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Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

New publication: Hanji Unfurled

If you were inspired to find out more about hanji by Im Kwon-taek’s Scooping the Moonlight and Kim Hong-joon’s related making-of documentary, quite by chance Legacy Press published a book on it last week. It’s gone straight onto my Amazon wishlist

Top Scholar and Artist Writes First American Book on Korean Papermaking

Hanji Unfurled(October 23, 2012, Ann Arbor, Mich.) The Legacy Press has released the debut book by artist Aimee Lee about Korean papermaking called Hanji Unfurled: One Journey into Korean Papermaking (ISBN 9780979797446, hard cover, 208 pp, 10 x 7 inches, full color, 300+ illustrations, $35.00). In the first English-language book about hanji, or Korean handmade paper, Lee recounts stories of meeting papermakers, scholars, and artists from Korean cities, villages, Buddhist temples, and island outposts. Interwoven with personal anecdotes from her yearlong Fulbright Fellowship, Lee describes the process of making and using hanji from harvesting trees to carefully weaving the finished paper into a sculptural vessel.

To highlight the importance of hanji and address its endangered status, Lee built the first Korean papermaking studio in North America in 2010 at the Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio. She travels across the U.S. to teach and lecture about hanji and related crafts and maintains free digital archives online. Lee’s workshops routinely draw students from around the U.S. and abroad, and her informational videos have received over 600,000 hits.

“This book is a valuable resource, a must-read not only for papermakers but for anyone interested in perpetuating honored traditions into an environmentally responsible future.” —Melissa Jay Craig, paper sculptor/book artist.

“Aimee is an accomplished writer, and through Hanji Unfurled, she has communicated her valuable perspectives as artist, papermaker, and bilingual ambassador for Korean paper arts.” —Cathleen A. Baker, proprietor of The Legacy Press (est. 1997), which promotes the printing, paper, and bookbinding arts.

Author Profile

Aimee Lee, a visual artist and papermaker, was born in New York City and researched Korean paper arts on a Fulbright Fellowship (2008-2009). She holds a BA from Oberlin College and MFA from Columbia College Chicago. Her artwork is exhibited internationally and resides in collections that include the Cleveland Institute of Art Gund Library, Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection, Museum of Modern Art Library, and Yale University Library. She travels widely to teach and lecture at colleges, museums, and arts centers while writing about her research and providing hanji resources at aimeelee.net.

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