Today, Japanese clay art is experiencing one of the richest and most diverse periods in its long history. Throughout 2018, three lobby displays, curated by Joan B. Mirviss, an authority on Japanese ceramics and a New York City gallery owner for 40 years, will feature the work of ground-breaking Japanese ceramists who stand on the world stage, boldly asserting their independence, creativity, and technical genius.
For centuries in Japan, women were excluded from the male-dominated landscape of ceramic arts, restricted from taking apprenticeships, making ceramic vessels, or even participating in the firing process. However, with the advent of university programs and professional ceramic schools throughout Japan in the postwar era, women have been able to move past these gender-specific boundaries. Today, Japanese female masters of clay are the equals of their male contemporaries, as luminaries and independent creative talents.
Japan Now: Female Masters showcases the brilliant work of some of the most celebrated contemporary female ceramists of Japan. With their own sensibilities and without ties to specific regional or familial ceramic traditions, these artists have raised their nation's ceramic arts to an entirely new level.
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