Figurative Slab Building with Jinsik Yoo
Event Navigation
We’re thrilled to welcome Jinsik Yoo back to Greenwich House Pottery for a full-day demonstration exploring the expressive possibilities of abstracted figurative sculpture. Working with slabs, Jinsik will guide participants through his process of creating human figures—from the first sketch to the final form.
The day begins with an artist talk, offering a window into Jinsik’s practice and the ideas that drive his sculpture. From there, he’ll demonstrate the figure sketching and collage drawing exercises at the heart of his process: a way of thinking through form on paper before ever touching clay.
The bulk of the workshop focuses on the hands-on work of building with slabs. Jinsik will demonstrate several structural approaches—showing how he constructs, edits, and refines form using the collage drawings as a guide. Expect an honest look at the technical decisions that go into abstracted figurative work: how to build something that holds together structurally while staying alive as a sculpture.
Toward the end of the day, Jinsik will share finished works alongside practical insights into glazing, surface treatment, and the lessons learned from his studio practice—the kind of hard-won knowledge that doesn’t always make it into a technique book.
Tuition for this workshop is $150. Current students receive $30 off, contact registration office prior to registration.
Jinsik Yoo (He/Him) is a sculptor and painter from Daejeon, South Korea. He primarily works with ceramics to create figures that abstract the human form, exploring desire, queer relationships, and the risks and rewards of otherness. He received his BFA in graphic design from Konkuk University in Seoul. After working as a graphic designer for three years, he returned to Konkuk to complete graduate studies in ceramics. In 2017, Yoo moved to the United States to pursue his MFA at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, where he completed a year-long residency at the Wellsville Creative Arts Center. In 2020, he then moved to Brooklyn, New York, to work as a fabrication assistant for Simone Leigh. In 2021, Yoo was recognized as an NCECA Emerging Artist. Following his residency at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, Yoo taught at New York University in New York and the University of Georgia in Athens, GA, while continuing his artistic practice. In January 2024, Yoo held his first solo exhibition in New York at Greenwich House Pottery’s Jane Hartsook Gallery. He presented his first solo show in South Korea in July 2025 at Seoul’s DrawingRoom Gallery, where he is represented. Yoo’s paintings and ceramic sculptures have been exhibited nationally and internationally. In Fall 2025, he joined the University of South Dakota as an Assistant Professor.
