Journal

 

Based in Osaka, contemporary artist Shingu Sayaka (b. 1979)’s serene studio is framed with a natural garden, with the bustling city just beyond. Read more here.

[NEW] Journals from Japan: read director Beatrice Chang's reflections on the recent solo exhibition of celebrated artist Miwa Ryukishō (formerly Miwa Ryosaku, and Kyusetsu) in Japan.

At last night’s exhibition opening, we had the privilege of hosting two captivating tea ritual demonstrations by Yoshitsugu Nagano, a tea master of the Ueda Soko-ryu school. Yoshitsugu shared the profound philosophy that tea objects grow in meaning as we connect with them more deeply over time. His demonstration beautifully highlighted the appreciation of tea ceramics as a multisensory experience, rooted in the heart. Read more about it and browse more images here!

Read our translated excerpt from:  目の眼 ー古美術・民芸の月刊誌　11月号 昭和54年11月1日発行 (Eyes of the Eye ーMonthly Magazine of Antique art and Mingei, November issue Published on November 1, 1978) on the life and work of master potter Miyanohara Ken, who was a student of Meiji era master potter, Itaya Hazan.

Dai Ichi Arts is delighted to announce the acquisition of Yasuhara Kimei's "Sekki" flower vase by the permanent collections of the Princeton Museum of Art. Read more about this vase by Yasuhara Kimei (also known as Yasuhara Yoshiaki) here.

We are thrilled to announce that a stunning Hidasuki Bizen jar crafted by the renowned artist Isezaki Jun has found its permanent place within the esteemed collections of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Read more about the piece here.

Beatrice Chang offers reflections & thanks before the closing of our September exhibition "Object, Vessel: Yasuhara Kimei, Ikebana Sogetsu, and the Art of Japanese Ceramics"

Read a translated transcription of Yasuhara's reflections by the kiln side at night.

Read the full essay on the work of Yasuhara Yoshiaki (Yasuhara Kimei) in the context of the development of avant-garde ceramics in Japan, by curator Russell Kelty (Art Gallery of South Australia).

The art of floral arrangement in Japan has a modern and avant-garde history that is intertwined with development of modern ceramic visual arts. Both tea masters and flower arrangement (Ikebana) artists are the natural companions for ceramic artists in the course of their work. Click to read more about the noble and modern associations of ceramics and Ikebana.

Dai Ichi Arts is delighted to announce that Gallery artist Higashida Shigemasa has been published in the autumn 2023 issue of Honoho Geijutsu (The Art of Fire), a quarterly journal on Japanese ceramics and Kogei. 

We've been translating Wada Morihiro's excerpts and writings about his artistic process and techniques. Today, we are delighted to share his notes on his beautiful San-Mon series. Read more. here.

Read more field notes from our director's travels through the ceramic capital of Japan: Kyoto.

Goto Hideki is a ceramic artist based in Tajimi City. After graduating from Tajimi Technical High School, where he studied ceramics, he participated in public exhibitions, solo exhibitions, and group exhibitions. His works meditates upon the origin of pottery: the interplay between the nature and clay. Read more about his Sea God "Watatsumi" series.

 

“Modern visual taste, weaned on the sculptural Impressionism of Bourdelle and Rodin or on the painterly abstractions of Pollock and Dubuffet – that is, trained to accept the semiotic language of organic process – can more easily embrace the “accidental” attributes of Raku, Iga, Bizen, Shigaraki, Karatsu, and Tamba glazes.”

 

Read more about aspects of contemporary taste for the ceramic tea bowl.

It is with delight that we announce that Kishi Eiko (b. 1948) has been awarded the 36th Kyoto Art Culture Award. On this occasion, we reflect on the innovations of her ceramic art.

Read our Murata Gen and Mashiko exhibition article as featured in Ceramics Now Magazine.

On the occasion of the opening of "Murata Gen: The Heart's Eye", read the Foreword to our online exhibition catalog for our Murata Gen debut solo exhibition in North America. Browse the artist's works on our website.

Did you know? Murata Gen 村田 元(1904-1988) used three different seals during his lifetime. Read more to understand the three types of seals he used and why. 

Revisit a tea bowl by the contemporary ceramicist Ishiyama Tetsuya with us, with a platinum sheen and gold inside. "Dimple bowl" is a playful take on the often sombre and traditional Japanese tea ceremony.

Read more about the Living National Treasure of Bizen clay & the famous Fujiwara Bizen family.

We're delighted to collaborate once again with Ikebana designer Eriko Nagata (EriN Design International), to present Mihara Ken's flower vessel. Read more about his work here. 

What is a Living National Treasure in Japan, and how did it come to be? Read the essay by Daniel McOwan, Japanese art specialist & curator. This essay is published on the occasion of our March exhibition "Intangible Heritage: The Art of Japan's Living National Treasures", coinciding with the annual celebration of asian art: Asia Week New York.

Exploring the detailed work of Kitamura Junko.

“Kagami Mochi” is a traditional Japanese New Years decoration. It translates to "mirror mochi" or "mirror rice cake". Where does it come from? What does it mean? Let us explore its symbolism. 

Preview art historian & curator Daniel McOwan's essay on our Fall 2022 exhibition catalog. "Tsubo: The Art of Contemporary Craft" gives an overview of the history of the jar category in Modern Japanese ceramics, while also exploring significant potters, artists, and figures who have propelled this formal category in the 20th and 21st centuries. 

Many pieces from our gallery were featured in this dynamic exhibition which spans Japanese modern & contemporary ceramics beginning in the post-war years to today. Click to read more!

We are celebrating Hayashi Yasuo's recent feature in an important book featuring an extensive retrospective of Hayashi's artistic practice.

While we are excited to see new artists emerging on the stage of Japanese ceramic scene, we pause, and examine those who pioneered in the field; who looked into their own humble roots to be inspired. This is the work of Murata Gen, of Mashiko & Mingei...

We’re delighted to announce that the important collector of Japanese ceramics, and our friend Mr. Jeffrey Montgomery will be exhibiting his collection of over 250 Japanese folk crafts in ceramic, wood, fabric, and lacquer mediums. Coming up this October, it will be the first major and extensive exhibitions of Japanese folk craft, including Mingei wares from Mashiko, outside of Japan in the last 50 years. It showcases the importance of the Montgomerey collection. The upcoming exhibition in the Museo Delle Culture in Lugano will showcase pieces that have passed through Dai Ichi Arts in recent years. 

Ayumi Shigematsu (b. 1958) is part of a vanguard generation of highly influential post-war female artists in Japan whose practices are inspired by concepts of female sexuality and representations of nature. She studied with Suzuki Osamu 鈴木 治 (1926-2001) at the Kyoto University of Arts and as pioneer for women in a historically male-dominated pottery industry in Japan, she went on to work as one of few female professors teaching ceramic practice at her alma mater. Having studied with the pioneer of the Sodeisha ceramic movement, her propensity for sculptural rather than functional clay forms reflect key Sodeisha tenets. 

How can we tell the difference between Japanese and Korean ceramics? What is it in Korean ceramics that is absent from Japanese wares? Aloofness, sternness, a certain folk quality...it would take more space than we have there to get to the bottom of it, but pay close attention to the beautiful Korean Moon jars next time you visit the Victoria and Albert Museum, take a second look at the robust collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or browse contemporary pieces at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, and you might begin to get a feel for the distinctions between these two great ceramic cultures. 

Contemporary artist Kino Satoshi (b. 1987) is a young sculptor with a big vision who, like many Japanese ceramic artists, finds inspiration in nature and its powerful forces. His recent celadon series is titled Oroshi, which refers to a cold wind coming down from the mountains. This exemplary 2015 sculpture places the viewer in front of a perfectly balanced spiral form made by a cool mountain wind.

If the Song Dynasty's five kilns (Guan ware kiln 官窯, Ge ware kiln 哥窯, Ru ware kiln 汝窯, Ting ware kiln 定窯, and Jun ware kiln 鈞窯) represent the height of Chinese classic porcelain making, contemporary Japanese ceramics enjoy the same national status today within Japan and around the world. The work of Yoshikawa Masamichi (b. 1946) makes us ask whether contemporary Japanese ceramics might be more expressive and diverse than the Song Dynasty ceramics that inspire today’s artists. 

I think that among many professions and callings, the artist is a noble one. Throughout their live, these visionaries create arts to inspire, delight, and connect; when they are gone, their art and artistic legacy continue to teach, provoke and strengthen our bonds with each other. Wada Morihiro was a star that fell too soon. In 2009, a year after Wada left us, Dai Ichi Arts presented the exhibition Celebration of a Life, seen in the attached brochure with several of Wada's works that were exhibited for sale. Wada's ceramics still intrigue us over a decade after his passing, and we grow to understand him more.

Hayashi Yasuo 林康夫 (b. 1928) embodies the maxim "clay prolongs life," as he has been a practicing ceramic artist for over six decades. Today he even drives from Kyoto to Tokyo to attend his exhibitions! Age has never deterred this significant artist, who was one of founder of Shiko-kai 四耕会(1947), a precursor of the influential Japanese avant-garde ceramics group Sodei-sha 走泥社(1948), when he was only 19 years old. The art critic Kimura Shigenobu 木村重信(1925-2017) has identified Hayashi Yasuo's "Cloud" sculpture as the first totally non-functional ceramic work, which according to Kimura made Hayashi "the real forerunner in the field." This departure from traditional ceramic techniques freed future generations of Japanese ceramic artists.