Art Exists Everywhere: Into the Fold: Contemporary Japanese Ceramics

Original date of attendance: January 22, 2017

Gallery original showtime: January 22-May 7, 2017

Into the Fold brings to life some of the most long-forgotten aspects of Japan's ancient cultural history through pottery and ceramics, reviving it into the modern day, Both classic styles of pottery and modern, avant-garde experimental techniques in this timeless medium are explored here in the diverse sets. Japan, knowing how to strike a balance of modernizing, but never forgetting their cultural past and integrating it smoothly with their advancing society, made an effort to focus on these ancient themes after their pre-World War 2 archeological discoveries of these objects of antiquity. One of these efforts was the Minegi or Folk Art movement established in 1926, which in response to the arts and crafts movement in Europe and the US, looked at the more humble and overlooked objects for utility like pots and ceramics, creating a phrase for this expression of giving daily objects life as "Yo no bi", or ,"beauty of necessity/usage". potters and ceramicists were inspired to preserve and shape these old themes into the future, and after the War, were designated "Living National Treasures" by the Japanese government for their creations. Soon afterward, the Sodeisha avant-garde ceramic association was founded in Kyoto, and sought to challenge the traditional connotations with shape and function with ceramic art, calling this style "objet-yaki" or "ceramic objects", bringing pottery more into the side of fine art. Artists such as Tomimoto Kenkichi, with his distinct polychrome porcelain style, to Tsujimura Shiro, with his rough-yet classically unique style rooted firmly in the ancient techniques. Shiro's Ash-glazed vessel was inspired by the 16th century Momoyama-era visuals, using very similar firing to this time period, while also letting the firing process fluctuate and leave the eventual design that exits the kiln up to chance and fate, giving each of his works an unexpected element to them. Female artists in japan for ceramics also were on the rise in post war japan, although most could not get a formal apprenticeship for this field, relying mostly on university classes to hone their craft. It can be seen with Ono Hakuko's stunning vase, encapsulating golden and silver basic geocentric patterns under a transparent blue glaze, giving an effect of solidified water flowing with shining shapes. as time has gone on, female Japanese ceramic artists have steadily increased.