Traditional Korean Pyrography Mater Kim Young-jo’s Arts of Fire that Bloom with Endurance

Art Elevated from Souvenirs to National Intangible Cultural Heritage

Kim looked for literature related to pyrography and copied several oriental paintings to improve his traditional pyrography skills including landscape paintings and paintings of flowers and birds. He repeated the same drawing 100 to 1,000 times for 7 years. The public perception of pyrography as something merely for making souvenirs sold at tourist attractions further stimulated his endeavor. Kim tried submitting his work for exhibitions, but was rejected as they said Kim’s pyrographic drawings were not art. Whenever he faced such negative perceptions, he solidified his resolution to make pyrography into a globally recognized art form. Kim later gained confidence after winning several awards at contests including a special award at the 2007 Korea Annual Traditional Handicraft Art Exhibition. In 2010, Kim was designated as a Chungcheongbuk-do Intangible Cultural Heritage and was invited to various overseas exhibitions. In particular, he was invited to the opening ceremony of Biennale D’Arte di Asolo where he demonstrated his art form. In addition, in January 2019, Kim became the first nakhwajang chosen to be a National Intangible Heritage. “What I am proud of is not my skills, but that I contributed to further developing the great art called nakhwa, which has been stagnant for 500 years, into the traditional arts category.”
In the past, Kim followed the path without any trace of hope, but he continued his journey with only one purpose – to widely promote the beauty of nakhwa. His hands are always full of burned scars, but he holds an iron in his hand every day. His life resembles nakhwa, which creates beautiful colors by burning itself.

It appears that the art mainly spread among women after it was introduced in Korea by way of China. Another possibility is that nakhwa spread mainly among ordinary citizens because paper, writing brushes and ink were not necessary to draw nakhwa. The art disappeared from records for about 200 years, until it appeared again with the emergence of a person named Park Chang-gyu in 1820. He is the one who made nakhwa into drawings. Around that time, noble families living in Seoul all had folding screens decorated with nakhwa, therefore we can assume nakhwa had great popularity back then. Chusa Gim Jeong-hui, a well-known Korean calligrapher who had close ties with Park, said in his letter that Park had such outstanding nakhwa skills that he was a grade above Chinese nakhwa master Mupungja. Park was even invited to the royal palace and drew the king’s portrait in front of the king, records say. However, after that, the art became a distant memory as nakhwa was mainly passed down only within the Park family of Miryang. Later, nakhwa was handed down through the collateral line of the Park family of Miryang, and that is how my teacher Jeon Chang-jin inherited the tradition.

I would like to know more about the nakhwa technique. And what do you think is the greatest charm of nakhwa?

The technique for creating Nakwha is similar to that of traditional ink-and-wash painting. The only difference is that a hot iron is used instead of brushes. The key is to express light and shade using a hot iron, so you should be able to handle fire and a hot iron well enough to express light and shade. Depending on the iron’s temperature and how strong you press the iron on the paper, you can express different colors ranging from brown to black. You can also express lines or colors by pressing the paper with the iron’s edge or blade. You can draw typical oriental painting subjects including landscapes, flowers and birds, etc. using the nakhwa technique, which combines the merits of western painting and oriental ink-and-wash painting. In western paintings you can apply many layers of paints and expose the bottom layer while mixing the top layers together. Similarly, the biggest merit of nakhwa is that you can create various effects by repeatedly skimming the paper 20 to 30 times. In addition, just like oriental painting where you can create beautiful images using running ink on paper, you can create a similar effect with nakhwa by spreading the hot iron over burned areas on the paper. Likewise, nakhwa can create a wide range of effects found in both western and oriental paintings. Above all, nakhwa paintings boast a pure and simple beauty since only one color is used.

What do you think is the significance of nakhwa as a cultural tourism content?

Nakhwajang is the only National Intangible Heritage of Boeun-gun. What’s more, the art has newly become a national heritage, and I am the only one who holds the technique. In that sense, I believe nakhwa is a crucial regional asset, and it can become a local specialty art. Furthermore, since nakhwa is a type of painting, it can be applied to several different areas to develop local cultural products or art. This unfamiliar area called nakhwa has enough charms to attract the attention of the public, but if it is combined with the existing tourism resources of Boeun-gun, greater synergy effects will be created. I believe we should promote the fact that nakhwajang only exists in Boeun and combine that fact with tourism. Currently, I am working with the local government to develop a cultural tour program titled “Tour of Traditional Arts and Culture that Bloom from Fire” where tourists can experience nakhwa along with nakhwajang and learn to make their own home décor craft items. I believe various programs and cultural tourism contents that can represent our region can be developed in the future.

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