A Few Exhbitions of Note......

Even though January and February and not known as months for superb exhibitions there are a few noteworthy ones happening now and on tap for the coming weeks; I'd like to share a few. First off is a fine look at contemporary women ceramic artists being held until February 26th at the Paramita Museum (Japanese only http://www.paramitamuseum.com/) in Mie Prefecture. There is a small bilingual catalog available for the exhibition and please inquire at the museum. In Tokyo at Musee Tomoo there's a look at three generations of the famous Seto-based Kato family. Now which Kato family might that be you ask as it seems *every* potter in Seto has Kato as their last name! Well, this time it's the legendary Kato Tokuro(1898-1085), his son Shigetaka(b.1927) and grandson Takahiro (b.1972.) that runs until March 8. A talk by Shigetaka is happening January 31st, while a gallery talk by Takahiro is set for February 21; more information can be found at the museum's homepage at http://www.musee-tomo.or.jp/. Not far from Seto is where the master potter Suzuki Goro lives and creates his interpretations of classic Mino styles. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Takashimaya's founding, a four-city concurrent Suzuki Goro exihibition will be held from February 18th to the 24th with Tokyo showing Ki-Seto, Yokohama gets Yobitsugi, Shino goes to Osaka and Nagoya naturally takes Oribe. This is an unprecetended one-man exhibition style that I've seen since being in Japan since 1984. On a smaller scale, yet also at Takashimaya, Tokyo is a favorite Mino artist of mine Hori Ichiro from February 4-10. Two celebrated Hagi ceramic artists also have large exhibitions and they are Okada Yu and Kaneta Masanao. Okada just published a book titled the 'Color of Flames' (unfortunately the cover spelling of flames is flams) that showcases his quest to bring that orange flame tone to his works. The exhibition also celebrates the 200th year since the founding of the Okada kiln. The exhibition will be at Yokohama Sogo from February 3-9. Kaneta is showing from February 18-23 at Nihonbashi, Mitsukoshi; a nice exhibition catalog has been published also for his exhibition. Please note the photos shown here start from the bottom working their way up for the order of the exhibitions noted.