Born 1948, Nara Prefecture, Japan
An important gallery artist over twenty years, KISHI EIKO has work in the collections of thirty-five museums around the world. She is celebrated for her unique and creative technique, saiseki zōgan, in which the clay is first kneaded with grounds of pre-fired multi-colored grog, or chamotte. Formed with slabs, the surfaces of her architectonic sculptures are scored, scratched, and carved with knives and needles. Prior to firing, colored slip is then painstakingly applied to fill in the concavities. The resulting delicately colored surfaces are simultaneously evocative of stone matrices or elaborately woven textiles. She is the recipient of many prizes, and most recently, the prestigious Kyoto Art and Culture Award.
Selected Public Collections:
Ashmloean Museum, Oxford, UK
Brooklyn Museum, NY
Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, WI
Cincinnati Art Museum, OH
Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN
Hamilton Art Gallery, Australia
International Ceramic Museum, Faenza, Italy
Istituto Statale d’Arte per la Ceramica F.A. Grue, Italy
Kecskemet International Ceramics Studio, Kecskemét, Hungary
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN
Musée Cernuschi, Paris, France
Musée national de céramique, Paris, France
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY
Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Japan
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland
New Orleans Museum of Art, LA
New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan
Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, FL
Sekiguchi Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Seto City Art Museum, Japan
Seto City Cultural Center, Japan
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA
Taipei County Yingee Ceramics Museum, Taiwan
Tsinghua University Art Museum, Beijing, China
Tokoname City, Japan
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT