Maryse Allard and the Pojagi
A long love story
With the kind collaboration of Maryse Allard
Listen to Maryse talk about Korea and Pojagi or Bojagi...she is inexhaustible.
The little daughter of an embroiderer whose mother does everything and sews a lot, Maryse has always lived among thread, scraps of fabric and embroidery.His treasure ?
A collection of embroideries cut from scraps of fabric abandoned by her ancestors. It was much later after a career in import/export that she discovered patchwork, led by the mother of a friend.
Christine Moulin, whom every quilter knows at least by name, trains her in this art with ancient origins. Maryse will then lead classes for approximately 5 years.
Yes, but giving lessons requires investment and Maryse doesn’t do anything halfway.
Hating making copies, she looked for sources of inspiration that would lead her to create her own models. It was on this occasion that she discovered the book by Yansook Choi, a Korean Pojagi specialist living in Japan.
It's love at first sight.
The modernity, the transparency, the light, the finesse of the work seduce our future ambassador of Pojagi in France.
Maryse will never stop wondering about the history of this art and it is in the purest tradition that she will self-train in Pojagi.
From a hobby, this art will become a passion.
In 2014, to his great astonishment, a renowned Korean artist (she has exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London) Chunghie Lee offered to send him one of her works which she wished to present within the KOREAN BOJAGI FORUM . Success is there.
But the story does not end there and success never comes alone, in 2018 Maryse was invited again by Chunghie Lee to exhibit in Seoul.
Fully recognized by Korean Pojagi specialists, Maryse exhibited in 2024 during the last KBF organized by Chunghie Lee and participated in an artist residency in Jinju*, city of silk. An exceptional moment of encounters around Korean textile arts.
Over the years and her encounters, an intense bond was created between Maryse and Korea and a part of her will always remain anchored there. Her Korean friends have become her heartfelt sisters.
Through Pojagi and meetings, she discovered a country with its traditions, its art, its culture, its often painful history and the divide between North and South.
Maryse creates her own models. She is inspired by a photo, a stained glass window, a sculpture or architecture from the Bauhaus period, or art deco of which she uses a detail. Driven by a creative impulse, she lets herself be guided by her inspiration.
More attracted to white than to colors, she likes to let herself be guided by the design she creates, the structure, reactivity, flexibility, finesse and transparency of the fabric that she guides but by whom she also lets herself to guide.
Internationally recognized, ambassador in France of this ancestral art, Maryse likes to share her knowledge, to make it known and practice and continues to participate in numerous exhibitions, fairs and workshops.
Inexhaustible on the subject, she also wrote a book on the subject.
"I see in my head what I want to create, but it is in the middle of the ford that the path takes shape. I spread around me a lot of fabrics that I like to feel, caress, touch, combine or remove...
I let myself be carried by them.
White has a strong attraction for me.”
" I like what I do. When my work is finished, a kind of peace settles in me at the same time as a certain frenzy. "
“I haven’t finished plowing my furrow”
Pojagi: Korean patchwork art
In October Maryse will present two pojagis with a group of 5 international artists as part of the Quilt Festival in Korea in Seoul (@quiltfestival_in_korea) as well as another work with a group of Korean artists.
On this occasion, she will find this Korea that she loves so much.
Finally you will be able to find her at the Salon Aiguilles en Fête/Création et Savoir Faire in 2024 where she will give courses. We look forward to admiring his work more closely.
Galerie photos:
