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  • Kaimuki, Hawaii
    Event Calendar Item

  • Toshiko Takaezu: Public Sale of Works

  • Type: Sale
    Date: 2/16/2008-2/17/2008
    Time: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
    Location:
    Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i
    Community Gallery
    2454 South Beretania St.
    Honolulu, Hawai'i 96826

    For more information
    call (808) 945-7633
    Cost:
Event Name: Toshiko Takaezu: Public Sale of Works

Location of the event: Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i Community Gallery, first floor

Date and Time: Saturday, February 16 and Sunday, February 17, 2008, from 10 a.m. -- 4 p.m.

Description of event: One of America's foremost ceramic artists who is credited with being one of the key figures in the mid-century transformation of ceramics from functional craft to sculptural fine art, Hawai'i-born artist Toshiko Takaezu will present a selection of more than 200 of her prized works during the Toshiko Takaezu: Public Sale of Works on Saturday, February 16 and Sunday, February 17; from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i Community Gallery, first floor.

The sale benefits the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i (JCCH), The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu and the Toshiko Takaezu Foundation. Gallery admission is free. For more information, call the JCCH at (808) 945-7633.

"We are so honored to be able to host such a rare offering of Toshiko Takaezu's beautiful works as she continues to be an inspiration and is treasured by many," said Lenny Yajima Andrew, JCCH President/Executive Director. "She is a remarkable artist whose work is in the collections of many museums in the U.S., Japan and Europe. We are extremely excited to have Ms. Takaezu in attendance during this special two-day event."

Takaezu--the sixth of 11 children--was born in Pepe'ekeo, Hawai`i in 1922 and has worked with clay for more than 40 years.

At the age of nine, Takaezu's family moved to Maui and after finishing high school, Takaezu moved to Honolulu in 1940. She worked for Hugh and Lita Gantt's Hawaii Potter's Guild, a commercial pottery firm, where her first ceramic works were pieces made from pressed molds. While there, she met Carl Massa, a potter who gave her lessons in sculpture. This led to her enrolling in the Saturday painting classes at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, studying with Louis Pohl and Ralston Crawford.

She later met Claude Horan, the head of the ceramics program at the University of Hawai'i who encouraged her to enroll at the University to study with him. As she gained knowledge, Takaezu began to teach ceramics herself, first at the Richards Street YWCA in Honolulu, then at a grade school in M‚noa.
Takaezu sought further study in 1951 and enrolled at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where she studied under Maija Grotell, who Takaezu viewed as a mentor and later funded and published a monograph on Grotell's work.

While at Cranbrook, she also met Bernard Leach, an acclaimed ceramicist and expert on Asian ceramics. Leach was a key influence on Takaezu's later work.

The other key development in her education was her trip to Japan, taken with her mother and a sister in October 1955, beginning in Okinawa, where her mother hailed from. Takaezu ended up staying in Japan for eight months, studying with Japanese potters Toyo Kaneshige and Shoji Hamada, along with folk potters in Okinawa and elsewhere.

Her own work in the 1950s was undergoing a key transformation as she gradually moved from utilitarian objects, such as teapots and cups, towards objects that conveyed more abstract ideas.

Her signature form became the rounded, bottle-like form whose top had been almost completely closed off. Only a small nipple-like opening at the top remained, which allowed gasses to escape during firing. Many variations of this basic form followed in various sizes, materials, glaze colors and types of firing.

As with abstract expressionist painters, her glazes often involved splashing and pouring techniques that produced unintended effects. Takaezu also explained the very act of firing pottery produced accidental effects. But rather than throwing out pieces that didn't turn out as expected, she often embraced these effects.

"As we have no absolute control, an unexpected, controlled-accidental element enters," she wrote. "Many times it can add a lot, and it is the most exciting moment always--the opening of the kiln."

In 1964, she received a Tiffany Foundation Grant, which allowed her to go on an extended leave from teaching. While on leave, she established a studio in Clinton, New Jersey. She eventually decided to make the leave permanent, and left her job, teaching workshops around the country while setting up her studio.
In 1967, she took a faculty position at nearby Princeton University. In 1975, she moved to Quakertown, New Jersey where she remains.

By the 1980s, Takaezu was regarded as one of the world's foremost ceramic artists. One culmination of her status was her being awarded the Dickinson College Art Award for 1982-83. In 1993, the Honolulu Academy of Arts and The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu collaborated to put on a survey of her work to that time.

She retired from her Princeton position in 1992, and continues to make frequent trips to Hawai`i to visit family and friends.

"When things are right, the clay moves with you, there's no resistance," Takaezu said. "It is as though the clay was in union with you and there are times when you're really in tune with the clay. It's a nice feeling, the coordination, the give and take between you and the material. You push and pull and it moves. And you can forget yourself."

Cost/Entry Fee: Admission is free.

Parking is available in the JCCH parking structure at 2454 S. Beretania Street for $3.

Public contact information: Phone: (808) 945-7633 fax: (808) 944-1123. Web address: www.jcch.com.

Name of sponsoring organization: The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, strives to share the history, heritage and culture of the evolving Japanese American experience in Hawai'i. The JCCH features a Community and Historical Gallery, Resource Center, Kenshikan martial arts dØjØ, SeikØan Japanese teahouse and Gift Shop.

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