About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 2023)
£he Unties gainesvilletimes.com Weekend Edition-March 17-18, 2023 Rachel Estes Features Editor | 770-718-3421 | life@gainesvilletimes.com HARRIS BLACKWOOD hblackwood@gmail.com Tired thanks to daylight saving time this year You don’t have to go very far this week to hear someone complaining about the change from standard time to daylight saving time. I am in the process of trying to adjust my sleeping and waking time to the new hour. The idea of changing time was first proposed by Benjamin Frank lin, who thought the time change might save costs on candles. This is the same guy who talked about “early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Sorry, Ben, this hasn’t worked for me. The Georgia General Assembly passed a bill last year to place our state on daylight saving time all year. The bill would take effect when the federal government enacts a companion bill. While I grouse a bit for the first few weeks of the time change, I don’t know if I want to keep one time all year. Think about this: In December, the sun would not rise until nearly 9 a.m. While we may change time, I don’t know that parents put their children to bed any earlier. Teach ers would have students that are sleepy until mid-morning. The other problem with a major time change is airline schedules. We have all heard that the Atlanta airport is the engine that drives our state. Changing times on flights involves more than just press ing a button. Suddenly, you have to change work schedules, plane arrivals and other things. The first time we tried a wide spread use of time change was in 1918 during World War I. It was called “war time.” It wreaked havoc with things like railroad schedules, which was a primary way of travel at the time Georgia ended up divided. About two thirds of the state was on East ern time and the western border was on Central time. That caused a lot of confusion. Today, there are a handful of counties in Alabama that are on Eastern time, because most of their larger business transac tions are in Georgia. I think the answer is to bring back the sundial. You would know it is noon when the sun is straight up in the sky. I don’t know how you would figure out time when you’re in a car or wearing a wristwatch. I’ll have to get back to you on that. Perhaps we could bring back the service usually sponsored by banks where you could place a phone call and find out the time. “Current sundial time is ...” We once again tried the year- round daylight time in 1974 during the energy crisis. After spending a season of winter in the dark until mid-morning, it was repealed the next year. Until we come up with something better, I’ll just hang onto what we have. A week or so of adjustment may not be that bad. Harris Blackwood is a Gainesville resident whose columns publish weekly. ‘Letting those accidents happen’ Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Ceramics artist John Kim holds a piece he created Monday, March 6, at his studio inside his Hall County home. Kim’s current creative obsession is traditional Korean buncheong wares and moon jars with a modern twist. Flowery Branchs Kim finds metaphors for life at potter s wheel An industrial designer by trade, Kim’s done work for furniture, lighting and home decor companies like Bombay Co., Movado, Nessen and Brown Jordan. He’s also an avid gardener. A Korean-American artist heavily inspired by traditional moon jars and buncheong ware, Kim’s basement studio in Flowery Branch is a sanctum for artistic exploration. BY RACHEL ESTES restes@gainesvilletimes.com Timeless traditions meld with hints of modernity in the hands of John Kim. A Korean-American artist heavily inspired by traditional moon jars and buncheong ware, Kim’s basement studio in Flowery Branch is a sanctum for artistic exploration. Korean moon jars, so called because of their “evocative form,” are a distinctive type of porce lain dating back to the end of the Joseon Dynasty, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and are made by joining two hemi spherical halves. During the firing process, the vessel’s glaze tends to unintentionally acquire a soft, peach hue, adding to its charm. “The idea is wabi-sabi — not perfect,” Kim said. Korean buncheong ware emerged earlier, near the end of the 14th century, growing out of the Goryeo period’s aristocratic stone ware, inlaid celadon. Regional potters “reveled in the newfound freedom to shape and decorate the adaptable stoneware with unprecedented wit, imagination, and insight.” Amidst the Japanese invasions of Korean at the end of the 16th century, buncheong was adopted by Japanese tea connoisseurs and inspired generations of Japanese potters, according to the Met, until the 20th century, when Korean art ist “rediscovered their heritage, intrigued by the medium’s visibly handmade aesthetic. ” “I’d like to bring it into the mod ern era,” Kim said. “It’s not nec essarily very market-friendly or (something that) people want, but I like to try to revive some of those interesting traditions that resonate with me personally.” Bom in Seoul, Kim moved with his parents to Los Angeles at age 2, his father’s career as a scientist bringing the family to the States. Korean vessels like buncheong and moon jars were within Kim’s visual vocabulary as a child, but working with them as art forms was a later exploration. With buncheong vessels, he uses a sense of place to incorporate “modern twists” like the Califor nia poppy motifs etched into the surface and glazed with 24 karat gold luster. “In terms of historical signifi cance, it’s very treasured. So how do I capture that feel and explore that, but do it differently?” Kim said. “I really love the forms (of Korean vessels). I love the fact that they have a long history and tra dition. It’s not something that the average person knows a lot about, and I would like for more people to know about it. In that sense, that’s one of the reasons why I explore those more traditional forms.” Educated at the Oregon College of Art and Craft and the Rhode Island School of Design, Kim’s artistic repertoire stretches far beyond the potter’s wheel. An industrial designer by trade, he’s done work for furniture, lighting and home decor companies like Bombay Co., Movado, Nessen and Brown Jordan. He’s also an avid gardener. “It’s been lifelong,” Kim said of his artistic journey, recalling the time his mother told him to form an animal out of Play-Doh. “I made it and she was shocked because I actually did it looking like the animal. I was probably 4 or 5,” he said. “She sensed right away that I had this artistic inclination.” But it was 2019 before he leaned into that inclination with his full weight. “I had been designing for other people for most of my design career, and I hadn’t really repre sented myself or put myself out there saying, ‘This is John Kim,”’ Kim said. “There is a level of inse curity, because obviously design is designing for someone else, and even though it’s a creative process and there’s a little bit of vulnerabil ity there, you’re (still) designing for other people — whereas this is me, so I have to be willing to deal with that vulnerability with stuff that I designed. I think I was just ready, emotionally ready, to put myself out there.” From there, Kim began selling his ceramics behind the moniker Ki Charm Design. In addition to Korean traditions, Kim offers func tional wares — coffee mugs, wine tumblers, whiskey sippers and cereal and noodle bowls — and wall sculptures, some of which will be on display at the Atlanta Home Show March 17-19 at the Cobb Gal leria Centre. Since moving to Georgia with his wife, Kate, last May, Kim has connected with a few Korean- American artists “here and there,” but none who do similar work. “It’s absolutely my own explora tions,” he said. “The modern ele ments are what I put into it — how do I add my part in it? You could always do slavish reproductions if you want. There are people out there that like to do, ‘This is the form, I’m going to stay true to it and do it exactly the way it was,’ almost like antiques. But for me person ally, the joy is finding inspiration in something that existed but then trying to put my spin on it. ” According to Kim, throwing clay imparts its share of lessons that can be applied both on and off the wheel. ■ Please see KIM, 4C Masters capped an illustrious golf career for Tommy Aaron Tommy Aaron’s jaw dropped when he learned the purse for last weekend’s Tourna ment Players Champi onship was $25 million, and the winner took home $2.5 million. In his first profes sional golf tournament, the total prize money was $30,000. Aaron and his wife Jimmye drove to the Los Angeles Open. The winner got $5,000. Aaron shot 74-66-70-70 and earned $1,500 plusa $500 bonus for the low round of 66. The Gainesville native and Gainesville High School graduate went on to have an outstanding career on the Professional Golf Association tour, including a win at golf’s most prestigious tournament, the Masters, in 1973. Friends are putting together a reception at 5 p.m. March 28 at Chattahoochee Golf Course’s grill to mark the 50th anniversary of his victory. Admission will be a $50 donation to the Tommy Aaron/Char lie Aaron Foundation Scholarship Fund. Aaron’s climb to the pinnacle of golf com petition wasn’t easy. He grew up in Gaines ville in the 1950s when there were only a scat tering of golfers, practi cally none his age. The only golf course was nine holes at the end of Woodsmill Road that soon would be covered by Lake Lanier. He didn’t complain. “I was glad to have a place to play,” he said, “even though it was in poor condition.” His father, Charlie Aaron, pro at the little course and eventually at Chattahoochee, saw Tommy’s promise at an early age and encour aged him to practice and enter tournaments. The family lived in an old farmhouse that also served as the clubhouse for the golf course. Tommy would play with and caddy for older golfers because nobody his age was playing at the time. Money was short, and rides to tournaments were hard to come by. He played in an amateur tour nament in Thomasville and didn’t have a way back to Gainesville. Hitchhiking with his golf bag and suitcase on the side of the road, he was picked up by Asa Candler III of the Coca-Cola family, who took him to Atlanta and found a ride back to Gainesville. Aaron rode the train to Washing ton, D.C., to play an amateur tourna ment in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Somehow he made it to Johnstown, won the tournament, but again didn’t have a way back to Gaines ville. A player’s father from Atlanta let him ride back with them. As a 16-year-old, Aaron competed in a tournament in Columbus. He had fallen off his bicycle, scraped the skin off a foot and couldn’t get on his golf shoes. He had to play barefoot but made the finals with Mike McCormick, a Fort Benning Army officer. McCormick was dressed stylishly and had a large bag of clubs. In contrast, Aaron stood at the tee, barefoot and wear ing Bermuda shorts and a T-shirt. But he beat McCormick on the first extra hole in a playoff. McCor mick, who later became head of the International Management Group, with Aaron, Tiger Woods and other athletes as clients, loved to tell that story to other golfers, Aaron said. Aaron won the Georgia high school title and the Georgia Open in 1955. On a golf scholarship at the University of Florida, he won indi vidual SEC titles two straight years. He was a finalist in the U.S. Ama teur in 1958 and won the Georgia Open two more times before joining the pro tour in 1961. Tommy had a large fan base, especially in Georgia, but he had no financial backers. “It was a big gamble,” he said, going out on the tour with just his own money. His first year turned out well, however, and in his second full year, 1963, he was 13th on the money list. In subsequent years, he was in the upper category in winnings. He won his first major, the Canadian Open, in 1969, the Atlanta Classic in 1970, and climbed to ninth on the money list in 1972. When he won the Masters in 1973, he collected $30,000. Last year’s winner, Scottie Scheffler, earned $2.7 million. Besides the money he made, it was a great experience, he said, traveling all over the world, playing against the best golfers, meeting all the celebrities. “I had some great thrills and have some great memories,” Aaron, 86, said, some of which he’ll probably relate at the March 28 reception. Johnny Vardeman is retired editor of The Times. He can be reached at 2183 Pine Tree Circle NE, Gainesville, GA 30501; 770-532-2326; or johnnyvardeman@gmail.com. His column publishes weekly. JOHNNY VARDEMAN johnnyvardeman@ gmail.com
