NEW YORK, NY.- Asia Week New York–in partnership with Joan B Mirviss LTD–will celebrate the publication of Listening to Clay: Conversations with Contemporary Japanese Ceramic Artists, which coincides with the gallery’s exhibition on view from July 19th to August 26th.

To register for the webinar, held on Tuesday, July 26 at 5:00 p.m. (EST), click here:

Moderated by Joan B. Mirviss, the authors, Alice and Halsey North and Louise Allison Cort, will have an in-depth discussion about their personal relationships with the sixteen artists that formed the basis of their book. From their perspective as collectors, they offer a behind-the-scenes look at these artists gleaned over many years and share valuable insights into the artworks by these men and women. They are joined by Metropolitan Museum of Art curator of Japanese decorative arts Monika Bincsik, who recounts the importance of the Norths' gift to the Met Museum. In her recent reinstallation of the Great Hall Balcony, she re-contextualizes the work of these artists in conversation with their Western counterparts.




The exhibition features clay works by all sixteen artists in the book, most of whom are represented by Joan B Mirviss LTD, who has witnessed their impressive artistic development over the decades. Accompanied by the rich personal stories found within the book, the pieces offered in the exhibition represent these artists' innovative brilliance and encapsulate the diversity of ceramics in Japan today. The artists include Hayashi Yasuo (b. 1928), Mishima Kimiyo (b. 1932), Morino Hiroaki Taimei (b. 1934), Kohyama Yasuhisa (b. 1936), Miyashita Zenji (1939-2012), Miwa Ryūkishō (Kyūsetsu XII/ Ryōsaku) (b. 1940), Koike Shōko (b. 1943), Ogawa Machiko (b. 1946), Fukami Sueharu (b. 1947), Kakurezaki Ryūichi (b. 1950), Miwa Kyūsetsu XIII (Kazuhiko) (b. 1951), Akiyama Yō (b. 1953), Kaneta Masanao (b. 1953), Yagi Akira (b. 1955), Kitamura Junko (b. 1956), and Kondō Takahiro (b. 1958).

About the panelists:

Alice and Halsey North are pioneering collectors and advocates of contemporary Japanese ceramics, committed to introducing new audiences to this art form. They produced and organized four ceramics-focused tours to Japan on behalf of New York’s Japan Society. Their collection was featured in the exhibition Contemporary Clay: Japanese Ceramics for the New Century, held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 2005-6 and New York’s Japan Society 2006-7. They have donated the major portion of their collection to American museums, notably The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. The Met also houses the database, archives, and library for their collection. Their works have been on view at The Met since 2013 and are included in Perfect Imperfection in Ceramic Art, the current exhibition on the Great Hall Balcony.

Louise Allison Cort is Curator Emerita of Ceramics, National Museum of
Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution. Her research interests are historical and contemporary ceramics in Japan, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. Her
publications include Shigaraki, Potters’ Valley (1979, reprinted in 2000),
Isamu Noguchi and Modern Japanese Ceramics: A Close Embrace of the Earth
(with Bert Winther Tamaki, 2003), Chigusa and the Art of Tea (with Andrew
Watsky, 2014). In 2012, she received the Secretary’s Distinguished Scholar Award, Smithsonian Institution, and the Koyama Fujio Memorial Prize for
research on historical and contemporary Japanese ceramics.

Monika Binscsik is the Diane and Arthur Abbey Associate Curator for Japanese Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. She has organized several exhibitions for the museum, notably Discovering Japanese Art: American Collectors and The Met (2015), Japanese Bamboo Art: The Abbey Collection (2017), and Kyoto: Capital of Artistic Imagination (2019). She has published numerous articles on Japanese decorative arts and collecting history and was co-author and co-curator of The Tale of Genji: A Japanese Classic Illuminated (2019).

With more than forty-five years of experience, Joan B. Mirviss is a pillar in the field of Japanese art. As a dealer, scholar, curator, and advisor, she has been the driving force championing the top Japanese clay artists, who she represents exclusively, and whose works she has placed in major museums around the globe. Widely published as a highly respected expert, Mirviss has built many institutional and private collections of Japanese art. Joan B Mirviss LTD exhibits modern and contemporary Japanese ceramics, ukiyo-e, and Japanese paintings from its exclusive Madison Avenue location in New York City.