Born in South Korea, retired space scientist Yong Rhee received his Aeronautical Physics Degree before earning a second major in Fine Art at Seo-Ra-Bul Art College in Seoul. He took his first pottery class at Vista College in Orange County, California, before becoming an instructor in pottery-making at the community activity center on Kwajalein Marshall Island.

Yong had stints as a ceramics instructor at Pottery by You in Madison, Alabama, as well as Huntsville A&M University. During his time in Huntsville, Yong completed an apprenticeship with Korean master potter Young Jae Kim in South Korea.

“Pottery making is a timeless occupation,” Yong says. “The best potters through the ages have a quality of timelessness about them that transcends chronological and cultural boundaries. Their appeal is universal. The essence of form, the movement of a brush, the quality of the surface, hidden meanings, and the integration with mankind’s daily existence over several thousand years, all add to significance of Art.”