"Prayer Vessel" will be held at the Azabudai Hills Gallery Space.
Azabudai Hills Gallery Space will be holding an event to support artists in the Hokuriku region who suffered great damage from the Noto Peninsula earthquake. As part of this event, we will be holding an exhibition of works by two artists, the 11th generation Ohi ware master Ohi Chozaemon and the next 12th generation master Nara Yuki, entitled "Prayer Vessel."
Prayer vessel
Saturday, April 27th, 2024 - Thursday, May 23rd, 2024
10:00～20:00
Azabudai Hills Gallery Cafe / Space (Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza A B1)
free
Ohi Chozaemon Kiln, Ohi Museum of Art, Azabudai Hills Gallery, Salt Consortium
Keisuke Kitagawa Laboratory, Nagoya Institute of Technology,
Volunteers from the Urasenke International Association (UIA)
Ishikawa Prefecture, Kanazawa City, Hokuriku Shimbun, MRO Hokuriku Broadcasting, Kanazawa Television
This first exhibition by two generations of Ohi Chozaemon, the 11th generation of a prestigious tea ceremony pottery family in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, and his son, the 12th generation potter and architect Nara Yuki, will feature the first public unveiling of his latest works, fired after the Noto Peninsula earthquake.
Ohi Kiln suffered serious damage in the recent earthquake, destroying not only the works of the two artists but also many of their predecessors' works, and they are devoting every day to repairing the damaged areas of the Ohi Museum and Gallery in Kanazawa City, rebuilding the workshop, and restoring the kiln. Even in such an environment, they have continued to work hard, never letting the light of "creation" go out, and the 11th generation has created an object collaged from the fragments and pieces of many of the destroyed works of their predecessors, and the 12th generation has created his signature work, "Bone Flower," out of "Noto Hiba" as a prayer for recovery.
This exhibition is the first joint exhibition by both artists, and will bring together their latest works, filled with hopes for reconstruction.
Ohi ware
A rare traditional craft with over 350 years of history and tradition in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture. It is said to have started in 1666 when the 5th head of the Kaga clan invited the head of the Urasenke school from Kyoto and Chozaemon accompanied him and opened a kiln in Ohi Village, Kanazawa. The current head of the family is the 11th head of the family, Ohi Chozaemon/Ohi Toshio.
11th generation Ohi Chozaemon (Toshio)
Born in Kanazawa in 1958 as the eldest son of the 10th generation Ohi Chozaemon (Toshiro). In 1984, he completed his master's degree (MFA) at Boston University. His activities as an artist are diverse. He participated in the design of Kanazawa Station, designed premium tourist buses, and designed furniture at the Milan Salone in Italy. In China, he breathed new life into the ancient traditions of "porcelain" and "purple clay" in Jingdezhen and Yixing, and launched the brand "Shiki Hodo" in China. He also supervised the interior design of the main lobby of UOB Bank (Singapore) and created a large metal artwork. His works are held in collections around the world, including the Rockefeller family (New York), the Rothschild family (Sweden), and the County Museum of Art (Los Angeles).
He received the Prime Minister's Award, the highest award, at the 54th Contemporary Japanese Crafts and Arts Exhibition, and the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award, the highest award, at the 8th Nitten Exhibition. Recently, he has served as a planning committee member for the Kanazawa World Triennale and a member of the Experts' Council for the Crafts Gallery at the National Museum of Modern Art.
He was awarded the Hungarian National Order of Merit, the Imperial Prize, and the Japan Art Academy Prize.
Social Media:
https://www.instagram.com/toshioohichozaemon11/
https://www.facebook.com/ohi.toshio
Yuki Nara
Born in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture in 1989. Graduated from the Department of Architecture at Tokyo University of the Arts in 2013, and completed a degree at the Tajimi City Ceramic Design Institute in 2016. Graduated with honors from the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Architecture in 2017. Since 2021, he has been the head of the architectural design firm EARTHEN. He has been selected as one of the 30 "CULTURE-PRENEURS" in the world by Forbes.
In the field of ceramics, he exhibits historical buildings, cultural assets, and other architectural assets, as well as nature, and engages in social endeavors to bring out the power of these places through the power of art. His representative works, which aim to fuse architecture and ceramics, are permanently housed at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, the Obayashi Collection, and other museums.
In the field of architecture, his main works include the Gogyo Teahouse (2018/Kanazawa 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Tainan City Museum of Art), (2023/New Corporate Building), (2023/Renovation), etc., which are hybrid designs that incorporate ceramic art creation. He has received the AACA Yoshinobu Ashihara Newcomer Award, the Architectural Design Institute of Japan Award, the Ishikawa Landscape Award, and the Kanazawa Urban Beauty Culture Award, among others.
Social Media:
https://www.instagram.com/yuki__nara/
https://www.facebook.com/yuki.ohi.9
Faced with the workings of Mother Nature and natural phenomena beyond human comprehension, primitive and ancient people must have been repeatedly surprised, frightened, and moved. They sensed an "invisible power" there. This was "spirit" or "god." Eventually, they worshiped "gods" to maintain and stabilize society, created "myths," and developed unique rituals to interact with the gods. There are many "vessels of prayer" left behind by primitive and ancient people, including Jomon pottery, whose meanings and uses we modern people cannot even understand.
After the Noto Peninsula earthquake, I began to think deeply about the relationship between people and nature. I wanted to create a modern-day "prayer vessel." This desire welled up within me, and before I knew it, I was working on creating one. "Prayer vessel" is pronounced "kiki." Kiki is a word used by the native Hawaiians, who did not have a written language, and means "to spring forth" or "to overflow." All things begin with kiki, and people are connected by connections. Those connections, those smiles, "spring forth" and "overflow," and I bring these feelings back to my hometown. (Nara Yuki)
An "instant house" that can be set up in just over an hour and is actually used in the areas affected by the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake will be specially set up in the exhibition hall during the exhibition period. At this event, a tea ceremony will be held in this instant house with the cooperation of volunteers from the Urasenke International Association (UIA).
schedule:
Friday, May 10th 11:00-16:30
May 11 (Sat) 11:00-16:30
Venue: Azabudai Hills Gallery Space
* Capacity, fees, etc. will be announced on the Azabudai Hills Gallery Cafe official Instagram at a later date.
[Instant House]
1. Inflate the air membrane like a balloon.
2. It is a simple construction method of blowing insulation from the inside while it is inflated. Therefore, the shape and size can be freely chosen, and because of its small mass, it is easy to make even for one adult. The construction period for one building is short, only a few hours, and it has high insulation and soundproofing indoors. It is also inexpensive, simple, fast, technical, and versatile. The Instant House, which has many new features, was researched and developed by Professor Keisuke Kitagawa of Nagoya Institute of Technology, and about 170 buildings were actually delivered to all areas affected by the Noto Peninsula earthquake in 2024. We will hold a charity tea ceremony to pray for recovery using the "Instant House" that was actually used in the disaster area and became a spiritual anchor.
Profile of Keisuke Kitagawa
Born in 1974 at a Japanese Confectionery shop in Kita-ku, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.
In 1999, he worked in architectural design at an architectural design firm in New York. In 2001, he completed his doctoral program in social development engineering at the Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology, with a PhD in Engineering. After working as an assistant, lecturer and associate professor at the same university, he became a professor at the Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology in 2018. With around 20 years of experience in architectural design and education both in Japan and overseas, he has devised future-oriented architecture and cities based on intellectual property, and promoted their commercialization after putting them to practical use. In 2017, he was a visiting researcher at Princeton University in the United States. He is a professional in the field of architectural structures, and the inventor of Instant House technology. His awards include the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Commendation in the field of science and technology.
The history of the Ohi family began when the Maeda family of the Kaga domain invited the fourth head of the Urasenke school, Senso Soshitsu, to serve as the tea ceremony magistrate of the Kaga domain. Through the turbulent eras of Edo, Meiji, Showa, Heisei, and Reiwa, Ohi ware has overcome many difficulties and hardships to reach the present day.
To commemorate this exhibition by two living artists of the same generation, Ohi Chozaemon (Toshio) and Nara Yuki, a rare event in the long history of Japanese art, we will hold a talk event with Ohi Chozaemon XI and Nara Yuki. We will invite guests to talk about their current thoughts after the earthquake disaster, and their efforts and thoughts on the reconstruction.
Date: Friday, May 17th, 14:00-15:30
Speakers: Ohi Chozaemon (Toshio), Nara Yuki
Venue: Azabudai Hills Gallery Space
* Capacity, fees, etc. will be announced on the Azabudai Hills Gallery Cafe official Instagram at a later date.
This is a cream anmitsu parfait made with Ishikawa Prefecture's specialties.
It is topped with Ishikawa Prefecture Kagabo Houjicha jelly, bean paste made from Gorojima Kintoki sweet potato, fruit, and Kanazawa's famous kintsuba.
Product name: Gorojima Kintoki Cream Anmitsu Parfait
Price: ¥1,100 (tax included)
※Show a screen shot of your SNS post with "#Prayer" to receive a 150 yen discount
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