Contemporary Bojagi/Pojagi by Leonie Castelino

Leonie sent me this interesting information about a show with one of her pieces. Wish I could go to San Fran and see this show. www.leoniecastelino.com

‘HOMAGE TO KLEE’, A Work of Art in Contemporary Bojagi by Leonie Castelino, Fiber Artist, will be on display, at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco, California, from June 17 – October 23, 2011.  The international exhibition:  ‘Wrapping Traditions:  Korean Textiles Now’, has 60 works of fiber art from artists all over the world, 31 of them from Korea. For more information, visit www.mocfa.org or call (415) 227-4888.

This exhibition showcases traditional and contemporary Bogaji, or Pojagi, which is an ancient and dying Korean art-form that reached its zenith during the early Choson dynasty (1392-1910). Women of this period were strictly housebound, socially isolated and had no status. Their only expressive outlet was in creating a bojagi of beauty. Salvaged fabrics of silk, cotton or hemp  from clothing or household linen, was pieced together in a mosaic to construct square or rectangle cloths of beauty to wrap and carry household, ceremonial, ritual or treasured items - hence the name ‘wrapping cloth’.  The prevalent folklore was that ‘pok’ or good luck was preserved inside a bojagi.

When a bojagi was created to wrap an offering, a ceremonial document or a gift, infinite care was expended in creating an item of beauty that reflected the reverence of the creator, the respect bestowed on the recipient, and the item.  This contributed to the development of bojagi as an art form. A pieced bojagi is a ‘chogak po’, while an embroidered one is a ‘su po’. Half of all the surviving bojagis today are keepsakes handed down the generations. They have become significant acquisitions by museums around the world.

‘Homage to Klee’ by Leonie Castelino is a Contemporary Pieced Bojagi in layered silk organza with the distinctive bojagi elements of architecture, seams, transparency, color, composition and design.    It measures 24” x 63”. 

 

I think this piece is so beautiful and the layers are captivating!