The Charles B. Wang Center hosted a hands-on workshop with artist Wonju Seo, inviting community members to learn the basics of jogakbo, the Korean patchwork tradition that inspires her current exhibition, Through the Light: Contemporary Jogakbo by Wonju Seo.
Gathered around tables covered with organza, silk, and ramie, participants practiced simple seams and piecing techniques while hearing how Korean patchwork grew from thrift and care into an art of remarkable subtlety. Seo moved from table to table offering encouragement — how to align edges, how to keep stitches steady, how to let translucent fabrics come alive in the light. “Jogakbo teaches patience,” she told the group. “You learn to slow down, to see beauty in what is small and overlooked.”
The workshop echoed themes of the exhibition, which transforms the Wang Center’s galleries into a serene field of stitched transparencies. Here, the act of making became the message: reuse and repair were framed not only as craft choices, but as values. “Workshops like this remind us that art is not just for looking—it’s for doing, sharing, and carrying into daily life,” said Dr. Jinyoung Anna Jin, the exhibition’s curator and the Wang Center’s Director of Asian Art and Culture.
For many attendees, the appeal was both tactile and meditative. Needle and thread slowed the pace, and the materials—lightweight and sheer—invited experimentation with layering and color. “It’s like drawing with fabric,” one participant remarked, holding a small square to the light to see how two seams created a faint grid. Others noted the sustainability lesson embedded in the tradition: making beauty from remnants.
Through the Light: Contemporary Jogakbo by Wonju Seo remains on view at the Charles B. Wang Center, Stony Brook University, through Dec. 31.
For gallery hours, program details, and ticket information, visit thewangcenter.org.
