July 4th in Boston has come & gone as the heat of summer ramps up for a big weekend with the “Evil Empire” Yankees coming back to Fenway Park for 4 games. Hopefully the Red Sox will remember where they left their bats, get hot and come out swingin’ against their arch-rivals to narrow the Yanks 7.5 game lead before the All-Star break. Gotta get at least 3 of 4 to make it interesting.
We are preparing for our 1 day summer workshop @ the Emerson Umbrella Center for the Arts on Saturday July 14th, a half day of demonstrations in the studio showing how I make tea ceramics followed by a screening of the documentary film Forbidden Kyoto: An Encounter with Green Tea, that was filmed in Kyoto last spring (see an earlier posting for more info on the film), and then a demonstration of Chanoyu, (a.k.a. the tea ceremony) by my wife Mari where she will perform “otemae”, as well as serve tea to participants.
http://www.emersonumbrella.org/japanese-tea-ceramics-workshop/
Anyone interested in attending please visit the Emerson Umbrella’s website, http://www.emersonumbrella.org/ and see under “What’s New” to register or get more information from Jason Springer, the Education Director @ the Umbrella (phone 978-371-0820).
Getting psyched as prior to the workshop I’ll likely be doing both a Raku firing and a cone 6 oxidation firing at the Umbrella in preparation for my exhibition coming up this Sept. (12-18) at the Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi Dept. Store Gallery in Tokyo. Mari & I will both be in the gallery all thru the exhibition, usually from 10:30am until at least 6:30 pm. Try to make it if you can, it should be SPECIAL!
See the events page for more information.
Speaking of exhibitions, I am currently represented by 3 of my favorite tea bowls in a summer show “THE CONTEMPORARY ART OF CHAWAN” at the Cavin-Morris Gallery, 210 11th Ave, NYC, NY, ph. 212-226-3768 www.cavinmorris.com . The show includes works from Japan, Korea, U.K. and the U.S. of A. If you’re in NY, or planning to go, I would definitely recommend a visit to check it out as there is a huge variety of chawan to see. Sometime in the next week or 2 there should be an online catalog of the pieces in the exhibition, which will run thru August 17th. I believe their summer hours are only on the weekdays but be sure to call and check before heading down.
It’s still a ways off but this Nov. I’ll also be participating in another group show at the VESSELS GALLERY in Boston which will focus specifically on Japanese Sake and it’s untensils, principally guinomi (sake cups), tokkuri (sake bottles) and katakuchi (sake pouring vessels). When more info becomes available Ill try to keep you posted.
In late July we will be leaving Concord on our way home to Kyoto with stops in S. California and Hawaii, due to return to Yotsuya by Aug. 4th.
