At the risk of incurring the wrath of my mother (an art/English teacher), I’m quite happy to admit that art is not the biggest interest in my life.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy going to art galleries and I enjoy art…but like I said, it’s simply not the biggest thing in my life so I’ll openly say that this week’s K-pop academy was not exactly the one I’ve been most looking forwards to..
It didn’t help that the location for our session was actually at my university…so effectively I was back in school on a Saturday – and we all know how much that sucks.
That said, the talk was actually really interesting and just for a second, I caught myself contemplating taking an Art History course next year….just for a second.
Dr Charlotte Horlyck, Chair of the Centre for Korean Studies and lecturer in Korean Art History at SOAS, was kind enough to give up her Saturday afternoon to come and share her expertise with us.
Making Introductions
She started by asking us what kinds of questions we would ask if we discovered an artefact… where was it from? who used it? when was it made? how was it made? who was it made for?…the list went on for quite a while.
Then we were split into pairs, given a set of pictures of old weapons (spears and the like) and asked to date them. Initially, everyone thought “….what?!” but it wasn’t long before everyone got stuck in!
After that, Dr Horlyck spent some time discussing various popular art styles in Korean history, focusing on ceramics and a few paintings.
She even kindly bought some ceramics with her so we could have a good luck! As you can clearly see, Keanu is just fascinated by Korean ceramics….
We had a group photo before heading over to the British Museum to have a look at the real artefacts!
This photo really does make me feel like I’m on a school trip…0.O
Or should I say this photo? 
Dr Horlyck gave us all a fantastic introduction to the treasures of the Korean section of the British Museum. 
And some members couldn’t resist taking photos with the statues ^^
They just couldn’t resist…..
Admittedly for me, it wasn’t the most exciting week. Since the British Museum is just round the corner from my university, I regularly visit in my free time and considering the fact I know the Korean section pretty well, I didn’t feel I learned that much but for some of my peers who’d never had the chance to visit, it was definitely something new!
If you get time, the Korean section of the British Museum is definitely worth a visit!
