The Daejeon Arts Collective will host their 10th group exhibition from December 8th through 13th. They are also celebrating their 5th anniversary, having been founded by Aaron D’Albey in 2011. D’Albey was director of the group until 2013, when Rosalie Osborn Knaack took over the reigns as president and the group formally became an artists’ collective. She has recently been re-elected as president, so we caught up with her to find out about how far the collective has come, and what heights it might reach in the future.

Why was the Daejeon Arts Collective founded, and how has it changed since its founding years?

Rosalie O. Knaack: The Daejeon Arts Collective (DJAC) was initially a group of foreigners who wanted a creative outlet. We were all English teachers with artistic passion but no way to express that passion. The first couple of shows we were just a foreign artists group, but after the second show we decided to become a fully international group, where Korean artists and artists from around the world could come together for like-minded goals. We organized ourselves as a collective, elected officers, and focused on having more frequent, quality exhibitions as well as the occasional community art event.

The group has been around for five years. A lot must have happened during that time. Are there any highlights you would like to share?

ROK: There have been many wonderful experiences throughout the years, but perhaps the highlight for me was the six months that we ran Gallery D.A.C. Some of the DJAC membership got together and rented a small exhibition space where we held bi-weekly exhibitions. Each member had their own solo exhibition, and we also invited some other artists to show there. That experiment was time-consuming and exhausting, but it was so rewarding when we would go to the openings at our gallery and see so many people enjoying the exhibitions. It was a condensed and amplified version of the satisfaction I feel at each DJAC show.

What does the future hold for the Daejeon Arts Collective?

ROK: With so many enthusiastic and talented members the DJAC has great things in store. We will continue to have semi-annual exhibitions, and I hope that there will be more opportunities for community members to get involved with the group, either by participating in weekend workshops, attending exhibitions, or applying to be a member of the group at djartsco.org.

You can see the 10th group exhibition of the Daejeon Arts Collective at Woo Yeon Gallery from December 8th through 13th. The reception is December 10th from 7-9:30pm.

Address:

Woo Yeon Gallery

467, Jung-gu, Daejong-ro, Daejeon
(중구 대종로 467)