Held an exhibition where you can experience the newness of traditional crafts ” Deepening and Expanding – Expanding Traditional Crafts Exhibition”

4th Tanabe Takeunsai Connection-Mugen 3.6×2.1×1.7m PHOTO by Tadayuki Minamotomoto

   Since its first department store in 1904, Mitsukoshi has regarded the freedom of everyone to enjoy Japanese culture, especially art, as one of the department store’s missions, providing a place for introducing and presenting culture and art, and providing customers with “enjoyment of seeing” and “enjoyment of buying”, and has been working to promote it.

In 1954, he held the “1st Intangible Cultural Property Japan Traditional Crafts Exhibition”. The “Japan Traditional Crafts Exhibition” was held 68 times in 2021, as the organizers of the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the Japan Craft Association and Mitsukoshi continued to hold the exhibition. We widely introduce a number of excellent selected works, support artists, and contribute to the succession of traditional craft culture.
This exhibition is organized by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and attempts to exhibit from a new perspective, different from the “Japan Traditional Crafts Exhibition”. As a planning and supervisor, we will invite Kazuko Todate, a professor and craft critic at Tama Art University, to introduce the diversity of their genealogy and expression, focusing on traditional craft techniques that continue to evolve and deepen. From the seven categories of ceramics, dyeing and weaving, lacquer art, metalwork, wood and bamboo work, dolls, and various crafts, we will introduce the expansion of expression using the techniques. About 70 works full of originality that challenged new expressions with outstanding techniques, from important intangible cultural properties holders (living national treasures) to young people, will be on display. This exhibition features dramatic spatial production through installations, exhibition methods that create familiarity that allows you to imagine art in your life, and easy-to-understand and friendly commentary to experience the newness of traditional crafts.
By having many visitors to the department store see it, we aim to lead to rediscovery and rediscovery of the wonders of Japanese culture, and lead to the sustainable development of traditional crafts.
【Outline of the Exhibition】
Name: Deepening and Expanding – Expanding Traditional Crafts Exhibition”
Dates: Wednesday, January 19 to Monday, January 31, 2022, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. (until 6:00 p.m. on the last day)
Venue: Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi Main Store, 7th Floor, Main Building
Admission: Free
Organizer: Agency for Cultural Affairs
Cooperation: Japan Craft Association
Planning and supervision cooperation: Kazuko Sotodate (Professor and Craft Critic, Tama Art University)

【Exhibits (Some)】

Field: Ceramics – White Porcelain Author Name: Wada-like Work Name: White Porcelain “Front and Back”

Field: Doll-Wood Core Paulownia Plastic Author Name: Yang Aya Inoue Work Name: Real Dates Connecting Lives

Field: Various Crafts – Kiriko Glass Author Name: Ikuko Ogawa Work Name: Glass Kiriko Vase “Fuyuji”

Field: Various Crafts – Kiriko Glass Author Name: Masato Kigazawa Work Name: Glass Kirikobobo “Gunsei”

Field: Ceramics – Nering Author Name: Ogata Kamio Work Name: Nering Stripes “Tensho Ruru boat”

【Artists】

【Event Information】

• Gallery Talk “The Present and Future of Traditional Crafts”
  Date: Saturday, January 22, 2022, 1:30pm-
  Venue: “Deepening and Expanding – Expanding Traditional Crafts Exhibition” Admission free of charge
  Kazuko Sotodate (Project and Supervisor, Tama Art University Professor and Craft Critic)
  Mr. Wada (Ceramic Artist)
  Mr. Matsuboshi Fujizuka (Bamboo Craftsman)

[Planning supervisor coworker]
Kazuko Dodate – Professor and Craft Critic, Tama Art University
He supervised exhibitions, wrote and lectured at many museums and universities in Japan and overseas.
Korea World Ceramic Biennale, Kanazawa World Craft Triennale, Itami International Craft Exhibition,
He has judged a number of public exhibitions, including Nitten and Japanese Traditional Crafts Exhibitions. He has been serialized in The Mainichi Shimbun, KOGEI! (the second Sunday morning edition of odd months), Flame Art, Japanese Ceramics in the Times, and ceramic theory, ceramic workshops, and flower arrangements.

  For more than 60 years since the birth of the Japan Craft Association in 1955, traditional crafts have continued to evolve and deepen. The artists of the Japan Craft Association have honed their skills every day and challenged various creative expressions that are realized beyond reliable skills.
  In this exhibition, we will take up some technologies from each of the seven departments and introduce the expansion of expression using the technology. This exhibition allows you to experience the newness of traditional crafts through the ingenuity of each artist, from veterans to young artists, and through the sincere dialogue between the author and the materials. Through the artist’s approach to the material chosen by each artist, surprisingly rich works are created, and those works create a truly dynamic space. They also have the potential to bring a wonderful extraordinary thing to our daily lives.
Kazuko Sotodate (Planning and Supervision/ Professor and Craft Critic, Tama Art University)

• Special Event
  The exhibition will be released sequentially on the Agency for Cultural Affairs official YouTube channel, recording the interview between Kazuko Sotodate, a collaborator of the exhibition, and Takeshi Tanabe, a bamboo craft artist who is one of the exhibiting artists.
  ◎Scheduled to be released sequentially from Tuesday, January 11, 2022   Talk with Kazuko Sotodate × 4th Generation Tanabe Takeunsai
  ★ Agency for Cultural Affairs Official YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE24T0FQaP4jpFgX720e4BQ

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