Vocabulary lessons

Vocabulary lessons (Version 2) (2023). Inkjet print and persimmon juice on hanji; woven paper thread. 2.5 x 4.25 x 0.75” closed. Smithsonian American Art and Portrait Gallery Library Collection.

Vocabulary lessons (2021). Inkjet print and indigo dye on hanji and piña paper; thread made from colored pencil and indigo fresh leaves on handmade paper; linen thread. 7 woven leaves. 1.8 x 4.25 x 0.75” closed, 8.2” wide open. Cynthia Sears Collection, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.

The English translations in Vocabulary lessons are of Korean words that I wanted to remember during this sojourn. I wrote the text in 2007 while feeling inadequate about my language abilities. We are told that language learning takes best when young, but my Korean was the strongest it had ever been, in my 40s. Later I heard a new truth: older language learners do better because they understand the context behind the words.
 
Each woven page provides structure, the context with which I approach lifelong language study. The threads are spun from pages of my old sketchbooks; though the message of these marks is lost, they are part of the paper-thread-page as a new foundation for future words.