The world we live in is full of mysteries, ecstasies and wonder. What is important is how we see it.

This is what Pak Hyon Chol, fine art teacher of Jangjin Senior Middle School in Ryokpho District in the capital city of Pyongyang, says to his students.

A work should be new and unique

One day in September 2021, he visited the Okryu Exhibition House where the second national sculpture and craftwork festival was under way.

On display there were over 500 pieces of sculptures and craftworks made of paper, plasticine, plastic, wood, gypsum, metal, etc.

He made a resolve to exhibit a craftwork created by his students in the next festival.

One day, on his way to the school while thinking about the selection of materials for craftworks, he happened to see farmers sowing seeds in the fields. As his school in the suburbs of the city was located near a vegetable farm, he had seen them every day. But that day, they seemed quite anew to him.

A clever idea that the seeds might be used as materials for craftworks flashed across his mind.

But he hesitated, as it was not easy for teenagers to make a craftwork with tiny seeds.

His desire for a new thing grew stronger as he faced realistic challenges. He was always struck with an idea that a new and unique work could be a masterpiece. It was his constant view and what he always highlighted to his students.

A seed or a bead?

The course of creating an art object served as an occasion for cultivating students’ ideas and developing their talents.

During the study tour of the Sosin Vegetable Farm and other farms in Ryokpho District, students conceived their craftworks, witnessing the reality of the new era of the rural development.

They painted the flag of the Republic fluttering in the newly-built houses and magnolia, the national flower, as well as other flowers on mountains and fields.

And grains of seeds coloured through various processes were pasted on the finished drawings. They were a handful of seeds, but their number was innumerable. It required so much effort to complete craftworks with tiny seeds of perilla, radish, cabbage, onion and leaf-mustard.

Their efforts were finally crowned with good results.

Over 410 pieces of works were exhibited in the third national sculpture and craftwork festival held on the 77th founding anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea (October 10, 2022). Among them, the objects presented by Ji Il Hong, Pak Wi Ryok, Hong Pu Mi, O Un Jong and other students were highly appreciated for unique representation of features of seeds, the materials of craftworks. In particular, the seed craftwork “Rural development,” which vividly depicts the appearance of a farm with new dwelling houses, running tractors, trees heavily laden with apples and waving ears of rice, aroused the admiration of visitors.

Pak Ju Hyon said: My craftwork contains as many as 20 000 seeds, and each of them looks like a bead when it is reflected by the sunshine.

Small yet big seed

Whenever he is asked about the secret about how several students entered the rankings in the festival, Pak Hyon Chol says:

It is no accident that I chose the seed as the material of craftworks. Tiny as it is, it roots in the ground to grow its stem and bear fruits. I wanted to bring up students to be the pillars of the country like the seed.

He has produced many talents studying in Pyongyang University of Fine Arts and working in art creation units.

He, together with his students, is now preparing craftworks to be presented to the fourth national sculpture and craftwork festival.

His goal is to make mother-of-pearl works by making uses of shells of abalone.

Maybe, the painting would be a seascape.