, presence and memory.
She also creates the character Ulleung Hyedong and the picture book Far Away, Yet Closest, joining ceramics and storytelling in one world. With 18 years in art education, she runs Studio Sea Art on Ulleungdo, where she continues her practice and teaches art and ceramics.
Awards
- 2026Selected, Gyeongsangbuk-do Craft CompetitionA Fleeting Moment, Made Eternal
- 2025Encouragement Award, 9th Dokdo (Ulleungdo) Souvenir Design Competition — Dokdo FoundationDokdo Incense Holder
- 2025Selected, 5th “Cheolhwa Buncheong Becomes an Industry” CompetitionUlleungdo Through Gyeomjae’s Eyes II
- 2025Selected, 12th Korea Onggi Competition — Ulsan Onggi MuseumWhale: Return to Nature
Exhibitions
- 2026Smithsonian Craft2Wear 2026Industrial Design Museum, Washington, D.C. · Sept 25–27
- 2026Master Artisans of Gyeongsangbuk-do: Traditional Crafts of KoreaThe George Washington University Museum & The Textile Museum, Myers Room, Washington, D.C. · Sept 22–24
- 2026Gyeongsangbuk-do Craft Competition ExhibitionAndong, Korea · June
- 2025Dokdo (Ulleungdo) Souvenir Design Competition ExhibitionDaegu, Korea · October
- 2025Korea Onggi Competition ExhibitionUlsan, Korea · May
Studio & Publications
- 2026Picture book & e-book Far Away, Yet Closest (story and illustrations)
- 2016–Founder and director, Studio Sea Art — art and ceramics studio, Ulleungdo
- 18 years in art education; arts education programmes and regional cultural projects in Ulleung-gun
Studio
Studio Sea Art 씨앗
Studio Sea Art is Hyejin Jung’s art and ceramics studio on Ulleungdo, founded in 2016. It is where she makes her work and teaches art and ceramics to children and adults, and home to her character Ulleung Hyedong.
Ulleung Hyedong & picture book