Archetype II Sculpture

The traditional tiled-roof represents the archetypal Korean house. Unlike the great Pyramids or splendid palaces of the west, Korean tiled-roof houses were always built to human scale. Korean aesthetics required that the timber used for crossbeams and rafters retain the natural curves of the original tree. Always equipped with “ondol,” the traditional Korean heated floors, the tiled-roof houses shielded its residents from Korea’s harsh winters. It embodied Korea’s archetypal respect for nature and man. The tiled-roof house also represents the Korean women who, for countless generations, led lives of obedience, forbearance and self-sacrifice under those very roofs. As I molded one tiled-roof after another, I thought of those Korean women who in the midst of often-times suffocating social mores and customs, emotional duress, and physical exhaustion, sacrificed and endured, all the while praying for the well-being of her family and loved ones.